"I Chose Life": The Story of Bat-Sheva Dagan

Bat-Sheva Dagan was born in Lodz, Poland in 1925. Her father Szlomo-Fiszel owned a weaving workshop, and her mother Fajga was a seamstress. Bat-Sheva had five brothers and three sisters. When the war broke out, she and her father managed to reach Radom. Later, her father bribed a German soldier who smuggled her mother and two sisters into the city. The family members were transferred to the large ghetto established in Radom. In August 1942, Bat-Sheva and her younger sister Sabina were separated from their parents and older sister Genia, who were all sent to Treblinka. The sisters were transferred to the small ghetto and later decided to flee to Germany. Sabina was killed during the escape attempt. Bat-Sheva arrived in the German city of Schwerin under an assumed identity. There she worked in a household of the family of a Nazi district judge until she was caught. She was imprisoned in six prisons and in May 1943 was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she worked in different forced labor units. In January 1945 she was sent on a death march to the Ravensbrück and Malchow camps and was liberated in May 1945 by the Allies. Bat-Sheva immigrated to Israel in 1945, She married Perez Dagan and they had two sons, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Due to her extensive experience as an educator, Bat-Sheva developed curricula for teaching the Holocaust to young people and wrote children's books about the Holocaust, as well as a book of poetry for youth and young-adults about her experiences.