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IN-DEPTH FEATURES
The attempts to distort history, when it comes to anything
connected to the central role of chareidi Judaism in rescue
operations during the destruction of the Jews in Europe,
continue unceasingly. A few weeks ago, the University of Tel
Aviv hosted an event entitled, "Chareidi Judaism and the
Holocaust." Among the list of speakers at the event, which
was of a so-called academic nature, there was not a single
chareidi Jew. This article, a discussion by chareidim of
those issues, will probably talk about things that were left
out of that academic conference.
It is 62 years since the passing of Rabbi Chaim Yisroel Eiss-
- the man at the center of the chareidi hatzoloh
network. At a time when the Jews of Europe were being
tortured by the brutal Nazi soldiers, Rabbi Chaim Yisroel
Eiss was spinning the threads for the manufacture of a
hatzoloh network that would include embassy diplomats,
Red Cross delegates and Church personnel. Members of the
hatzoloh delegation of the Jewish Agency in Turkey
consulted with Rabbi Eiss and received a great deal of help
from him. Representatives of the Zionist hatzoloh
offices in Geneva were aided by his connections. These
fascinating cases and documents from the archives of Rabbi
Chaim Yisroel Eiss make it clear that the chareidim
constituted the locomotive that paved the way for rescue,
such as it was.
Men of Agudas Yisroel who Led the Hatzoloh
Locomotive
The stormy public controversy over the part that chareidi
Jewry played in the rescue of Jews in Europe has been going
on for quite some time already. Historians from other circles
accuse chareidi activists of sitting with their arms folded
and not lifting a finger to save the millions of non-
religious European Jews being cruelly slaughtered. According
to them, the chareidim worked to rescue just the Chassidic
Rebbes, rabbis and yeshiva students, while leaving the rest
of the people to their deaths.
Conversely, many historians, among them Professor David
Kranzler, claim that the people at the forefront of the
attempts to rescue all the Jews in Europe were
precisely the rabbis and Agudas Yisroel members in
Switzerland, Agudas Yisroel delegates in Istanbul, and the
underground operated by Rabbi Weissmandel in
Czechoslovakia.
Professor Kranzler writes in an article 2002 (5762): "The
Orthodox (Agudas Yisroel activists) served as a catalyzing
and central element in the rescue of the Jews in Europe. They
were impelled by Torah values of saving lives and redeeming
prisoners, and they did everything in their power to save the
Jews of Europe, even if this involved transgressing the
law."
Documents newly uncovered from the Agudas Yisroel archives in
Switzerland reveal that Kranzler's claims are way too modest.
The archives contain numerous applications and requests for
aid and advice sent by the Zionists to Rabbi Chaim Yisroel
Eiss. The letters reveal that, once the Zionists understood,
albeit late in the day, that they were supposed to join the
rescue operation, they played down their dependence on the
chareidim to their Jewish Agency colleagues. They kept quiet
about their being assisted by their connections, and about
their adopting their methods of operation.
Our Torah—The Torah of Life
Beyond the controversy among the historians, there has been a
continuing debate in recent years among philosophers and
academics following up on trends in the writings and research
on the Holocaust. They point to a tendency to minimize the
descriptions of the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis, and
to depict the Nazis as running a "death machine,"
highlighting its sort of mechanical and bureaucratic
nature.
Christopher Browning, in his book, Ordinary Men: Reserve
Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland,
examines the behavior of Unit 101 who were not fanatical
Nazis by nature and describes how, step by step, they
overcame their initial recoiling, and became accustomed to
"Jew killing." Men of that unit ended up shooting or
deporting to Treblinka about 80,000 Jews. Browning ends his
book on a note of surprise, "If men of the Reserve Battalion
101 of the police could turn into murderers under such
circumstances, what group of people would not end up behaving
in the same way?"
Professor Langer of Simmons College in Boston, entirely
rejects all the sterile descriptions of mass murder
perpetrated by the Nazis and calls on us to focus on the
eyewitness reports which describe the horrific acts of
atrocity of tearing children out of their parent's arms and
murdering them in front of their eyes, so that we do not
avoid seeing the wickedness of these unspeakable horrors.
