ANDRE WIEDER
My name is Andre Wieder, born 10th December 1927 in Czechoslovakia, and living in Belgium since 1930. My father, a baker by profession, was deported by the Nazis in 1943. Upon the liberation of Belgium by Allied Forces on September 4th 1944, I volunteered for the Czech Armored Brigade, serving firstly in England and then in France, Germany and Czechoslovakia.
In 1947 I returned to Belgium, and was a member of the USJJ (Jewish Progressive Jews Youth Organization, which was linked to the Communist Party). Immediately after the creation of the State, when war broke out in Israel, the USJJ encouraged groups of volunteers to join the Palmach and the Haganah. Our group consisted of some 20 girls and boys, amongst whom I remember: Paul Nurflus, Victor Cygelman, Jacques Wiernik, Jerome Grynpas, Jacqueline (Frieda) Pariza, Eugene Lupinski, David Susskind and Maurice Gancarski. Our group left Brussels for Marseilles by train in June or July 1948.
I was separated from the group at the French border because they all had Belgium passports with French visas, whereas I had a Czech passport without a visa. The reason for this is that in February 1947, after the ‘coup’ in Prague when Gottwald and the communists took over, the Czech embassy no longer extended validity to ’emigrants.’ Maurice Gancarski was in the same category as I, and so we had to cross the border illegally a few days later. When we arrived at the meeting center in Avenue de la Grande Armée in Paris, the officials told us that the others had already left for Israel.
When we arrived at the transit camp of Grand Arénas in Marseilles, we were met by the three commanding officers of that huge camp: Major Aaron “Aronczyk” from Kibbutz Degania, Captain Uri Atkin from Kibbutz Geva, and Captain Yair Dwar. On the following day the youngest officer, Uri Atkin who. spoke only Hebrew, took charge over us and another group of French, Belgian and Italian boys, about 12 of us in all. He gathered us together and explained the program very simply and very quietly. Yair Dwar, who was of Syrian origin, translated his words to us.
“You are here in a transit camp of the Haganah, where about 2,000-3,000 new immigrants and Gachalniks will transit every 2-3 weeks on their way to Israel, and most of the youngsters will be sent directly from the boat to the battle fronts. They are all French-speakers, coming from Morocco, Algiers, Egypt, Tunisi and Libya. None of us Israeli officers speak French, just a few words in English. You have been selected because you are young and fit, and all fluent in French and in English and have some knowledge of Hebrew. Besides, many of you have had some experience of armed service or even fighting conditions in World War II, and your task will be to prepare, as much as possible, these civilians for the conditions that will await them when they disembark in Haifa.”
I recall that when I protested this treatment, together with a few others, adding that we had come to Marseilles not to stay in Grand Arénas but in order to reach Israel the fastest way possible and take part in the fighting, he said, “We know better than you what is most needed and what is our priority. From now on, we consider you are a part of the Israeli army, and you are going to serve here and now according to our orders. Your passports are confiscated and you will stay here and do the job for as long as it will be requested.”
I stayed in Grand Arénas from June-July 1948 until January 1949, fulfilling all tasks that were requested of us with the others, running the camp under the three officers’ orders, giving the youngsters some basic military drilling exercise, taking care of elderly people and illnesses, and organizing the (illegal) transfer of thousands every week by boat to Israel from various French ports between Marseilles and Toulon. A part of the job was “smuggling” specific shipments like spare parts, armaments, and other needed goods on board the ships by night. From time to time I asked Atkin to let me go, but he was adamantly opposed, since he considered our work in Marseilles as first priority. I remember a certain Philip Harris from England who was in charge of the administration there, and he later became El Al station manager in Brussels.
This continued until one night, at the end of January 1949, when we had finished loading goods and people, I simply “forgot” to leave the ship and so I escaped to my final target destination, Israel,
Upon arriving in Haifa I had a lot of trouble, since I had no papers, nor any registration card, real or false. But thanks to some witnesses they accepted my story, and I was allowed to join the others. We were first sent to Kfar Yona, and then to Sarafand, As a Machalnik I was given the choice, and I chose to serve in the Israel Navy. I was a member of the crew on board the “Oniath-Krav-Esrim” (AK-20). I was discharged in mid-1950.
After that I joined the group that was discharged from the Palmach, and we went to a kibbutz in the south, and in 1951 we were all repatriated back to Belgium.
Machal/andrewiederamended1472020