Yaakov Weiss
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Yaakov Weiss ( he, יעקב וייס; July 15, 1924 – July 29, 1947) was a Hungarian Jew born in
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
and member of the
Irgun Irgun • Etzel , image = Irgun.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = Irgun emblem. The map shows both Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan, which the Irgun claimed in its entirety for a future Jewish state. The acronym "Etzel" i ...
Jewish guerrilla organization in
Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...
. After saving hundreds of Jews during
Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
, he illegally immigrated to Palestine, joined the Irgun, and fought the British during the
Jewish insurgency in Palestine A successful paramilitary campaign was carried out by Zionist underground groups against British rule in Mandatory Palestine from 1944 to 1948. The tensions between the Zionist underground and the British mandatory authorities rose from 1938 an ...
. He was one of three Irgun members executed for their part in the
Acre Prison break The Acre Prison break was an operation undertaken by the Irgun on May 4, 1947, in the British Mandate of Palestine, in which its men broke through the walls of the Central Prison in Acre and freed 27 incarcerated Irgun and Lehi members. History ...
, which triggered the Irgun's retaliatory hanging of two British soldiers. He is memorialized today as one of 12
Olei Hagardom Olei Hagardom ( he, עולי הגרדום, lit. "those who ascended to the gallows") refers to members of the two Jewish Revisionist pre-state underground organisations Irgun and Lehi, who were tried in British Mandate courts and sentenced to ...
.


Early life

Yaakov (Imre) Weiss was born in 1924 in
Nové Zámky Nové Zámky (; hu, Érsekújvár; german: Neuhäus ; la, Novum Castrum; tr, Uyvar) is a town in Nové Zámky District in the Nitra Region of southwestern Slovakia. Geography The town is located on the Danubian Lowland, on the Nitra River, ...
,
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
, to a Hungarian-speaking Jewish family, the son of Joseph and Helena Weiss. He had one sister, Edith.See his family letters in the Jabotinsky Institute in Tel Aviv. Reference number: K16-6/2/2 At age 10 he was sent to the Hebrew Gymnasium in
Munkács Mukachevo ( uk, Мукачево, ; hu, Munkács; see name section) is a city in the valley of the Latorica river in Zakarpattia Oblast (province), in Western Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of Mukachevo Raion (district), the city ...
. He developed
Revisionist Zionist Revisionist Zionism is an ideology developed by Ze'ev Jabotinsky, who advocated a "revision" of the "practical Zionism" of David Ben-Gurion and Chaim Weizmann which was focused on the settling of ''Eretz Yisrael'' ( Land of Israel) by independent ...
views and joined the
Betar The Betar Movement ( he, תנועת בית"ר), also spelled Beitar (), is a Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky. Chapters sprang up across Europe, even during World War II. After t ...
youth movement.


Activities during the Holocaust

In 1943, following his father's death and with
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
underway, Weiss fled to
Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
, hoping to get to Palestine from there. While in Budapest, he frequently disguised himself as a Hungarian military officer or an SS officer, stole birth certificates and passports, and used the fraudulent documents to save hundreds of Jews. He would frequently travel to ghettos, especially those in
Miskolc Miskolc ( , , ; Czech language, Czech and sk, Miškovec; german: Mischkolz; yi, script=Latn, Mishkoltz; ro, Mișcolț) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 (1 Jan 2014) Miskolc is the ...
,
Debrecen Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and i ...
,
Košice Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of app ...
, and
Eger Eger ( , ; ; also known by other alternative names) is the county seat of Heves County, and the second largest city in Northern Hungary (after Miskolc). A city with county rights. Eger is best known for its castle, thermal baths, baroque build ...
, and demand the Nazi authorities release individual Jews he picked out, producing forged documents "proving" they were Christians. However, he did not manage to produce documents for his mother and sister in time to prevent their deportation to
Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
, where his mother was murdered but his sister survived.