Placing the murderers and their victims on a common axis, in
which universal man is presented as being trapped in extreme
plights, and their behavior is a product of "habituation" to
a given situation, is unacceptable to thinkers and
researchers like Professor Langer.
How much more so is it important for us, as believing Jews,
to have clarity and realize that the actions of the people
from the chareidi hatzoloh derived from a clear
hashkofoh of the absoluteness of good and evil. Many
of the secular activists at the time also remained in a gray
area of formalistic arguments that they used perhaps to fool
themselves, blinded by their perception of the "sanctity" of
the law and being careful not to upset the Gentiles.
The saying from Chazal, Kol hamekayem nefesh achas
meiYisroel ke'ilu kiyeim olom molei (one who saves one
Jew is as if he saved an entire world), was the force that
drove the Torah faithful Jews, and planted them at a distinct
distance beyond that awesome wall separating good and
evil.
Delegates of the Israeli Gedolim
Rabbi Chaim Yisroel Eiss was a confidant of the gedolei
Yisroel and earned their esteem and admiration. He was
the person who pulled the strings behind the large
assemblies, and directed all the charity funds of Agudas
Yisroel: the Yeshiva fund, the Fund for Orphans, the Fund for
Eretz Yisroel, and others.
After the German forces wiped out the Jewish communities in
the East, Rabbi Chaim Yisroel became the sole address for
thousands of applications from the Jewish people, and for the
gedolei hador too, who knew well his dedication from
the time of the founding of Agudas Yisroel a few decades
earlier.
Among those refugees who escaped the advancing Nazi troops
and who arrived stripped of all worldly possessions,
desperately in need of refuge in the major cities, were the
yeshiva students from Vilna. The principal figure in charge
of the yeshiva students and Chassidic Rebbes assembled in
Vilna was HaRav Chaim Ozer Grodzensky, and in Rabbi Chaim
Yisroel's archives there are a number of letters attesting to
the ongoing relationship between them.
"Yes, I did receive the sum of fourteen hundred francs for
the yeshiva refugees, which were changed into lit and yielded
1,848 lit altogether. Yes, received from his father- in-law
the amount of 250 lit. In regard to the chaluka, I
will follow the rov's instructions to give the yeshiva of
Kletzk a third of above sum."
In this letter, HaRav Chaim Ozer further requests Rabbi Chaim
Yisroel Eiss' help in regard to the certificates of
immigration to Eretz Yisroel, an area in which HaRav
Meir Karelitz, who resided in Eretz Yisroel, was working
with him. "In accordance with what HaRav Meir Karelitz wrote
in Eretz Yisroel . . . it is clear that the yeshivas
have applied to Chief Rabbi Herzog with regard to the
certificates, and they feel that he has an influence on this
matter. I have also written to him and to the Aguda many
times, because when it comes to saving lives, all politics
must be put aside."
HaRav Shlomo Wolbe, who managed to escape at the beginning of
the war to Stockholm in Sweden, wrote to Rabbi Chaim Yisroel
Eiss from there, at the request of HaRav Aharon Kotler,
asking that he apply to the Red Cross about the
rebbeim and the gedolim: "His honor has most
probably received information from HaRav Kotler about this
list. If not, I assume that HaRav Kotler has asked him to try
the Red Cross, to get them to make inquiries and track down
the rabbis noted on the list."
We discovered that, in his response to HaRav Wolbe, Rabbi
Chaim Yisroel Eiss said that he had applied to the
"Lithuanian Consulate" which, since he was a Jew, had given
him assistance. Further letters attest to his exerting
tremendous efforts to trace the whereabouts of the yeshiva
students, aided by his connections with the consular
representatives and the Red Cross.
Members of the Network
In Switzerland, Rabbi Chaim Yisroel Eiss was joined by HaRav
Shaul Weingart, rosh yeshiva in Montreux, attorney Mr. Meir
Miller from France, HaRav Tuvya Levenstein, and others. In
addition, Rabbi Chaim Yisroel Eiss kept up an extensive
correspondence with his friends, who were active in the
network worldwide: Rabbi Yaakov Griffel in Turkey, Rabbi
Yitzchok Meir Levin and Rabbi Binyomin Mintz in Eretz
Yisroel, Rabbi Aharon Goodman in England, Rabbi Yaakov
Rosenheim and others in America.
