Holocaust survivor David 'Dugo' Leitner passes away at 93

Holocaust survivor David "Dugo" Leitner, who started a non-conventional tradition of marking Holocaust Remembrance Day in recent years by eating falafel, passed away at the age of 93 on Thursday morning, during the fast of Tisha Be’av.

His funeral will be held on Thursday evening at the cemetery in Nir Galim. On the notice of his passing, the number B -14671 was printed under his name since that was the tattoo the Nazis burned into his arm decades ago.

Leitner would celebrate the day he was freed from captivity in the Auschwitz camp, by eating a pita filled with falafel. On January 18, 1945, at Auschwitz, Leitner, a young 14-year-old prisoner, was among 66,000 others coerced by the Nazis to march through the snow-covered terrain in the death march. Deprived of adequate food, utterly exhausted, and clad in nothing but his camp uniform, Leitner found solace in daydreams about his mother's beloved bilkalach - delightful golden bread buns from his homeland in Hungary and across Central Europe.

Tragically, most of the prisoners succumbed to the harsh conditions of the death march, but miraculously, Leitner, affectionately known as Dugo, managed to survive. After the Holocaust, he sought a new life and soon immigrated to Israel.

Years later, during his inaugural visit to Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market, fate brought him face to face with falafel—a profound moment that triggered memories of that fateful time.

"When I tasted those fried balls, I was immediately transported back to that dreadful march—and my dear mother's kitchen. I couldn't resist and ended up having two portions, one after another," reminisced Leitner, then 89 years old, in an interview with the Srugim website in 2018.

Every year on January 18, Leitner celebrated his survival by eating two portions of falafel, a tradition that has gained popularity in Israel as "Dugo Day." Hundreds-of-thousands of school children honor him annually by enjoying at least one falafel portion on this special day. In 2021, Israel's Foreign Ministry extended the celebration beyond the country's borders, with embassies in London and Warsaw offering free falafel to locals and sharing Leitner's remarkable story, creating an international bond through the appreciation of this quintessentially Israeli dish.

Earlier this year, Leitner was one of the heroes of an exhibit called “Humans of the Holocaust,” where he was photographed posing with a yellow-colored balloon in the shape of a Jewish star, the word “Jude” (Jew in German) written on it. In the statement promoting the exhibit, he revealed how his optimism helped him survive the atrocities he experienced and witnessed in the death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.

“I am taking ownership of the symbol that turned me into a subhuman and turning it into an optimistic and smiling creation,” Leitner said to photographer Erez Kaganovitz.

As the years went by, many senior Israelis joined the tradition, such as the presidents, IDF chiefs of staff, and public figures from the right and the left.

President Isaac Herzog paid a tribute to Leitner on Twitter on Thursday, writing "After surviving the death march from the Auschwitz camp, he immigrated to Israel and was one of the founders of the Nir Galim village. His first visit to the Mahane Yehuda market, while eating falafel became an exciting tradition, embraced in Israel and worldwide, as a symbol of victory of Holocaust survivors."