Sergeant Israel Carmi and the Jewish Brigade

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HISTORY OF THE NCO

(SGM Suzy K. Clair)

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OUTLINE

A. Backround

1. Palestinian Jews Desire to fight Nazi Germany

2. Allied opposition

3. Allied capitulation

B. Formation of the Jewish Brigade

1. Manning

2. Training

3. Deployment

C. The Hunt for War Criminals

1. Organization

2. Equipping

3. Offensive Operations

D. Support to Refugees

1. Resource Acquisition

2. Operations

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Sergeant Israel Carmi and the Jewish Brigade

From the start of World War II (WWII), Jewish soldiers in Palestine petitioned the British Army for the opportunity to form Jewish units and contribute to the English effort against Nazi Germany. Both Great Britain and the United States opposed this idea due to the belief that it would unnecessarily provoke the Arabs, whose allegiance to the allied cause was tenuous at best. The British had the additional concern of training and arming men who were, at least potentially, future enemies of England. However, as the war rumbled on toward a conclusion, and the atrocities committed against the European

Jews became clear, the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill put aside his previous objections. In a telegram to then President of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt,

Churchill stated, “The Jews, of all races, have the right to strike at the Germans as a recognizable body.” To which Roosevelt responded, “I perceive no objection.”

Thus was born the Jewish Brigade under the command of the British Eighth

Army. In 1944, approximately 5,000 men departed Palestine via ship bound for North

Africa. Underway, their British commander, remarked, “this is the first organized Jewish fighting unit since the Romans sacked Judea.”

Upon arrival in Burg el Arab, Egypt, the Brigade submitted to a nine-month training program after which, it departed for Taranto, Italy where the men of the Brigade were able to capture strategic positions on the Senio River from the German Army. In

April, 1945, the unit took part in the final offensive against Germany following which they were ordered to serve in a reserve capacity.

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While members of the Jewish Brigade played a fairly minor role in allied combat operations in Europe, they went on to distinguish themselves in the post-war period.

Specifically, they worked unceasingly to assist and repatriate displaced Jews. Some members of the Brigade also began a clandestine effort to hunt down, and sometimes kill, the Nazi leaders deemed responsible for the Holocaust.

Among the most notable members of the Jewish Brigade was Sgt. Israel Carmi.

Before joining the Brigade, Carmi had already made a name for himself in the Haganah – the name given to the Jewish militia in Palestine. As such, other members of the Brigade, even officers, looked to him for leadership.

Following the end of the war in Europe, the British Army relegated the Brigade to a reserve role, however, Sgt. Carmi had other ideas. Over the course of his tour with the

Brigade, he had formed a plan to exact revenge for the millions of Jews murdered by the

Nazi’s. The first step of this plan was to gain reassignment to an intelligence unit. From this position, Carmi believed, he could develop the information and contacts that would lead him to his goal: the SS officers who had assisted in the genocide.

After his reassignment, Carmi went directly to work cross-referencing information from both the British and American camps. Other intelligence personnel, most of them sympathetic to the Jewish plight, were eager to help. Through a combination of intelligence reports and interrogations, Carmi quickly determined the location of a former Gestapo official. This man, in turn, revealed the names and locations of hundreds of additional SS and Gestapo personnel. With these names, Carmi and a few trusted compatriots soon launched a campaign to exact revenge for the murder of their families and friends. Their goal was not to capture or arrest these men, but to execute

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UNCLASSIFIED them. Neither the British nor American militaries officially condoned this campaign but neither side took action to stop it. In fact, Carmi and his men continued to receive information from both sides leading them to additional targets.

Approximately one year after this campaign of revenge commenced, Sgt. Carmi began to realize the ultimate futility of his actions. He saw the negative effects that the killing was having on his men. Also, he had come to the conclusion that these acts of revenge, in the end, did nothing to benefit the hundreds of thousands of Jewish people foundering in the miserable conditions of Jewish refugee camps throughout Europe.

These refugee camps had become an unfortunate necessity for an entire population of displaced persons with no place to go. Despite the horrible atrocities committed against them, Jewish immigration quotas throughout Europe, America, and the Middle East remained miniscule. As an example, in 1945, the British government granted only 12,000 immigration permits to Palestine. A leader of the Jewish cause,

Chaim Weizmann remarked, “The world is divided into two parts: one where Jews cannot live, and another where they cannot go.”