From the wealth of correspondence in our archives, a
fascinating picture is painted of a whole system of intricate
connections between collaborators, couriers and key people in
the higher echelons. For example, Rabbi Chaim Yisroel had
known Schwartzenberg from the Red Cross from the time of the
First World War, while Heigelei—from the Portuguese
Consulate in Bern—was a crucial source for South
American passports. Kohl, a chareidi Jew, secretary at the
Polish consulate in Bern, enabled Agudas Yisroel people to
utilize the diplomatic mail, and thereby evade the
censorship. Additional connections reached all the way up to
the Church.
Dispatching Food Parcels and Passports
"Food we don't have, clothes we don't have, and yet we were
overcome with joy because we were able to keep the mitzvah of
blowing the shofar." — This letter is one of
many that were received by R' Chaim Yisroel, which showed how
great was the spirit of those Jews who found happiness and
spiritual elevation in their opportunity to keep mitzvos even
in the valley of death.
HaRav Menachem Ziemba sent R' Chaim Yisroel a telegram
verifying that he had received the food consignments: "I am
happy to inform you that we received the packages that you
sent. Please do keep on sending more packages. Try very hard
to send us clothes and shoes . . . " This is one of many such
telegrams.
The chareidi hatzoloh network worked tirelessly during
this period, initially by dispatching food parcels and money
to the ghettos and camps and, later on, when the Nazi's Final
Solution plan leaked out, by opening channels for the
"acquiring" of South American citizenship documentation for
threatened Jews from Eastern Europe.
The passports were transferred via mail or via a
representative of the Red Cross in Geneva and, in more
complex cases, via special couriers. Additionally, attempts
were made to attain immigration certificates to Eretz
Yisroel.
The Zionist Offices—A Lot of Talk and
Little Action
In Geneva, there were four different offices in operation,
representing various streams in the Zionist movement.
The Office for Palestinian Certificates was run by Dr. Chaim
Pozner and Dr. Sheps. They set up a system of cooperation
with the chareidim.
Another was the Jewish Agency offices—in which the
Sochnut representative was Richard Lichtheim. When he was not
there, Dr. Kahane took his place.
The World Jewish Congress office was run by Dr. Yarblum and
Dr. Ringer (famous for the "Ringer telegram," in which he
gave over the information to America about the existence of
the Final Solution), who were not particularly effective, nor
did they make any meaningful contribution to the rescue
operation.
The World Jewish Congress in Switzerland was headed by Dr.
Abraham Silberschein, whom Rabbi Chaim Yisroel Eiss
introduced as his partner in the rescue work, emphasizing his
dedication.
Sally Mayer was the president of the SIG (Schweizerischer
Israelitischer Gemeindebund — United Jewish Communities
in Switzerland) and the Joint representative. Many said that
he hindered, and even prevented, a number of operations.
Numerous offices were supposed to act to save the Jews of
Europe. Where were they? Why did they not succeed in saving
more Jews? What happened to the money that was intended for
that purpose? And in what way did those Zionists show any
manifestation of a Jewish heart?
" . . . Honor Takes a Person from this
World"
In numerous letters, R' Chaim Yisroel bewailed the fact that
so much energy was being wasted on futile arguments between
the Jewish Agency staff and the Palestinian Office staff and
that, owing to trivial matters involving people's dignity,
there were delays in the handing over of certificates and
pictures.
In one of the letters he sent to R' Aharon Goodman, R' Chaim
Yisroel wrote of the tension between various offices and the
bad impression that he had of their activities. "Everything
is so cold, as if thousands of Jews are not being brought to
slaughter every minute." He further noted: "That is how all
the offices are there, no one knows what they are supposed to
do, neither do they show any interest in the rescue work . .
. "
Apparently, as a result of issues of personal prestige, and
the concern that every office had for its name and honor,
much friction had arisen between the various offices, causing
many hatzoloh operations to be held up and others to
be halted altogether.
