Re: [Cz-L] Bricha

From: <lapidotm_at_inter.net.il>
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:12:08 +0200
To: Miriam Taylor <mirtaylo_at_indiana.edu>
Reply-To: <lapidotm_at_inter.net.il>

Dear Miriam,

Our paths crossed.

1. My cousin, Marcu Drapel then, was one of the children in that transport, and spent quite a while in the Appeldoorn camp with you (before joining us in Israel). He is a Czernowitzer, of course, so you were at least two there. He is away this week, and I will advise him upon his return, in case he may wish to contact you. He was 11 at the time. He went on that transport from Craiova, where we spent two years from May 1945 to September 1947, after "repatriation" from "Czernovtsy"

Unfortunately, by the time we had reached Craiova, his father, who had been mobilised by the Red Army when they arrived in Czernowitz in 1944, had fallen on the steps of the Reichstag. He had been a mortar-operator in the famous 380th Rifle-Regiment, of the 171st Rifle-Division, of Zhukov's 3rd Shock-Army, that was assigned the dubitable "honour" (many Regiment commanders fought for this "honour") to storm the Reichstag on on the 30th April 1945 (it fell the next day, at heavy losses to that regiment, and a red flag was raised on the roof early 1st May morning, in time for the parade in Moscow) together with another regiment (the 756th of the 150th Rifle-Division of that same 3rd Shock-Army). Hitler, as we know, committed suicide on that very day, a few scores of meters away. So my cousin never saw his father again after having been separated from him in 1944. There is not much consolation in knowing that his father was one of the few Jews who survived the Shoah under Fascist occupation, and lived to take full revenge and fight victoriously all along East Germany, until actually storming the Nazi citadel, the event that marked the end of Nazi rule in Europe.

2. My parents too were on one of the Pans, jointly with yours. As you know, they arrived on 1st January 1948 morning, whereas I had left the night before for Palestine, having been interned there for over 3 months (I was a Maapil on the Haganah ship "Medinat Hayehudim" that left Burgas harbour erev Yom Kippur 1947, and was captured by the British navy, after some struggle, on Hol-Hamoed Succot). They were able (it was not an easy matter, because the British allowed only quite elderly inmates to immigrate to the newly established state, so they added 10 years to their age) to leave Cyprus for Israel on the day after its establishment (on 15 May afternoon). It was Shabbat and they saw large fires in Tel-Aviv harbour (the result of the first raid of the Egyptian bombers on Tel-Aviv) and when questioning the Madrichim they were told that these were bonfires lit in their honour...Thus I was fortunate to meet them that Motzaei Shabbat, after a separation of only 8 months.

Could you have a look at the photos you mentioned and see if there is a Frau or Herr Lapides there?

Thanks in advance

Mordecai Lapidot

----- Original Message -----
From: Miriam Taylor <mirtaylo_at_indiana.edu>
Date: Tuesday, February 26, 2013 20:11
Subject: Re: [Cz-L] Bricha
To: Abraham Kogan <akogan_at_netvision.net.il>
Cc: 'cornel fleming' <cornel.fleming_at_virgin.net>, Czernowitz-L_at_cornell.edu

> Dear Abraham and list members,
>
> In 1946 it was still possible to travel to Hungary from Oradea Mare.
> One of my relatives, a survivor of Mathausen, often went to Debrecen
> in Hungary to buy provisions for the Soviet administrators stationed
> in Oradea Mare. Occasionally my father went with him, even though
> he was not authorized to do so.
>
> The same relatives also managed to get out of Romania in 1947,
> by bribing the officials who were in charge of granting such permits.
>
> The Jewish agency also organized in Sept. 1947 a transport of
> 500 children from Romania, who were sent to Holland because
> the British would not allow them to immigrate to Palestine and because
> it was becoming clear that Romania soon would close its borders,
> to prevent people leaving the "Communist Paradise".
>
> I was one of the 500 children. There were no other Czernowitz children
> among us, but plenty children from the Bukowina, mostly from
> Dorna Vatra.
> Interesting how we stuck together, the older children taking care
> of the younger ones.
>
> Abraham, you and my parents were together either on the Pan York
> or the Pan Crescent, which tried to get to Palestine in December
> of 1947,
> were caught by the British and held captive in Cyprus.
> There must have been quite a number of Czernowitzers at the camp
> (near Famagusta?) in which you were held. I have photographs
> taken there and my father wrote the names of the people photographed
> on the back. Many names have the prefix "Frau" or Herr", from which
> I assume that they were Czernowitzers.
>

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Received on 2013-02-27 10:52:18

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