Haviva Reik
Encyclopedia
Haviva Reick (1914–1944) was one of 32 or 33 Palestinian Jewish
parachutists sent by the Jewish Agency and Britain's Special Operations Executive
(SOE) on military missions in Nazi
-occupied Europe
.
), and grew up in Banská Bystrica
in the Carpathian Mountains
. She joined the Hashomer Hatzair
youth movement there. In 1939 she made aliyah
- that is, emigrated
to Palestine - where she joined kibbutz Ma'anit
and later enlisted in the Palmach
, the elite strike force of the Haganah
underground military organization.
The British Special Operations Executive
(SOE) asked the Palmach if they could supply people with the right qualities for special operations and with a prior knowledge of Central Europe. The call was open to women as well as men. Reik was one of the young women accepted. She joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force
(WAAF), serving as 2992503 ACW.2 'Ada Robinson'. She then joined SOE for specialist training, including a parachuting course. She then assumed another new name, one that would be more appropriate for mission, becoming 'Martha Martinovic' and was promoted to Sergeant.
An uprising was in progress at the time in her native Slovakia against the Axis
-installed Hlinkova Slovenská Ľudová Strana (Slovak People's Party of Hlinka; HSLS). Centered around the Banská Bystrica region, the revolt had begun in the spring of 1944, initiated by the Czechoslovak Agrarian party, part of the Social Democratic party, the Communist party, sectors of the Slovak nationalists, and army officers. In late December 1943 these groups had aligned with the Slovak National Council
. The uprising sought to overthrow the and detach Slovakia from the Axis.
There were armed underground Jewish cells in each of the three Slovak labor camps before the SNR was established. Early in 1944 they established contact with the SNR, and became part of the movement. The uprising was to coincide with Allied
advances, particularly that of the Soviet Army
. However, the Red Army
held back. The partisans
made considerable gains, and on August 28 the Nazis decided to occupy Slovakia and eliminate the uprising.
After their training, Reick and three others, Stephan Rafael Reisz (serving as: 769472 Sgt. S. Rice, RAFVR), Zvi Ben-Yaakov, and 'Haim Hermesh (Kassaf) waited in Bari
, Italy
to be parachuted into Slovakia. However, the British authorities refused to parachute a woman
behind enemy lines for a military operation. On September 17, 1944, Reick hitched a ride with a group of American
pilots who were flying to Banská Bystrica. The three others, although parachuted on September 15, joined her only on September 21. At the end of the month, a fifth parachutist, Abba Berdiczew, joined them, bringing radio
equipment. In Banská Bystrica, Haviva and the others engaged in relief and rescue activities. They organized a soup kitchen
and community centre for refugees, and facilitated the escape of Jewish children to Hungary
and thence to Palestine. Through their connections with partisan and resistance groups, they helped rescue allied airmen who had been shot down.
Late in September, SS Obergruppenfuhrer Gottlob Berger
, the chief commander of the German forces, was replaced by the Obergruppenfuhrer of the Hoherer SS and the Polizeifuhrer SS, Hermann Hofle. They used Ukrainian
Waffen SS troops, among them apparently John (Ivan) Demjanjuk
, to suppress the rebellion. On 27 October 1944, the Germans occupied Banská Bystrica. Haviva and the other parachutists escaped with about 40 Jewish partisans and community leaders. They built a camp in the mountains, but were captured a few days later by Ukrainian Waffen SS troops of the Galicia division.
On 20 November the Germans and their Slovakian fascist collaborators shot most of the captive Jews, including Reick and Reiss, and buried them in a mass grave in the village of Kremnicka near Banska Bistrica. Ben-Yaakov and Abba Berdiczew were deported to Mauthausen death camp
and later killed. Haim Chermesh escaped, fought with the partisans and the Red Army, and later returned to Palestine.
military cemetery in Jerusalem, along with those of Szenes and Reiss. Kibbutz Lahavot Haviva, the Givat Haviva institute, a small river, a gerbera flower, a big Water reservoir, an Aliyah Bet ship, and numerous streets in Israel are named after her.
Yishuv
The Yishuv or Ha-Yishuv is the term referring to the body of Jewish residents in Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel...
parachutists sent by the Jewish Agency and Britain's Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
(SOE) on military missions in Nazi
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
-occupied Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
Biography
Reick was born June 14, 1914 as Marta Reick in the Slovakian village of Nadabula (now a part of RožňavaRožnava
Rožňava is a town in Slovakia, approximately 71 km by road from Košice in the Košice Region, and has a population of 19,120.The town is an economic and tourist center of the Gemer. Rožňava is now a popular tourist attraction with a beautiful historic town centre. The town is an episcopal seat...
), and grew up in Banská Bystrica
Banská Bystrica
Banská Bystrica is a key city in central Slovakia located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica Mountains. With 81,281 inhabitants, Banská Bystrica is the sixth most populous municipality in Slovakia...
in the Carpathian Mountains
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...
. She joined the Hashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair is a Socialist–Zionist youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine...
youth movement there. In 1939 she made aliyah
Aliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
- that is, emigrated
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
to Palestine - where she joined kibbutz Ma'anit
Ma'anit
Ma'anit is a kibbutz located near the town of Pardes Hanna-Karkur in northern Israel. It falls under the jurisdiction of Menashe Regional Council.-History:...
and later enlisted in the Palmach
Palmach
The Palmach was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palmach was established on May 15, 1941...