As an example of the lack of coordination and concealing of
facts between the various Jewish Agency offices, we have the
following story from R' Chaim Yisroel Eiss' letter to R'
Yaakov Griffel: " . . . Chaim Berliss dispatched pictures of
a group of women to Mr. Sheps from the Palestinian Office,
instead of to Dr. Kahane in the Jewish Agency offices, and
therefore Kahane did not wish to get involved in this affair.
Dr. Kahane was most aggravated about the pictures being sent
to Sheps and not to him. He therefore said that Sheps should
complete the business, and washed his hands of the
matter."
Worries about the Legitimacy of the
Operations
The minimal intervention of the Zionists in rescue operations
was explained by them as due to their being unable to
transgress the laws of the land and, therefore, to do
anything that was officially forbidden.
Lichtheim, a Jewish Agency delegate, maintained that there
was to be no playing with fire in the hatzoloh work,
and that they had to be careful not to break the law. As R'
Chaim Yisroel Eiss wrote to Griffel: "Mr. Lichtheim told me
that there is no rescue work, i.e., means of rescue, which is
entirely legitimate, and there always has to be some
sidestepping, therefore he, as director of the Agency, could
not . . . participate in the hatzoloh operations."
Another person who was not particular about the observance of
Jewish religious laws, but who insisted on religiously
following state laws in the rescue work, was Sally Mayer. Dr.
Kranzler, in his book Thy Brothers' Blood: The Orthodox
Jewish Response During the Holocaust, tells of Mayer's
part in the sabotage of negotiations for the rescue of Jews
through ransom money, as in the Himmler-Musy deal.
"If the Jews who arrived in Switzerland from the German camps
did not number in the tens of thousands, you may thank Sally
Mayer." This ironic and devastating sentence was written by
Mr. Musy, a former president of Switzerland, to R' Yitzchok
Sternbuch, a key hatzoloh activist in Switzerland.
HaRav Weissmandel, son-in-law of the Nitra Rebbe, whose cry
for help stirred the hearts of Jewish communities in the
West, bitterly bewailed Mayer's refusal to transfer money to
Czechoslovakia due to "legal" niceties. HaRav Weissmandel, in
his book, Min Hameitzar, brings up the claims of
Mayer, the delegate from the Joint, that the law concerning
occupied lands did not permit money to be transferred into
Nazi occupied territory: "For it is prohibited . . . to hand
over money to the treasuries, to that evil man, and this
prohibition has been fortified recently by the publication of
the Allied Powers."
It is very hard to read this, or even to believe that the ban
on handing over money to enemy country could be top priority
in the eyes of Sally Mayer at a time when his brothers' blood
was being spilled like water throughout Europe.
The Rescue of Jews is Not a Zionist
Priority
HaRav Weissmandel lamented bitterly the tens of thousands of
Jews who could have been rescued, while Zionist leaders, like
Sally Mayer from the Joint, remained blinded by their
prejudices about Jews from Eastern Europe who, according to
them, "exaggerate their plight in order to extract money from
Jews in the West."
However, it would be more accurate to say that they did not
want to believe it. Instead they preferred to dedicate most
of their energies and funds to construct a national Jewish
homeland in Israel.
In contrast to the skimping in funds mentioned above,
chareidi Jews in Switzerland, Israel and America opened their
hearts and their pockets, and donated money for consignments
sent to their oppressed brethren. And when the money was late
in coming, R' Chaim Yisroel funded the consignments out of
his own pocket. What a contrast . . .
Silberschein—Jewish Congress Delegate,
Cooperates with Chareidim
It is notable that, contrary to the majority of Zionist
directors, Dr. Silberschein, World Jewish Congress delegate
in Switzerland, worked hand in hand with R' Chaim Yisroel. In
a number of letters that R' Chaim Yisroel Eiss sent Rabbi
Yaakov Griffel, he expressed his admiration of him: "One
person who works and knows how to work is Dr.
Silberschein."
In a letter to R' Yaakov Griffel of September 1943, R' Chaim
Yisroel wrote that: "In the meantime there was a crisis in
the whole rescue effort here because Dr. Silberschein was
caught and jailed in Geneva." R' Chaim Yisroel wrote that in
his opinion, "he made a few mistakes, owing to his lack of
awareness of Swiss tactics." After some effort, they managed
to bring about the release of Silberschein and to silence the
investigation, and Silberschein continued with his vigorous
campaign.
