Ellen Burka

Ellen Burka
Ellen Burka-Danby, photographed c. 1990
Personal information
Alternative names	Ellen Danby
Country represented	Netherlands
Born	(1921-08-11)August 11, 1921 Amsterdam, Netherlands
Died	September 12, 2016(2016-09-12) (aged 95) Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Ellen Burka CM (née Danby; August 11, 1921 – September 12, 2016) was a Canadian-Dutch figure skater and coach. She became Member of the Order of Canada in 1978 and was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

Ellen Danby was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Jewish parents who met in England. She learned German and English at home and Dutch and French in school. In the spring of 1943, she and her family were sent to Westerbork transit camp. Ellen had herself registered at Westerbork as the 'Dutch National Figure Skating Champion', at that time such a championship did not exist, the first official one to be held in 1951. Westerbork's commander, Albert Konrad Gemmeker, was very interested in figure skating and ordered for Ellen's skates and apparel to be sent to the camp. There she was allowed to practice on the frozen pond. Ellen also gave culinary advice at Gemmeker's home and it was the commander's female companion who made sure Ellen was not sent to Sobibor but to Theresienstadt instead. Her parents and grandmother were sent to Sobibor extermination camp only to be killed there.

Danby met Czech-born artist, Jan Burka, at Theresienstadt concentration camp. After liberation of the camp by the Soviet Union Army the two walked from Theresienstadt (near Prague) to Ellen's hometown Amsterdam (about 900 kilometres/560 miles) in just 2 weeks time to get married on non-communist soil. The family moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1950. Ellen and Jan Burka divorced in the mid-1950s. She raised her two daughters, Petra and Astra, in the Anglican Church and told them of her background when they were in their late teens. She died in Toronto on September 12, 2016.