Emigration to Palestine and Irgun activities

In summer 1944, Weiss managed to escape to
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, and studied at the
University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centu ...
. In 1945, he boarded an
Aliyah Bet ''Aliyah Bet'' ( he, עלייה ב', "Aliyah 'B'" – bet being the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet) was the code name given to illegal immigration by Jews, most of whom were refugees escaping from Nazi Germany, and later Holocaust sur ...
ship headed for Palestine. It was intercepted by the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
, and Weiss was interned at
Atlit detainee camp The Atlit detainee camp was a concentration camp established by the authorities of Mandatory Palestine in the late 1930s on what is now the Israeli coastal plain, south of Haifa. Under British rule, it was primarily used to hold Jews and A ...
. On October 9, 1945, the
Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Companies") was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine. The Palmach ...
raided the camp and freed 208 inmates, Weiss among them. One of his rescuers was
Avshalom Haviv Avshalom Haviv ( he, אבשלום חביב; June 18, 1926–July 29, 1947) was a member of the Irgun underground organization in Mandatory Palestine, and one of the Olei Hagardom executed by the British authorities during the Jewish insurgenc ...
, who would eventually be hanged alongside him. Weiss moved to
Netanya Netanya (also known as Natanya, he, נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between Poleg stream and Wingate I ...
, where he worked as a menial laborer and jewelry retoucher. He joined the Irgun, which was then conducting an insurrection against the British authorities in Palestine with the goal of compelling them to leave so a Jewish state could be established. He was assigned to the Combat Corps and adopted the ''nom de guerre'' "Shimon". He took part in two raids on the British military resort camp near Netanya, mining operations against British security traffic, the bombing of a road bridge, and in railway sabotage. On May 4, 1947, he took part in the
Acre Prison break The Acre Prison break was an operation undertaken by the Irgun on May 4, 1947, in the British Mandate of Palestine, in which its men broke through the walls of the Central Prison in Acre and freed 27 incarcerated Irgun and Lehi members. History ...
, an attack against
Acre Prison Acre Prison also known as Akko Prison is a former prison and current museum in Acre, Israel. The citadel was built during the Ottoman period over the ruins of a 12th-century Crusader fortress. The Ottomans used it at various times as a govern ...
, a British fortress prison in the city of
Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...
, during which 28 Jewish underground prisoners were freed. Weiss was part of a blocking squad that laid mines to cover the retreat of the attackers and escapees by delaying any British pursuers. However, Weiss was captured, along with
Avshalom Haviv Avshalom Haviv ( he, אבשלום חביב; June 18, 1926–July 29, 1947) was a member of the Irgun underground organization in Mandatory Palestine, and one of the Olei Hagardom executed by the British authorities during the Jewish insurgenc ...
,
Meir Nakar Meir Nakar ( he, מאיר נקר; July 26, 1926 – July 29, 1947) was an Irgun member in pre-state Mandatory Palestine and one of 12 Olei Hagardom. Early life and army service Meir Nakar was born in Jerusalem to a poor Orthodox-Jewish family o ...
, Amnon Michaelov, and Nahman Zitterbaum.


Trial and execution

The five men were tried on capital charges in a military court, though Michaelov and Zitterbaum were too young to be sentenced to death. During their trial, the men refused to participate, disrupted the proceedings, and spent their time joking among themselves and drawing caricatures of members of the court. When given the opportunity to speak in their own defense, each of them gave defiant anti-British speeches. During his speech, Weiss stated: When the three men were sentenced to death, they broke into song, singing ''
Hatikvah Hatikvah ( he, הַתִּקְוָה, haTīqvā, ; ) is the national anthem of the State of Israel. Part of 19th-century Jewish poetry, the theme of the Romantic composition reflects the 2,000-year-old desire of the Jewish people to return t ...
''. They were taken to Acre Prison. While they were awaiting execution, the Irgun abducted British sergeants Clifford Martin and Mervyn Paice in Netanya and threatened to hang them if Haviv, Weiss, and Nakar were executed. Haviv, Weiss, and Nakar were hanged in Acre Prison in the early morning hours of July 29, 1947, with Weiss being the last one executed. Each of them went to their deaths singing ''Hatikvah'', with the rest of the Jewish prisoners joining in. The next day, they were buried in
Safed Safed (known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as Tzfat; Sephardi Hebrew, Sephardic Hebrew & Modern Hebrew: צְפַת ''Tsfat'', Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation, Ashkenazi Hebrew: ''Tzfas'', Biblical Hebrew: ''Ṣǝp̄aṯ''; ar, صفد, ''Ṣafad''), i ...
.


Aftermath

The Irgun subsequently carried out its threat to hang Sergeants Martin and Paice; the two men were killed and their bodies were hanged from trees and booby-trapped with a mine that injured an officer trying to cut one of them down. This incident shocked and enraged the British authorities and public, and led to violent reprisals by British troops that killed five Jews in
Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
and several days of antisemitic rioting in British cities. However, it also led to the suspension of the death penalty in Palestine, and has been cited as a major catalyst for the eventual British withdrawal from Palestine. Yaakov Weiss is remembered in Israel as one of the 12
Olei Hagardom Olei Hagardom ( he, עולי הגרדום, lit. "those who ascended to the gallows") refers to members of the two Jewish Revisionist pre-state underground organisations Irgun and Lehi, who were tried in British Mandate courts and sentenced to ...
, Palestinian Jewish fighters who were hanged or committed suicide while awaiting execution during the Mandate era. As with the other Olei Hagardom, streets have been named after him throughout Israel.


References


External links


Story of Yaakov Weiss
(Hebrew)

(Irgun website) {{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Yaakov People executed by Mandatory Palestine by hanging Olei Hagardom Irgun members 1924 births 1947 deaths Jews who emigrated to escape Nazism Czechoslovak Jews Hungarian Jews Czechoslovak emigrants to Mandatory Palestine People from Nové Zámky University of Geneva alumni