▪

The Fabulous Erika:

Statehood. This woman was
seeking the niece she had known
only as a baby in Vienna long
ago. She was Erika's aunt.
It was through the influence
of her newly discovered aunt
that Erika decided to enter the
Zionist movement. She applied
for a job at the Jewish Agency.
camp and made his way to Her striking good looks, dulcet
Sweden _ where he heard that voice and poise, amazing for a
both his wife and daughter had girl just out of her teens, made
her a natural for the post of re-
perished.
ceptionist.
In the crucial months that
followed, when Agency head-
quarters at 16 E. 66th St., New
York, was a focal point in the
struggle for Jewish Statehood,
Erika Padan guarded its portals.

THE JEWI SH NEWS-11

Friday, September 28, 1951

U.S.-Bound Israeli Delegates
Find 2 Fair Ladies to Greet
Them, Including 'Miss Liberty'

Young Israelis who come to
America as shlichim (emissar-
ies) of the various chalutz move-
ments usually fall in love with
two ladies upon their arrival.
One is Miss Liberty, perennial
mistress of New York Harbor;
the other, Miss Erika Padan, ash
blonde, five -foot-four, . hazel-
eyed beauty who is the official
greeter of.- the Jewish Agency's
Youth and Chalutziut Depart-
ment. ,

When one of them gets
side - tracked to Ellis Island,
the SOS goes out to Miss Pad-
an and she's off on the ferry
to see to their release. When
a visitor's • visa expires she's
)the girl to get it • renewed.
When an emissary has "tzor-
es" or is just plain homesick
for the Negev, Miss Padan's
dainty shoulders are available
to blot his tears.

CHESTER M. MARTIN
REALTOR APPRAISER •

Her slight British accent,
fluent Hebrew, German and
French endeared her to visit-
ing diplomats. She became
friends of Ben-Gurion, Sha-
rett, Elath, Eban and a score
of others who were to be-
come the first statesmen of
Israel.

Miss Padan has probably
greeted. more Israelis in the
past 18 months than most
Americans will meet in their
lifetime. She's at the gang-
plank when the LaGuardia or
Atlantic come in from Haifa;
at Idlewild when El Al's Con-
stellations roar in from Lydda.

Part of her job is to guide the
newcomers through the intrica-
cies of their customs declara-
tions and the other official an-
noyances which beset the travel-
ler from abroad. She finds them
living quarters, hails their taxis,
gets their train reservations and
sees them off on their various
junkets across the United States.
Generally she maintains cor-
dial relations between Israel's
chalutz ambassadors and the
Department of Justice.

Sincere New Year Wishes

...
MISS ERIKA PADAN

"Our reunion was one of those
things that can't be described in
print," Erika says. "When I
heard he was alive my breath
started to move backwards. I
was literally choked with emo-
tion."
One day after the war a friend
called her attention to an ad-
vertisement tucked away in the
columns of a local German-
language newspaper. The ad had
been placed by one Ruth Klue-
ger, later revealed to be the
mystery woman of the under-
ground, organizer and chief of
Haganah's clandestine rescue
fleet which brought thousands
of Jews to Palestine before

Quite frequently a shaliach
will come with his' wife and
baby. Miss Padah will escort the
young housewife through the
-wonders of the neighborhood
super-market and show her how
to stretch each precious dollar
of the shaliach's limited budget
to the breaking point. If Sabra
Junior gets the mumps, she will
find a doctor. If mama and papa
must attend a meeting or simp-
ly want a night out at the Hab-
ibi Club, Erika will baby-sit.
Last year a blind little or-
phan was sent here from Israel
to await an operation on his
eyes. Erika voluntarily became
his foster mother, cooked his
food, washed and ironed his
clothes, got him a scholarship to
a school for handicapped chil-
dren. Recently the boy returned
to Israel. Erika took him to the
boat, pressed a food package un-
der his arm and bid him a fond
shalom. Then she wiped a tear
from her eye and sighed: "There
goes my first child."
If Erika felt a particularly
strong bond of sympathy for the
little Israeli orphan it was be-
cause for years she was an or-
phan herself, or so she believed.
Her earliest memories are of
a happy home in Vienna where
her mother was active in the re-
ligious Zionist movement and
her father was. a chemical en-
gineer. Hebrew, taught by her
mother, was the first language
she spoke. In school she learned
German and French.
Then the curtain fell. The
Nazis marched into Austria and
began siphoning the Jewish
community off to concentration
camps. Erika's fathers was
among the first to go-. Then one
night Erika, aged 12, found her-
self smuggled across the border
and bound for America to live
with an uncle she had never
seen. She never saw her mother
again. Her father, too, was de-
clared legally dead and event-
ually she heard that his ashes
had been sent to a distant rela-
tive.
Six years later Erika . was liv-
ing alone at a girls' club in New
York.

"It was the evening after
Yom Kippur. I had been fast-
ing all day and was in a. very
blue mood," she says. "Then
the telephone rang. It was my
uncle. He said: 'Erika, I have .
a surprise for you. Your
father is here.' " I • •

The surprise was as great for
the father as for the daughter.

He had escaped from a death

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Erika works days, goes to col-
lege nights, majoring in politi-
cal science.
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= =
Erika has a yen to settle in "g.
Le Shone Tovo Tickosevu
E
•
Israel, her favorite spot being -_=-:
the flat, blue-skied prairie lands
of the Negev. Amorous young
men have already offered her =7
a share in everything from a
but in the Huleh to a shikun for
Detroit Distributor for
two on Mount Carmel. But Erika
admits of another love.

G. J. LEFKOFSKY

"It started off as an adoles-
cent crush when I first came
here," she says, "but it's since
developed into a grand pas-
sion," Its story is contained
in one of her most treasured
possessions, a prize-winning
essay she wrote in high school
on the subject: "Why I Love
America."

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the past had brought no more than the opportunity

and obligation to serve our many clients and friends

our hearts would still overflow with thankfulness.

But the New Year SeaSon -.brings a retrospect of satisfying

ll
accomplishment and the prospect
o even greater
opportunity for a.
•

First and foremost, however, is our desire to extend a heartfelt

wish., on behalf of Moe Leiter and Associates, that you may find

happiness, security and contentment in the years ahead; A HAPPY

NEW YEAR TO ALL

. Your future is our immediate concern and in this rapidly

growing organization there always are opportunities for young men

who are anxious to succeed in a lucrative and satisfying career, where

service to our fellow men is paramount

HEADOFFICEWTER100,0/1141141

1166 PENO MCOT BUILDING

MOE LEITER

