Page Five
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE
Friday, September 12, 1947
Refugees Off on 'Journey to Nowhere'
How Chaplains Aided
Underground to Zion
Formed Part of Lifeline to Liberty
for Thousands of European Jews
By CHAPLAIN MORRIS N. KEPTZER
(Editor's Note: It is more or less an open secret that American
GI's in Central Europe, including the chaplains, gave aid and
comfort to the Palestine underground as it developed a trans-
portation system and made possible the immigration of thous-
ands of displaced persons to the Jewish homeland in Palestine.
Chaplain Morris Kertzer, now the associate rabbi of the Park
Avenue Synagogue in New York, relates his exporiences with
the underground in the article, "The Underground to Palestine,"
which is a chapter from his new book, "With an 'H' On My Dog
Tag", recently published by Mehrman House. This article is pub-
lished by special permission of the publisher.)
AS I STOOD ON A. makeshift
pulpit before a congregation choice. His face was passive and
of soldiers and civilians one his words quiet but they held a
Friday evening in France, I felt compulsion in them. So I mur-
a man's eyes riveted on my mured yes and suggested that
face. The eyes were set against we meet at my office at head-
a thin, drawn face, the face of quarters. There I knew we could
a man who had known 'suffer- speak privately.
ing. His lips mechanically
But I was not to have my.
mouthed the words of the
Maariv service as his eyes re- way. "Let us meet at the Cafe
Montmartre Monday afternoon,"
mained fixed on me.
All the following week I was he replied. And then his face
haunted by the memory of the relaxed and he said softly, "I
man with the piercing eyes who want you to meet a different
had disappeared so completely kind of Jew—one who will not
after the benediction. I waited beg for cigarettes for himself
eagerly for the next Sabbath or bonbons for his childen . . .
service, knowing somehow that one who wants no favors from
the stranger . would seek me you . . . one who asks for noth-
there again. And I was not ing . . . but a Jew who has
something precious to give you."
disappointed.
Monday afternoon arrived.
I did not have to look for him
after the service. He moved All during the long weekend I
casually toward me through the had not thought it would. My
crowds streaming out of the doubts and anxieties did not
leave me when I saw the Mon-
Synagogue.
For a moment, I thought I martre—secluded, old, with the
air of a thousand years of con-
was seeing the Hebrew teacher
spiracy in every corner. There
of my childhood; both were men
was no one else around, and
of about 45, simply and neatly
dressed. Even the faces might even the waiter appeared only
have been the. same. But not at rare intervals.
the eyes. Except for them, my
stranger might have been a
typical luftmensch; one of those
intellectual Jews without moor-
ings, bound up to a dream and
hardly aware of the real, prac-
tical world.
• • •
MAKES APPOINTMENT
A SENSE OF destiny hung
over the meeting, and it was
strange and mysterious. The
words he spoke were simple:
"May I see you alone?"
Quite suddenly I was uneasy.
I did not want to be alone
with him but I knew I had no
Jewish displaced persons, who infiltrate into Austria from Po-
land at the rate of 1,500 a day, clamber into a truck on another
leg of a "journey to nowhere." These aimless wanderings
will continue until they find a new Homeland.
Stranger no more, Operator
Zayin's tone had changed. Was
this what I had called human
driftwood? Here was a swivel
executive of crisp words and
dynamic manner.
Here was my key to the door
of the romance and intrigue of
the Underground to Palestine, a
man with a price on his head, a
man less than thirty years old
who looked like forty-five.
Twice he has peen imprisoned,
and twice he had slipped
through the grasp of the Pales-
tine police. A thousand unan-
swered questions raced through
my mind. How had he gotten
to France? How did he live
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•
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IIE EXPECTED IT
MY STRANGE FRIEND ar-
rived and we sat down. I
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I had heard enough. I knew.
And in a way I had been ex-
pecting it. This was the mighty
Palestine Underground, and the
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I shall refer to as Operator
Zayin, was one of its keenest
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me and Fielt exultant.
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•
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• • •
without identification papers, ra-
tion cards? Luftmensch indeed!
He was perfect for the role.
A Hollywood casting director
seeking a quiet, unobtrusive,
anonymous-looking character to
melt imperceptibly into a crowd
would have chosen Operator
Zayin. Except for his eyes, now
bright and alert, Operator Zayin
had the kind of face one forgets
the moment it is out of sight.
• • •
LIFELINE TO LIBERTY
A FEW CHAPLAINS were
fortunate enough to share in the
drama of the ' Underground to
Palestine. They were Scarlet
Pimpernels; they were like those
American clergymen who helped
speed Negro slaves on the un-
derground railroad to freedom.
These chaplains formed part
of the lifeline to liberty for thou-
sands of young European Jews.
Their work was illegal, but they -
were not frightened. They neith-
er sought the approval of their
own command, nor concerned
themselves about running count.
er to the will of their British
allies.
For them the sight of young
pioneers, strong, idealistic, ready
to swim a thousand miles to set
their feet on the shores of Pal-
estine, was sufficient.
The stories here must neces-
sarily be vague.
la
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