In Loving Memory of David Schaffer (1931 – 2025)

David Schaffer z”l

It is with deep sadness that we acknowledge the passing of David Schaffer z”l —devoted husband of Sidi, beloved father of Nathan, Doron, and Ayal, and proud grandfather of Joelle, Dalia, Aaron, Jacob, Paulina, Naomi, Madison, Zachary, and Joshua. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his entire family.

David Schaffer at the first in-person meeting with Miriam Libicki and Dr. Charlotte Schallié, at the Emily Carr University of Art + Design on January 2, 2020. Photo credit: Dr. Charlotte Schallié

We had the honour of getting to know David through the international educational project Narrative Art and Visual Storytelling in Holocaust and Human Rights Education (https://holocaustgraphicnovels.uvic.ca/), led by the University of Victoria and supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Canada (SSHRC). One of the most significant outcomes of this project is the now acclaimed collection of graphic novels But I Live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust—a collaborative work between three graphic novelists and four Holocaust survivors. David’s story, A Kind of Resistance, was created in partnership with graphic artist Miriam Libicki. Since its publication in 2022, the book has received five international awards, six award nominations, and wide critical recognition. It has inspired exhibitions and educational programs in both Europe and North America, and its German edition, Aber ich lebe: Vier Kinder überleben den Holocaust, is now available through Germany’s Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundesamt für politische Bildung). This important recognition ensures that stories like David’s will continue to reach new audiences and deepen understanding of the Holocaust.

When David was first invited to join the project, he hesitated. Although a respected member of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre’s survivor community, he had never publicly shared his story as a child survivor. He worried that his experiences might be too many to fit the tight timeframes of traditional survivor presentations.

As we learned more from David about his and his family’s survival, we were introduced to the complex and often overlooked history of Romania and Romanian-occupied Transnistria, with its devastating impact on the local Jews and Roma. His story was filled with nuance and detail, and it took time to fully grasp its depth. But David, with great patience and extraordinary precision, helped us understand—carefully guiding us through the many layers of his experience.

What ultimately convinced him to share his testimony was the realization that the fate of Romanian Jews deported to Transnistria was still largely unknown to the wider public. Through this project, David saw a unique opportunity to educate and raise awareness on an international level.

After David and Miriam’s first meetings in early 2020, they were not able to meet face-to-face again until the book launch. They collaborated through emails, where David was always eager to receive the pages in process, but the most meaningful conversations took place over the phone. Miriam shared her progress sketches with him, and he went page by page, clarifying scenes and giving Miriam additional background information and new context for the stories. A dark joke he made about a Jewish girl in hiding with David’s family having a German name was from one of these informal phone calls and made it into the comic. Another one of Miriam’s fondest memories from these conversations, which did not end up in the book, was a chat they had on the evening of Passover 2020. He recollected that forming bricks and mortar out of straw, mud and debris, as the Israelites are described doing in the Seder, was something his family resorted to in the forests of Transnistria when bartering anything they could to survive.

Over time, through countless meetings, phone calls, rounds of edits, and the exchange of photos and documents, our collaboration with David grew into something profoundly personal and deeply meaningful. Beyond learning about his and his family’s history, we came to know David himself: thoughtful, generous, principled, kind, and deeply human. In the truest sense of the word, David was a Mensch.

David was sharp and diligent, with a brilliant, analytical mind and remarkable memory. His clarity and precision helped shape the vivid illustrations in the novel. One memory stands out: his moving description of the mind-numbing hunger he experienced as a child survivor, likened to the constant grinding of a flour mill—an image Miriam captured powerfully in the book.

One of Charlotte’s most cherished memories is David’s meticulous attention to detail, and his engineering-calibrated brain that ensured that all representations of vehicles in his graphic novel were accurately drawn, and distances between locations on a map were properly measured and acknowledged. (He repeatedly challenged our cartographer!) Only later did it become clear to us that David retroactively asserted control over events that must have seemed completely unpredictable and overwhelming during the Holocaust.

Despite the weight of his story, moments of joy and humour were never far. We fondly remember the laughter when someone pointed out that he still had the same mischievous smile as in a photo of himself at age six—a smile that revealed a playful spirit that David, thankfully, had never lost.

Above all, David had a huge heart. He spoke often and with deep affection about his family—his beloved wife Sidi, a talented artist, his sons and their spouses, and his nine grandchildren. His love and pride for them were tangible and beautifully portrayed in Chorong Kim’s short documentary about his life, which offered rare and intimate glimpses into the world he built after surviving the Holocaust (If We Had Followed the Rules, I Wouldn’t Be Here).

Words fall short in expressing what an honour and blessing it was to know David. His courage, generosity, and unshakable trust in life have left a lasting impact. His story lives on—in print, in memory, and in all those he touched.

With deepest gratitude and immense respect. May his memory be for a blessing.

Dr. Ilona Shulman Spaar, past VHEC Education Director, Vancouver BC, Canada
Miriam Libicki, Graphic Novelist, Vancouver BC, Canada
Dr. Charlotte Schallié, Project Lead, Narrative Art and Visual Storytelling in Holocaust and Human Rights Education, Victoria BC, Canada