Kellerman, Revisionist Representative in
Turkey, Applies to R' Chaim Yisroel Eiss for Aid
"Since his honor has experience, could he please let me know
his opinion of what I am supposed to be doing."
With these words, Joseph Kellerman, Revisionist delegate of
the Palestinian rescue mission in Turkey, applied to Rabbi C.
Y. Eiss. The letter shows that the Zionists who joined the
rescue operation at a later stage had no alternative but to
consult with veterans who were familiar with the intricacies
of the operations. It is interesting to see that Kellerman
preferred that his appeals for help be kept confidential, and
he emphasized this point in one of his letters to R' Chaim
Yisroel: "It is obvious that the Jewish Agency people do not
need to know that I handed over my list to his honor."
When Kellerman heard that Rabbi C. Y. Eiss was planning to
resign due to difficulties in the funding of the operation,
he wrote to Rabbi Binyomin Mintz: "If, Heaven forbid, you
cause Mr. Eiss to halt his operation, then you are sending
our poor, afflicted brethren to their doom . . . Remember:
lo harbei Eissim icko beshuko haSchveitzari (There are
not many Eisses in the Swiss market).
Kellerman was one of the members of the hatzoloh
mission in Turkey in which there were representatives of
various streams of the Jewish settlement in Eretz Yisroel.
Turkey, like Switzerland, served as an important center
because of its neutrality. Its geographical location made it
well suited for the transfer of funds, passports and
information, and made it into an excellent transit route for
refugees with certificates who were escaping from Nazi
occupied lands on their way to Eretz Yisroel.
Kellerman worked in full cooperation with R' Yaakov Griffel,
the Agudas Yisroel delegate on the mission. Their forceful
and independent efforts often annoyed Chaim Berliss, head of
the mission. In a report that Berliss wrote about his
activities in Turkey, he said: "The differences of opinion
between us was based on the fact that their representative,
Herr Griffel, saw fit . . . to found, together with Herr
Kellerman . . . a branch of the emergency Vaad Hatzoloh of
America . . . Such a double collaboration could be harmful to
the rescue operation as a whole." Kellerman and R' Yaakov
Griffel were from different parties, had different interests,
but they rose above all personal and party considerations and
did everything in their power to save every single Jew that
they could.
Berliss—Head of Turkish Delegation
It is interesting to consider that even Chaim Berliss, head
of the Istanbul delegation was assisted by R' Chaim Yisroel
Eiss' connections. When he sent a representative to Geneva,
he asked Eiss to help him in any way he could: "We are
sending a person from here, a Swiss citizen . . . he was
given orders to make contact with you, and for his attention
to be directed to you in particular. He is supposed to
consult with you about everything."
Berliss did not attempt to operate in a variety of ways, and
sometimes even interfered with hatzoloh efforts,
claiming that either it was not realistic, or the budget was
not appropriate, or various other things. Berliss was not
interested in extending credit to Agudas Yisroel for
hatzoloh activities performed through their
organization, and even refused to accept funds urgently
needed for operations that could have been supplied through
the chareidi representatives. The extent to which he was
affected by considerations of personal prestige can be seen
from the book, The Mark of Cain: "Agudas Yisroel in
the U.S.A. managed to get a permit from the American
government to transfer large sums of money . . . Chaim
Berliss rejected the offer . . . taking funds from Orthodox
institutions, and especially when the Revisionists
(Kellerman) are involved, would harm the Jewish Agency's
`prestige.' "
Leder—Jewish Agency Representative in
Turkey— Find the Son of the Jewish Agency
Chairman
"Do you know anything about the whereabouts of Greenbaum's
son? I would be grateful if his honor would be able to inform
me, by return mail, what has been done, and what are his
chances in this connection"—wrote Eliezer Leder, Jewish
Agency representative in the Istanbul delegation, in a letter
asking Eiss to help locate the son of the Jewish Agency
chairman, Isaac Greenbaum.
Leder had some interesting work contacts with R' Chaim
Yisroel. He too was helped by the chareidi hatzoloh
network, and asked R' Chaim Yisroel to help them attain
foreign passports, and also to continue with his aid despite
the delays in transferring the funds. It is notable that
Leder's work was very much admired by leaders of Agudas
Yisroel in Eretz Yisroel.
