CARROLL COLLEGE BUILDING A CHOL'S NEST: ZIONIST POLITICS, PALESTINIAN PARACHUTISTS, AND THE HEROES OF A NASCENT NATION A PAPER SUBMITTED IN THE FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS OF HI 499 HISTORY HONORS THESIS BY MELISSA J. HIBBARD HELENA, MONTANA DECEMBER 2007 CORETTE LIBRARY CARROLL COLLEGE To the memory of my parents SIGNATURE PAGE This thesis has been approved for honors recognition for the Department of History. o- V\. Director, Dr. Gillian Glaes Date Reader, Dr. Robert Swartout Date j /yj 1 A/ ii/z? /o ReafdeAd . Kay Satre Date iii CONTENTS SIGNATURE PAGE............................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................... v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS................................................................................................. vii INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1. POLITICS AND PLANNING, RESCUE AND REVENGE........................ 7 2. A DANGEROUS DESCENT.............................................................................34 3. THE HEROES RETURN HOME..................................................................... 66 CONCLUSION......................................................................................................................110 NOTES.....................................................................................................................................117 BIBLIOGRAPHY...................................................................................................................138 IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis represents the most challenging and rewarding project of my undergraduate career. From my thesis work, I learned not only about research and writing, but also about the personal fulfillment that results from completing such a lengthy project. There are a number of people whom I would like to thank for the assistance and guidance they provided while I wrote this thesis. The staff at the Corrette Library provided continual support in obtaining research materials and offering suggestions when I seemed to run into dead ends. I especially thank Lois Fitzpatrick for her endless assistance and patience with me when some of that material did not make it back into her possession in a timely fashion. I was fortunate that two faculty members outside the history department agreed to read this thesis. I sought these individuals' opinions because of the positive way they influenced my college experience. Dr. Brad Elison, a professor of psychology, has always been something of an inspiration to me, and convinced me early on in my career at Carroll that I was capable of completing any task. Dr. Kay Satre, of the English department, was my first mentor at Carroll. Since my freshman year, she has encouraged and challenged me to continually improve my writing skills. Though working outside their scholarly fields, Dr. Satre and Dr. Elison and have provided me with many useful insights to improve this project. v I must also acknowledge the contributing faculty from the history department. My interest in the history of the Holocaust, as well as Jewish resistance during World War II, began when I traveled to Poland with Dr. David Messenger in the spring of 2006 to study Central Europe and the Holocaust. During the coursework that accompanied this trip, and in other of Dr. Messenger's classes, he helped me realize that I could actually write about historical topics. My new fascination with history was soon tested as I entered Dr. Robert Swartout's "boot camp" for aspiring historians. In the History Research Seminar, Dr. Swartout impressed upon me that if I was going to "do" history, that I better do it right. His guidance as I wrote my seminar paper and this thesis has helped me take those first shaky steps into the world of professional historians. Finally, I would like to thank my thesis director, Dr. Gillian Glaes. After I assembled the research, Dr. Glaes challenged me to synthesize that information and look for the bigger story. She pushed me to address the larger historiographical issues concerning the parachutist's mission, leading me to understand that this was more than just an interesting occurrence in the history of the Second World War. Her patience, encouragement, and kindness never interfered with her role as my toughest critic. All I have learned from her will, no doubt, influence me as I continue my academic career. vi ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Parachutists Haviva Reik, Baruch Kamin, Uriel Kanner, Dov Berger, Tsadok Doron, and Sara Braverman during their training period in Egypt........................ 26 2. Hannah Szenes at Kibbutz Sdot Yam.........................................................................35 3. Map indicating number of parachutists sent to locations..................................... 39 4. Parachutists with women from the Yugoslav underground................................ 41 5. Parachutists on board an airplane before jumping into Yugoslavia.................. 45 6. Palgi and Goldstein before departure in 1944..........................................................48 7. Members of “Operation Amsterdam" at Tri Duby air base near Banska- Bystrica, Slovakia, September 1994...................................................................................55 vii INTRODUCTION A thousand feet was the perfect height for the drop. As the plane climbed to this desired altitude, Yoel Palgi huddled in a corner, uncertain of what burdened him more: his own thoughts or the heavy parachute bag strapped tightly to his back. Palgi observed his fellow comrades chosen for this special mission. All donned similar sturdy overalls replete with several zippered pockets. The men had loaded these pockets with various items necessary for survival, including weapons, ammunition, first-aid kits, signal lights, identification papers, and ample amounts of money. Parachuting over enemy territory was a treacherous endeavor; these jumpers had to be prepared for anything. On this evening in May 1944, not even the monstrous roar of the aircraft engines could stifle the anxiety, fear, and anticipation emanating throughout the cabin. "We're approaching the target." The jumpmaster's voice snapped Yoel from his reflections. "Prepare to jump!" Even under the newly risen moon, the forested mountains and valleys of Yugoslavia remained a nebulous void. Considering the daily changes in partisan control, either friend or foe could be waiting below. Regardless of the uncertainty, Palgi found himself seated on the edge of the jump hatch, legs hanging freely in the night air, eyes firmly fixed on the red signal light. A far distance from both Palestine and his native Hungary, and now a thousand feet above land, Palgi literally teetered on the threshold of his important assignment. Suddenly, the light flashed green and men 1 disappeared before him, quickly swallowed by the black night sky. A moment later, the green light flashed again, a voice boomed "Go!" and Yoel Palgi pushed off into the opaque abyss.1 * * * Between 1943-1945, thirty-two volunteer Jewish parachutists from Palestine took flight over Nazi-occupied territory in Europe. Initially planned in 1943, the parachutists' mission represented the response by the Yishuv—the Jewish community in Palestine—to accounts of the Holocaust that reached Palestine a few months earlier. From the Yishuv's perspective, the parachutists' mission demonstrated its desperate attempt to help Jews still living in Europe— primarily those located in the Balkans region. When traveling to Europe, the parachutists from Palestine carried with them a message for the Jews of Europe: the message of Zionism. The term Zionism, derived from the biblical reference to Zion, or Israel, expresses love the Jewish people felt for the land they called Eretz Israel (Palestine). Zionism also describes the philosophy that the solution to the "Jewish Question"—a blanket term referring to many forms of anti-Semitism—relied on the establishment of a Jewish national home in the Holy Land. The parachutists believed this message and hoped it would inspire those Jews persecuted in the Diaspora. Zionism began as an international political movement in the late nineteenth century and continued to gain popularity over the next several decades. As the Zionist movement grew, Jews—primarily from Europe and 2 Russia—began immigrating to Palestine in a series of mass migrations dubbed "aliyahs." 2 Five aliyahs occurred between 1882 and 1939 as Jews willingly immigrated to Palestine to escape anti-Semitism, economic hardship, civil war, and pogroms and to pursue their commitment to Zionism.3 Many Jews, however, opposed or remained indifferent to the Zionist movement up to World War II. The parachutists made appropriate emissaries from Eretz Israel to the European Jewry because they represented the transformation from a Diaspora Jew to a "new Jew" of Zionism. For instance, each parachutist immigrated or "made aliyah" to Eretz Israel from Europe. Upon arriving in Palestine, newcomers were encouraged to reject their Diaspora identity and assimilate within the Zionist Yishuv. The parachutists partook in two of the Zionist movement's most innovative experiments: reviving the Hebrew language and living on a collective settlement. Learning Hebrew became imperative once one immigrated to Eretz Israel, as it was the language