by Yosef Achimeir, former Likud MK and son of Revisionist and Beitar leader Abba Achimeir, translated by Hillel Fendel
A divided nation spent last night and today remembering the six million Jews slaughtered by Nazi Germany and their evil allies during the Second World War. The official ceremony took place, as every year, in Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, and the heart-rending siren was heard around the country, as every year, at 10 AM. There had been a fear, for the first time, that certain elements would seek to disrupt the sanctity of this day. And the same fear still exists regarding next week's Memorial Day for Fallen IDF Soldiers and Terrorist Victims, which we will commemorate just before Independence Day.
As of today, the consensus still appears to exist that we may not cross the line with protests and disturbances, at least during public ceremonies. These two days were/are the test of our ability to retain our unity beyond the disputes that have intensified in recent weeks.
Will the great national renewal that we merited 75 years ago after the Holocaust, at a heavy price in blood, now be shaken? During this period of Holocaust Memorial Day, Memorial Day, and Independence Day, we will be tested to see if we can continue our national revival as a united nation, confident and determined to stand strong against the threats that surround us on all our borders and beyond.
The theme of this year's Holocaust Day is the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, which began on April 19, 1943. This was an uprising in which fighters of two different Jewish organizations took part, together with thousands of "unaffiliated" Jews. This was an uprising of the few and helpless against the cruel and tremendous German war machine. These were Jews who decided that they would rather die fighting than die passively, and who chose to stand up for their national pride and to kill as many Germans as possible. They did not hope for more than that, for they knew that their end was near in any event and that the chance to actually survive the war was infinitesimal. They fought with their few weapons from the rooftops and cellars, from the trenches and sewers, up to their very last drop of blood.
But why were there two different organizations, with two different commanders? Because even in those difficult, terminal hours, cold politics prevailed over common sense. And so the left-leaning Jewish Fighting Organization (Eyal), led by the famous Mordechai Anilevich of HaShomer HaTza'ir, fought on one side of the ghetto, while the Jewish Military Organization (Etzi) of Beitar, under the command of Pavel Frankel, fought on the other side.
It was fierce fighting, from which only a few fighters were saved – but the political struggle lasted for decades afterwards. And in the war to determine whose narrative would prevail, Eyal won. Various researchers, with their own agendas, minimized Etzi's part in the uprising, to the point that it was practically unknown. Frankel's name was all but forgotten, while that of Mordechai Anilevitch was eternalized widely, and is largely a synonym for "Warsaw Uprising bravery." This was a mirror-image of the struggle between the Haganah and Etzel (the Irgun) in the pre-State days against the British Mandate.
And now for the good news: In the meanwhile, a new generation of researchers has arisen to balance the picture. Number one on this list is Prof. Chavi Dreifuss, author of the fascinating book, "Warsaw Ghetto: The End." In addition, the non-historian Moshe Arens, a former Foreign and Defense Minister of Israel, wrote a book entitled "Flags Above the Ghetto," in which he clarified the major role played by Etzi in the uprising, and showed that the most valiant fighting was fought by Etzi members. Researchers in Yad Vashem were asked to check the accuracy of these claims, and their findings actually led them to change the museum's Warsaw Ghetto Uprising exhibit. Finally, Pavel Frankel and some of his friends received the eternal credit that was due them.
And there's yet more: Two months ago, members of two left-wing youth groups, HaNo'ar HaOved and Dror, arrived in Warsaw for a special ceremony dedicated wholly to righting the injustice long perpetrated upon Etzi. They stood aside the plaque erected on one of the streets of the former ghetto, Moranovska St., and the head Dror counselor declared:
"We have come here, 80 years after the Great Uprising, to salute our brothers and sisters, heroes of glory, adorned with courage and victory – the members of the Beitar movement and Etzi… We have come here out of a deep urge, the deep humane and Jewish need, to rectify, to admit our sins in not giving the proper place and importance to the heroism of our brothers… Pavel Frankel, your voice is now heard, the voice of your Beitar movement has come to us and crossed all the walls and barriers of history. In our hearts, you live forever."
Another youth movement, the Machanot HaOlim, also of a left-wing orientation, took a similar initiative, holding a multi-messaged ceremony in the Holon Municipal Cemetery (near Tel Aviv), aside the gravesites of two female fighters – Zhuta Hartman of Etzi and Masha Gleitman-Futermilch of Eyal – who survived the ghetto but died later. Ilan Gazit, Chairman of the youth movement, proclaimed:
"We stand here together, members of youth movements from both the right and left, and thus state: We are not willing to accept the fragmentation and division. This gathering therefore gives hope that the younger generation will know how to mend the fissures and fractures of the previous generations."
Nissim Shalem, Chairman of the Beitar nationalist youth movement, added:
"It is very exciting and significant that we have the ability to commemorate together the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and the two organizations that fought in it, Etzi and Eyal. All of Israeli society should be encouraged, in that we are telling together the history of the heroism, from which we will be able to form a common future."
Thus, a new generation has arisen that seeks unity – youth that plants in us hopes for the future, and that seeks to bridge over the splits that have fractured our society of late regarding a critical subject that requires dialogue and compromise. The message of these memorial days is clear: Without internal unity, there is no hope for the Jewish State that arose from the ashes of the Shoah via the heroism of our brothers both there and here.
Editor's concluding note, based on an article written by Besheva Editor Emanuel Shilo:
"We must also recognize that we are in the final days - hopefully - of the government coalition's surrender to a ruthless, criminal anarchistic protest against the judicial reform initiative that shut down the country in many ways. It is now clear that it is no longer a question as to whether the left rules the country even when the right-wing wins national elections. Rather, this hypotheses has been proven to be true beyond a shadow of a doubt by the very success enjoyed by the anti-reform protestors; it can no longer be denied."