The Sochnut Applies to the Satmar Rebbe
One of R' Chaim Yisroel Eiss' most interesting contacts was
with the Satmar Rebbe, who was extremely active in the area
of hatzoloh in Hungary, despite the disconnection that
had occurred between Agudas Yisroel and Satmar Chassidim
before the War.
A painstaking study of Eiss' correspondence led to the
uncovering of a story that, in normal times, would be
inconceivable.
The Jewish Agency, by means of its agents in Istanbul,
requested to sign an agreement with the Satmar Rebbe, who
would transfer funds to their people in Hungary.
"Regarding the land for Hagar (Hungary), I have unfortunately
not yet received a clear answer from the Gaon Rebbe Yoelish .
. . but to speak of some kind of contract with him is
inconceivable, especially a contract with the Sochnut. I can
only extract from him a promise that he will hand out the
money according to the instructions he is given from here . .
. "
The Jewish Agency wanted to exploit the network of
connections and delegates of R' Chaim Yisroel Eiss and his
colleagues who by then had a name for being trustworthy and
not having `leaks,' and sought to solidify the connections
between them and the Satmar Rebbe. According to the
agreement, the Rebbe was supposed to be responsible for
distributing the funds which would be sent via the Jewish
Agency to Hungary. R' Chaim Yisroel explained that they
should not expect the Satmar Rebbe to sign a contract with
them, but it was to be understood that the Zionists would be
allowed to get assistance from the network of agents operated
by the chareidim.
To Save a Jewish Life
"He clung to the middos of HaKodosh Boruch Hu.
Just like He is Podeh uMatzil — so did he redeem
and save. And in these middos he was unique. Unique in
the generation . . . he was entirely aflame with sorrow,
pain, and torment over the unspeakable tragedy. Over the loss
of the Jews in Poland and Lithuania" wrote Rabbi Binyomin
Mintz in the Agudas Yisroel newspaper, in a eulogy for his
friend and partner, R' Chaim Yisroel Eiss, adding that "the
time has not yet come to tell all."
But today there is no doubt that this is indeed the call of
the hour—the time has come to learn, to research, to
tell— so that our children will know, so that they will
know what to answer.
For the Torah is a Torah of Life, and those who followed its
light even in times of great darkness, were the only ones
worthy of illuminating, at least slightly, the darkness of
despair and the valley of death. Not the enlightened
politicians who tried to fit in with the European "cultural"
norms. No, they could not see the truth behind the false
presentation and illusions that the Nazis presented to the
world.
And when the terrible truth slapped them on the face, they
were forced to turn for help to their brethren who had
preceded them in their ability to take in the unspeakable
horrors, and understand that these were troubled times for
the Jewish people and that the principles of Western
civilization had been cast into the rubbish pile of
history.
It is clear from R' Chaim Yisroel's letters that the chareidi
hatzoloh activists anticipated the terrible realities,
and realized very early on that they were facing a life-
threatening situation. They therefore set about creating a
system of contacts and methods of operation.
When the Zionists joined in, they were assisted by the
chareidi networks. They did not have enough time to erect
their own independent systems, and they received all the help
and assistance, which was given generously. As R' Chaim
Yisroel wrote, when he explained the ways of a Jew faithful
to Torah, that, "whenever the issue is to save a Jewish life,
I deplore with full force any discrimination between the
children of Avrohom, Yitzchok, and Yaakov."
R' Chaim Yisroel's son relates that his father was one of the
followers of the Sadigora Rebbe, and was even the
chavrusa of the Admor's son. He was part of the group
which originally set up Agudas Yisroel, and was a confidant
of many rebbeim and Admorim.
After his marriage to Adele Holles, he emigrated from Galicia
to Switzerland. For the purposes of making a living, he
opened a clothing business and became quite well-to-do. At
the outbreak of World War II, he was one of the first to
begin right away galvanizing connections to aid Jews who
resided in the occupied lands. He neglected his business to
dedicate his life to rescuing Jews. He gave away his whole
property, which he had amassed during his working years, for
the food and money shipments to the Nazi occupied
countries.
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