Daniel Goldsmith, December 11, 1938 — June 13, 2024 of Hatboro, PA. Companion of Mitzi Forman. Father of Tamar (Raymond) Reilly, CJ Goldsmith, and the late Ira Goldsmith. Brother of Lillian Scher. Relatives and friends are invited to funeral services Tuesday, June 18 at 9:30 AM precisely at GOLDSTEINS’ ROSENBERG’S FUNERAL DIRECTORS SUBURBAN NORTH, 310 2ND STREET PIKE, SOUTHAMPTON, PA 18966. Interment Beth Israel Cemetery, Woodbridge, NJ. Contributions in his memory may be made to the Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center, 8339 Old York Rd., Suite 203/205, Elkins Park, PA 19027, www.hamec.org.
The Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center is deeply saddened to share the news of the passing of Holocaust survivor Daniel Goldsmith. Daniel Goldsmith was born in Antwerp, Belgium to an orthodox Jewish family. His father was a plumber and his mother a homemaker. He was 8 years old when the German army invaded in May 1940. His family tried to flee to France but was forced to return to Antwerp. In August 1942 his father was placed in a forced labor camp and his mother was forced to sell some of his tools to buy food for Daniel and his sister, Lillian.
After the Nazis raided their street one night in September 1942, arresting Jewish families, Daniel’s mother visited a known resistance movement member and within 48 hours Daniel and Lillian were placed in a Catholic convent. In December, Daniel was moved to a boy’s orphanage and was given a false identification of “Willy Peters.”
The orphanage was raided in May 1944 and Danny, with other boys, was arrested and sent to multiple prisons. On the way to the third prison the boys escape from the train. They ended up in Perwez, Belgium and the local priest hid the children in various homes in the village. Danny was 12 years old when he was liberated in September 1944. In April 1948, Danny arrived in the United States.
Danny was a HAMEC speaker for over 20 years and spoke to thousands of students. Whether it was 10 students or 1,000 students, Danny was always willing to share his story with anyone who would listen. When asked the question from students about if he lived in fear when he was in hiding as a young child, he would answer, “I lived in fear always, I thought when I was caught at the orphanage by the Nazis that I was going to die, but at the same time I lived with a very strong word and it’s called, ‘Hope.’ I wanted to survive, I wanted to be reunited with my family. That’s what drove me to stay alive.”
A message Danny would tell students at the end of his presentation was, “Don’t hate anybody. No one is born hating. You have to learn how to hate. You have to be taught how to hate.”
May Danny’s memory be a blessing, and may we always remember the words that Danny left off every presentation with, “Don’t bully, never bully and don’t hate.”
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