"He Gave Us Life" The Story of Holocaust Survivor David Cassuto

David Cassuto was born in Florence, Italy in 1937, to Hannah and Nathan, a doctor and rabbi. During the Second World War, his father served as a doctor and as chief rabbi of the Florence community. In 1943, as deportations of Italian Jewry to the extermination camps began, his family scattered in different hiding places. His father was an underground member, and helped rescue Jews until he was caught and arrested. In trying to release his father, his mother was also caught and imprisoned. The two were interrogated and then sent to Auschwitz. During this period, David and his brother under assumed identities is various locations, unaware of the fate of their parents. David, his brother and sister survived the war, and after the liberation of Italy, immigrated to pre-state Israel, where they were received in Jerusalem by their parental grandparents, Prof. Moshe Cassuto and his wife Simcha. David and his brother were raised by their grandparents. David would go on to become an architect and a lecturer in architecture, and was involved in the founding of the Museum of Italian Jewish Art in Jerusalem.