After personally witnessing the plight of the Jewish refugees, Sgt. Carmi began to formulate another, more positive, plan. He now vowed to assist the refugees in their efforts to flee Europe for Palestine; even if this meant circumventing British law and the blockade that existed to prevent such immigration.

To begin, he realized he would need a small army of men and equipment. He got the manpower from the Jewish Brigade; he “requisitioned” the supplies and equipment from the British Army under the auspices of a contrived unit. Sgt Carmi located artists capable of forging the signature of the local commander. This allowed him and his men

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UNCLASSIFIED to obtain all of the trucks, food, clothing, shelter, and other items that they would need to transport and care for thousands of refugees.

With logistics in place, the men of the Brigade fanned out across Europe with an initial mission to gather up the thousands of orphaned children foundering in the refugee

camps. These they brought to Italy to await transportation to the port city of Florence

where they would board ships bound for Palestine. Ships were few, however, and the

wait turned from weeks into months. Not wanting to waste time, Sgt Carmi oversaw the

building of a school where Jewish teachers provided instruction in a variety of subjects,

from history to farming, and where Jewish soldiers taught them how to fight.

As the operation progressed, the British, who’s policy it was to keep the Jews out

of Palestine, became increasingly harder to fool. As their awareness escalated, so did the

risk to the men and their cargo. Then, Sgt Carmi learned that the British were about to

take control of the city of Graz, Austria from the Russian Army. He realized that he must

do something to get the approximately 1000 Jewish refugees out of that city before the

turnover. If he failed to do so, the refugees would be trapped inside a British cordon.

Using all of his wiles, Sgt Carmi managed to procure an additional 42 trucks. He

and his men then drove to Graz arriving there just after the Russians departed and before

the first British forces arrived. Fortunately, all of the refugees were located in one area

and the Brigade quickly loaded them and their meager belongings into trucks for

transport back to Italy. The convoy passed the arriving British troops, who were

completely unaware of what had just transpired, on the outskirts of the city with a smile

and a wave.

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Within days, the British Command realized what had occurred and decided to reassign the Brigade to Belgium. The command reasoned that the Jewish soldiers would not be able to continue the refugee operation from this new location, far removed from the shores of the Mediterranean.

The British did not count on the resourcefulness of Sgt Carmi, however, who, after being promoted to regimental sergeant major, now had official authority over battalion supplies and manpower. As word from Palestine increasingly told of a growing conflict between the Palestinian Jews and the English occupiers, Carmi’s mission became

two-fold: obtain arms for the fight at home while continuing to assist the refugees in their

efforts to flee Europe.

As tensions between the British and Jews rose in Palestine, Carmi ordered his

men to procure, in any manner possible, as much in the way of arms and ammunition as

they could. This they did with gusto, emptying entire armories of their stores. At the

same time, he dealt with the problem of moving 1400 refugees across France to a ship

waiting at the Port of Marseilles. Against all odds he managed the transport; successfully

making two round trips over the course of three days, leading 30 trucks crammed with

frightened men, women, and children.

Carmi followed this up by taking part in the event on which author Leon Uris’

popular story “Exodus” was based, leading over a thousand refugees, confined aboard a

vessel off the coast of Italy, in a hunger strike that eventually forced the British

Government to allow the ship’s departure for Palestine. Carmi also returned to Palestine

on this vessel, jumping overboard shortly before making landfall to avoid being captured

by British officials.

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Was Israel Carmi a hero? Undoubtedly he was to those he saved from the refugee camps and to many more who admire him for his daring and dedication. On the other side, there are presumably many who regard him as a villain for serving as judge, jury, and executioner to those he held responsible for murder. In the end that is the way with men and women who take strong action in defense of their beliefs.

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Works Cited

• Blum, Howard. The Brigade: An Epic Story of Vengeance, Salvation, and WWII. Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 2002

• Wikipedia. “Jewish Brigade”. 7/27/06

• Churchill, Winston. Government of Great Britain Prime Minister’s Correspondance. Letter to Chaim Weizmann. 1944.

• Uris, Leon. Exodus. Bantam Books publisher, 1983

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