"Like a Sparrow in the Sky" The Story of Holocaust Survivor Daniel Gold

Daniel Gold was born in Šiauliai, Lithuania in 1937, an only child to his parents Hadassah and Nachum. His family was well educated and Zionist. For three years, from September 1941 until the summer of 1944 Gold and his parents were interned in the Šiauliai ghetto. Shortly before the liquidation of the ghetto his mother had entrusted him to his aunt. Together with his cousins and another woman they managed to escape, finding refuge at a farm outside of Šiauliai. For four months the women and four children lay under the farmhouse building, living in extremely cramped and harsh conditions. Following his liberation Gold discovered that his mother had been murdered, but that his father had been liberated from the Dachau concentration camp and was living in Germany. In July 1946, when he was 16 years old, Gold and his father reunited at the Munich train station after two years of separation. In 1952 they immigrated to Israel together where Gold joined the Israeli Army. He served as a combat pilot in the Israeli Air Force, eventually becoming a reserve pilot. He retired in the rank of major in 1993. Throughout his service Gold took part in five wars. In 1960 he began studying microbiology at Tel Aviv University, becoming a Professor of Medical Microbiology. During his tenure he was involved in research and in teaching. Although retired, he continues to teach medical students on a voluntary basis at the Tel Aviv University Medical School.