Dear Lea,
I begin to write a short introduction in order to understand the period after the Second World War. A lot has been written about the events of the war, a tremendous amount of literature, a lot of books and a lot of newspaper article and there is really nothing that I can add. I am sure that you, Lea, yourself are well read.
I do not want to come to any conclusions regarding our activities after all the tragedies that we experienced and overcame so many obstacles.
The saddest and most significant event is that we lost our dear ones, that our families were destroyed, we lost our best friends and also the hope that the sun will shine once more. We also felt lost.
And then like a river that is overflowing on his borders, Jews began to appear from all the hiding places, from the woods, from Soviet Russia, from the Partisans and from the concentration camps. These are the survivors, the Sheerit Hapleita that stayed alive and began to meet in Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Italy, they were searching for a place where they could unite. However many disappointments awaited us.
The trains coming from Soviet Russia went through Poland and there the Poles were approaching them and were cursing the Jews and shouted that Hitler did not finish the job and that too many stayed alive. This was very sad and it is impossible to describe our feelings during this time. This welcome paled our souls and added grief and more pain to the existing questions:” Where to are we traveling and towards what are we heading to”. Yet, will all this happening we did not despair, we were not broken since we knew that out there still alive is a large American Jews population and many more Jews spread out throughout the world. There was still hope to meet and to connect with other Jews in order to create a better and brighter future. People that did not go through the hell of this war hell, can not imagine nor understand what we experienced during the wartimes. From here we began to understand that if we don’t help ourselves no one really will help us. This is when we began to organize the Tnua (Betar Movement ) in Germany which increased with the arrival of young men and women from all the surrounding areas. The young men and women who were left only with themselves, their bodies and spirit, organized themselves in a frame work in order to gain power and in order to have an impact on the world surrounding us. Their aspirations were grandiose and we dreamed of the state to become. We were ready to fight and to sacrifice ourselves for this purpose. The eagerness and enthusiasm was immense and with this came action.
I myself, belonged already in 1937 to the Betar Organization named after Jabotinsky. There I was active as a student in the cultural high school until the outbreak of the war. Naturally all this stopped with the outbreak of the war but now we had another chance to be active to continue our path from before the war.
We arrived in Poland, at the end of 1946, passing by on our road to Germany. I remember exactly the times when this happened but let’s not speak about this.
In Poland , I entered a Kibbutz with the Name Ichud and most of the young men and women came from the Shomer Hazair. As I was senior Betar activist, I was able to convinced the group from Ichud to join the Betar Pluga and I arrived with this group in Germany in the DP Camp of Hessisch Lichtenau in the area of Kassel, Hessen for a few days of Camp(?) and we were called Herzog.* I came with the Kibbutz and I organized the whole Kibbutz. All in all there were approximately thirty young men and women. The majority was from Poland and Lithuania.
This is when I became acquainted with your father, Samuel Milek Batalion. They called him Milek and he was at the same time in the city Eschwege. There he was active in the Betar Organization. He organized the former Betar members from Poland, the younger and older ones. There in the camp, he was very active and very popular.
And you will know who is Milek!
Our contact began in 1947.
We became friends and decided to organize a convention in Eschwege. To convention there was a big success. A large number of young men and women came (how many?). The target was to do a create a nucleus and to organize the group so that we could to appeal (leave to?) to the center in Munich. The main speaker at the convention was Milek, your father. He spoke with pathos and inspired all the people attending including me. After him I also spoke and we started a debate. We spend many hours there. We left there with excitement, empowered and full of eagerness. Since then I tied are very strong contacts with and we were almost everyday on the phone. After several new he moved to the camp Herzog, where that I was. The house where your parents lived was not far from the Betar kibbutz which I had organized.
From here on, in the year of 1947, continued our friendship and our combined activities. Then the central committee in Munich decided to send me to a larger Camp by the name Bad Reichenhal*2. There I was both the instructor of kibbutz and chairman of the Betar movement. But the contact with your father did not stop, we saw each other from time to time until the later part of 1947. Then the idea of creating a professional school arose which of course at that time was a great idea. The decision was taken together with the central committee in Munich to establish this school in Darmstadt.
I spoke to your father at this time and he asked me if I would agree to be instructor(Madrich) and he would manage the school. After one month I was already IN Darmstadt and then began all the organization and activities with everything that was connected and needed to be supplied to the school. Everything there was destroyed in Darmstadt and it was impossible to receive all the equipment and the tools for the school. First we had to acquire the permit from the American army for the establishment and operation of the school in order to request the assistance from the Germans. In the end everything there was organized and it worked out 100%.
(Honat- Plugat?) Herzog was a success, not only did we establish the school, but we were also active in the Betar movement and we were travelers together to meetings of comrades and to Betar demonstrations. Your father was fantastic speaker. He always aroused the crowds, and always spoke with pathos. I learned from him how to speak. Often he would joke with me and ask me “when I will receive a payment from you”. It continued this way until from the end of 1947 until May 1948. This is the time period that I spend in Darmstadt until my journey to Israel.
Now I want to describe to you what happened in school. The kibbutz that I was in with the young men and women was about 20 Minutes walking from the school. I was the instructor (Madrich) and the commander. Every evening we had a discussion with the members of the Kibbutz. I taught them Zionism and the Old Bible. I also taught them some Hebrew. In the morning they used to go to the professional school where they would have classed with the German instructors. Everything worked out perfectly. The active organizers were your parents. Your father managed the finances and other organizational matters and your mother organized the clothing and food.
I have to point out the relationship with and the assistance from the German city Darmstadt.
Your parents did everything possible to help the school. Every day they were very proud that we chose to come to the professional Zionist school. They took care of the everything, they organized works on the exterior are interior part of the building in order that the building would be beautiful. They invested many efforts in order that the building would look like new and all this thanks you to your mother. She was the authority with the Germans and handled all the contacts between the Germans and your father. If there was a problem, your father send her to resolve the issue. We received everything and everything went through her.
She was a very intelligent and bright woman, full of life and with many initiatives.
At all time she was busy with the Kibbutz and for example, the food that was left over would never be thrown out. She made contact with a agricultural big farm and every day they used to come to pick up the remainders of the food and the bread and we, in return, would received fruits and vegetables. We were even allowed to have a warehouse of products in a time that around us there was nothing to eat. She, however, was able to open a supermarket for us. What didn’t we have! She even arranged fro us to have wine and conserves and everything thanks to your mother. She was the thriving force of the whole kibbutz in regards to all the every day needs. In all the two years that I had known your father, your mother was very active.
Dear Lea, it’s been a long time since I wrote a journal. Today, from all of my memories after 60 year, I want to point out the period in Germany. A period of eagerness for deeds and of happiness and of satisfaction of life. This period in Germany, Darmstadt, there the most happiest time in my life. Of course, I was also young with full of pathos, energy and desire to succeed. In this I finish to write and send you all of this in order that you will be able to learn something that period.
If you want more details, I am always ready to help
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