THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, April 16, 1982 Epitaph for the Leader of the Red Orchestra By SIMON GRIVER r Chief Admiral Wilhelm Canaris said 200,000 Ger- man soldiers fell as a result of the Red Orchestra's work. The stenographer at some of the meetings in which Hitler briefed his leading generals was a member of the spy ring and though Sta- lin disbelieved the informa- tion, the Red Orchestra was able to warn Moscow in the summer of 1941 of the Nazi invasion of the USSR. Trepper spent these years as Jean Gilbert, Belgian industrialist liv- ing in Paris with his fam- ily. When he spent a period in Brussels he was Adam Mikler, a French Canadian. His wife had gone to the USSR with her child in 1941. Trepper played these parts so well that when there was a resurgence of interest in Poland during the late 1960s in the activi- ties of the Red Orchestra, the country's press asked, "Whatever happened to Jean Gilbert?" As Trepper comments in his autobiog- raphy, "Trepper was Jewish — whereas Jean Gilbert wasn't." It was in Poland, in the small town of Novi larg that Trepper was born in 1904. The current atmos- phere and traditional Jewish values of his parents molded his belief in Zionism and his commitment to Communism. When he was 17 his family moved to the industrial region of Silesia and his burning passion to change both the world and the situation of the Jews was reinforced by spells in an iron works and a soap factory. were not appreciated by the World Zionist Press Service British and he was expelled JERUSALEM — The in 1929. courage of the anti-Nazi He spent many years underground has an irresis- in France and Belgium tible fascination for people and then came his chance of all generations, in and to do something for both out of Europe. Neverthe- his own people and the less, of those involved in world in combatting Hit- this, the most dangerous of ler. Although a- Com- all war work, few can have munist, he had always had so much influence in seen Stalin as a tyrant. In daring espionage exploits as 1945, he went to Moscow Leopold Trepper, who died where his wife and chil- in January in Jerusalem. dren had sought refuge. Trepper was the ingeni- In the euphoria of Hit- ous leader of the Red Or- ler's defeat, he naively chestra, an all-European believed that Stalin's it fighting against the political path may have azis between 1938 and changed. He was ar- 1945, and including many rested on arriving in Jews. In his own view, he Moscow and incarcer- was not so much a spy as a ated in the Lubianka soldier in the battle against prison for 10 years. Hitler. On being pardoned and In his autobiography, rehabilitated following Sta- "The Great Game," he mod- lin's death, he made, by his estly detracts from the own admission, a second achievements of the people naive blunder. He dreamed he commanded all over of revitalizing Polish Jewry, Europe by claiming that it so he returned to the land of was the foot soldiers of the his birth to play a leading Allied and Soviet armies role in Jewish life; but as he' that defeated the Nazis. soon discovered Poland was But the facts show that not the land of his people. in World War. II, the 290 Following an upsurge of members of the Red Or- anti-Semitism in the late chestra (the name was 1960s, he returned his invented by the Nazis), Communist Party member- many of whom suffered ship card and applied to the most excruciating leave for Israel. While his torture when caught, family was able through played a role out of all various devices to receive proportion to their rela- visas, his was cruelly denied tively small number. until 1973. In 1,500 dispatches, An international cam- transmitted by this "or- paign was launched for chestra" of radio operators Trepper's freedom with from Nazi-occupied West- hunger strikes arousing ern Europe to Moscow, some public opinion all over the spectacular feats were pul- world. It was this which led off. German plans for a brought about his release. new T6 Tiger tank reached One of Trepper's sons Russia in time for the demonstrated in Denmark Soviets to develop the more and the other in the U.S. advanced KV tank to coif- Trepper dreamed of a new Jerusalem's Western Wall front it. The Nazis must breed of men, free of prej- was the scene of another have been equally stunned udices, and so in 1924 he set hunger strike. Trepper ar- to discover that their most out for Palestine, deter- rived in Jerusalem to be re- sophisticated Mes- mined to incorporate this united with his wife and the serschmitt aircraft was out- dream' into the Jewish na- Jewish people. flown by a superior Russian tional revival. He found the But he had not come model — once more, thanks backbreaking work of to information passed by draining swamps not disil- "home" simply to live out lusioning but purifying. But his laA years. As his close Trepper's network. German Intelligence his Communist politics friend Max Melman writes, "Leiba, as we used to call him, was a fountainhead of plans and projects even in his last years when he suf- fered a torturing illness." He wrote his autobiog- raphy, an account so popu- lar that it has appeared in 18 languages. He had hoped to write more material about the Red Orchestra. His wife has a strong desire to put on record much that Trepper was unable to com- plete. In her modest flat in a suburb of Jerusalem, she says she sometimes feels her husband is still alive, living Israel's present and recalling his own stormy past. At a ceremony in ‘11.7 each ,, Jerusalem 30 days after They're all 14K gold and are they cute. You'll want to give these Trepper's death, many as gifts. Charms are movable, lovable, and 11/4 inch in actual size. Make someone very happy. Where else but TAPPER"SI s warm eulogies were deliv- ered, including one by Yit- I FREE CASH Tapper's zhak Arad, head of Yad GIFT REFUNDS k..) Vashem. "Jews fought in WRAPPING I every part of the world to 26400 West Twelve Mile Road MON.-SAT. bring down Hitler," he said, in Southfield's Racquetime Mall 10:00-5:45 a "but none fought in the THURSDAYS 357-5578 10:00-8:45 unique way of Trepper." Former partisan Chayka HOW COULD YOU RESIST? A n 95 at Northeast come, of 12 mo, NorthweStern Hwy Grossman said she consid- ered Trepper to have been an authentic Jewish hero, whose life was motivated by his love for the Jewish people. The meeting closed with a reading from Trepper's autobiography. The moving passage recalled his release from a decade in a Soviet prison, only to return home 19 50 lbs. DOG FOOD $ 8 89 unrecognized by his own sons, for his wife had been informed 10 years earlier of his death. The recollection was both poignant and per- tinent, for Trepper's life did not lack disappointments which might have broken a lesser man. FREE DELIVERY 345-5597 Truth is the cry of all, but the game of few. .1 6 1 /2°k Government National Mortgage. 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