Hans Shmuel Beyth (October 5, 1901 – December 26, 1947) was a German banker and Zionist activist. Between 1935 and 1945 he was a close aide of Henrietta Szold managing the Youth Aliyah, and from 1945 until his death in 1947 he was the leader of the organization in

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. Beyth was killed in a shootout during the civil war in Mandatory Palestine.

Biography

The Beyths were a well established Jewish family in the small town of

Bleicherode Bleicherode () is a town in the district of Nordhausen, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the river Wipper, 17 km southwest of Nordhausen. On 1 December 2007, the former municipality Obergebra was incorporated by Bleicherode. The f ...

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

(today

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

), where they had helped to build up the local textile industry. Being located in Brandenburg-Prussia at that time, the Jewish community of Bleicherode dated back to the beginning of the 18th century, when the Prussian King encouraged Jewish settlement in town, and Jewish families (amongst them the famous Bleichröder family, Bismarck's bankers) contributed considerably to the economic development of that ancient Thuringian mining town at the crossroads of important trade routes. Typically for well-assimilated families with a strong German identity, during World War I, several sons of the Beyth family volunteered for the German army and at least one was awarded the "

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...

". Together with his brother Carl, and as many German "Bürgertum" kids of his generation, Hans had joined the

Wandervogel ''Wandervogel'' (plural: ''Wandervögel''; English: "Wandering Bird") is the name adopted by a popular movement of German youth groups from 1896 to 1933, who protested against industrialization by going to hike in the country and commune with na ...

, a naturalistic German Youth organisation very popular at that time, which promoted ideas like Youth Hostels. However, already before World War One, anti-semitism became quite virulent within "Wandervogel" and Jewish members were being systematically discriminated against and pushed out. As a result, Jewish former members of Wandervogel, amongst them the Beyths, formed "Blau-Weiss", a Jewish Youth organisation, as early as 1912, also very early embracing Zionist ideas. After World War I, when Jewish people were smeared in Germany as being responsible for Germany losing the war and

Walther Rathenau Walther Rathenau (; 29 September 1867 – 24 June 1922) was a German industrialist, writer and politician who served as foreign minister of Germany from February 1922 until his assassination in June 1922. Rathenau was one of Germany's leading ...

, a leading Jewish-born industrialist (CEO of AEG Telefunken, then the World's leading electronics and communication company, and Foreign Minister of the First Republican government of the Reich) was assassinated by right-wing terrorists, Zionism became a very strong force in the Jewish youth organisations in Germany.

Zionist activism

Beyth helped train young people in the Hechaluz camps. He was instrumental in organising a Hechaluz camp in Wolfenbüttel. After 1933, he became a key member of the "Jüdische Jugendhilfe" (founded by

Recha Freier Recha Freier (Hebrew: רחה פריאר) born Recha Schweitzer, (October 29, 1892 in Norden, East Frisia – April 2, 1984 in Jerusalem) founded the Youth Aliyah organization in 1933. The organization saved the lives of 7,000 Jewish childre ...

in Germany as the core of Youth Aliyah). He moved to the Netherlands, where he organized Hechaluz training in Harlingen, and in 1935 he made aliyah himself with his family. In Palestine Beyth first worked as the representative for Germany in the Youth Aliyah, initially he was hired to organize accounting of the organisation as an experienced German banker.Sylva M. Gelber: No Balm in Gilead - a personal retrospective of mandate days in Palestine: McGill-Queen's University Press - MQUP, Montreal, Canada, 1989 - 284 Seiten, S. 271, Because of his outstanding organisational competency he quickly became the closest aide of Youth Aliyah leader Henrietta Szold. Through his activities Beyth helped rescue thousands of Jewish children and youngsters from Europe. One of the most spectacular successes was the rescue of the so-called "Teheran children". After the death of Szold in February 1945, Beyth took over the official leadership of Youth Aliyah. On December 26, 1947, he accompanied a convoy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which contained a bus with children being brought to Jerusalem in the context of Youth Aliyah activities. Beyth who initially intended to follow the convoy in a passenger car together with Golda Myerson (later Meir) from the Jewish Agency, instead took a place with the children in the bus, to allow a representative of Youth Aliyah from the US to travel in the car. The convoy was fired upon close to the Arab exclaves of Latrun and later at Castel. Beyth returned the fire on the bus with his handgun and was killed in the subsequent gunfight.

Awards and recognition

In 1954

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

suggested awarding the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

to Youth Aliyah and its founder Recha Freier.ITS Arolsen:
Youth Aliyah: Escaping Nazi Germany, Heading for Palestine - Escaping the Holocaust, Heading for Israel In Jerusalem a major through road is named after Hans Beyth. It connects Sderot Herzl (close to Mount Herzl / Yad Vashem) and Sderot Menachem Begin.

Film

* AUFBRUCH DER JUGEND! (Deutschland, Palästina, 1936) - Ein Film aus dem Leben der jüdischen Jugend aus Deutschland in Palästina: im Auftrage der Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Kinder - und Jugend - Alijah Berlin, hergestellt von Lou Landauer (Jerusalem). Bearbeitet von Eva Stern und Marta Goldberg (Original-Vorspann, Abschrift lt. Kopie: Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive, Jerusalem) (Hans Beyth ist in dem Film zu sehen.
Fritz Bauer Institut Frankfurt - Cinematographie des Holocaust - FBW002570
** Rahel Wischnitzer-Bernstein: ''Der Film der Jugendalija.'' In: Gemeindeblatt der Jüdischen Gemeinde zu Berlin, Jg. 26, Nr. 22, 31. Mai 1936 ** N.: ''Unsere Jugend - unsere Zukunft. Ein Abend der Jugend-Alijah.'' In: Jüdische Rundschau (Berlin), Jg. 41, Nr. 45, 4. Juni 1936

References

External links