"Now I am a free man living in Tel Aviv."
So concludes the journal that David Horowicz began in Antwerp in August 1940 and completed on 3 December 1945.
David Horowicz, a resident of Lodz, Poland, was married to Jdes and they had three children: Rivka Rochel, Chaya and Avraham Shlomo.
In summer 1939 David planned to visit Antwerp with his family but his son fell ill and needed an appendectomy. Jdes and the children remained in Lodz and David Horowicz traveled to Antwerp in order to lay the groundwork for transferring his family there. While he was there, Germany invaded Poland and David's family was trapped in occupied Poland. David joined a unit of General Anders' Army in France with the intention of returning to Poland, to his family, but was instead sent to Switzerland where he was employed as a farm worker.
David kept a personal diary in which he described the difficult days of war. He met Lonny in Zurich, and after the war the two arrived in Eretz Israel. In 1947, when he understood that his family was not going to return, David married Lonny. David and Lonny did not have any children.
David Horowicz's diary was recently donated to Yad Vashem by Marta Lomas, Lonny's niece, in David's name. After the diary had been submitted to Yad Vashem and David Horowicz's story had been documented, it was discovered that some time earlier, Lonny had donated David's Horowicz’s correspondence with his family in Lodz during 1940-1942 to Yad Vashem. These letters, together with the journal, shed vital light on the story of David Horowicz and his family.
"We decided to donate our uncle’s journal to Yad Vashem for many reasons," explained Marta’s husband Yaakov. "He was very connected to the institution, and we felt we were continuing his wishes to keep this relationship sound. But the most important reason was that we believed that such a beautifully and clearly-written account belonged not just to his family, but to the Jewish people as a whole. At Yad Vashem, it can be viewed by researchers, historians and the public at large, rather than sit in a closed closet in our home, where in a few more generations its significance would be lost."