, the elite strike force of the Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
underground military organization.
The British Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
(SOE) asked the Palmach if they could supply people with the right qualities for special operations and with a prior knowledge of Central Europe. The call was open to women as well as men. Reik was one of the young women accepted. She joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force
Women's Auxiliary Air Force
The Women's Auxiliary Air Force , whose members were invariably referred to as Waafs , was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II, established in 1939. At its peak strength, in 1943, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000, with over 2,000 women enlisting per week.A Women's Royal Air...
(WAAF), serving as 2992503 ACW.2 'Ada Robinson'. She then joined SOE for specialist training, including a parachuting course. She then assumed another new name, one that would be more appropriate for mission, becoming 'Martha Martinovic' and was promoted to Sergeant.
An uprising was in progress at the time in her native Slovakia against the Axis
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
-installed Hlinkova Slovenská Ľudová Strana (Slovak People's Party of Hlinka; HSLS). Centered around the Banská Bystrica region, the revolt had begun in the spring of 1944, initiated by the Czechoslovak Agrarian party, part of the Social Democratic party, the Communist party, sectors of the Slovak nationalists, and army officers. In late December 1943 these groups had aligned with the Slovak National Council
Slovak National Council
The Slovak National Council is the name of different types of supreme bodies in the history of Slovakia. They existed within the Kingdom of Hungary, Czechoslovakia or the Slovak Republic or were bodies of Slovak exiles:...
. The uprising sought to overthrow the and detach Slovakia from the Axis.
There were armed underground Jewish cells in each of the three Slovak labor camps before the SNR was established. Early in 1944 they established contact with the SNR, and became part of the movement. The uprising was to coincide with Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
advances, particularly that of the Soviet Army
Soviet Army
The Soviet Army is the name given to the main part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Previously, it had been known as the Red Army. Informally, Армия referred to all the MOD armed forces, except, in some cases, the Soviet Navy.This article covers the Soviet Ground...
. However, the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
held back. The partisans
Partisan (military)
A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity...
made considerable gains, and on August 28 the Nazis decided to occupy Slovakia and eliminate the uprising.
After their training, Reick and three others, Stephan Rafael Reisz (serving as: 769472 Sgt. S. Rice, RAFVR), Zvi Ben-Yaakov, and 'Haim Hermesh (Kassaf) waited in Bari
Bari
Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
to be parachuted into Slovakia. However, the British authorities refused to parachute a woman
Woman
A woman , pl: women is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent...
behind enemy lines for a military operation. On September 17, 1944, Reick hitched a ride with a group of American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pilots who were flying to Banská Bystrica. The three others, although parachuted on September 15, joined her only on September 21. At the end of the month, a fifth parachutist, Abba Berdiczew, joined them, bringing radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
equipment. In Banská Bystrica, Haviva and the others engaged in relief and rescue activities. They organized a soup kitchen
Soup kitchen
A soup kitchen, a bread line, or a meal center is a place where food is offered to the hungry for free or at a reasonably low price. Frequently located in lower-income neighborhoods, they are often staffed by volunteer organizations, such as church groups or community groups...
and community centre for refugees, and facilitated the escape of Jewish children to Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
and thence to Palestine. Through their connections with partisan and resistance groups, they helped rescue allied airmen who had been shot down.
Late in September, SS Obergruppenfuhrer Gottlob Berger
Gottlob Berger
Gottlob Berger was a German Nazi who held the rank of Obergruppenführer during World War II and was later convicted of war crimes.In 1939, he was Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler's main recruiting officer...
, the chief commander of the German forces, was replaced by the Obergruppenfuhrer of the Hoherer SS and the Polizeifuhrer SS, Hermann Hofle. They used Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
Waffen SS troops, among them apparently John (Ivan) Demjanjuk
John Demjanjuk
John Demjanjuk is a retired Ukrainian-American auto worker who gained notoriety after being accused numerous times of Holocaust-related war crimes....
, to suppress the rebellion. On 27 October 1944, the Germans occupied Banská Bystrica. Haviva and the other parachutists escaped with about 40 Jewish partisans and community leaders. They built a camp in the mountains, but were captured a few days later by Ukrainian Waffen SS troops of the Galicia division.
On 20 November the Germans and their Slovakian fascist collaborators shot most of the captive Jews, including Reick and Reiss, and buried them in a mass grave in the village of Kremnicka near Banska Bistrica. Ben-Yaakov and Abba Berdiczew were deported to Mauthausen death camp
Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
Mauthausen Concentration Camp grew to become a large group of Nazi concentration camps that was built around the villages of Mauthausen and Gusen in Upper Austria, roughly east of the city of Linz.Initially a single camp at Mauthausen, it expanded over time and by the summer of 1940, the...
and later killed. Haim Chermesh escaped, fought with the partisans and the Red Army, and later returned to Palestine.
Commemoration
After the war, on September 1945, Reick's and Reiss' bodies were exhumed and buried in the Military Cemetery in Prague. On 10 September 1952, Haviva Reik's remains were buried in Mount HerzlMount Herzl
Mount Herzl , also Har HaZikaron , is the national cemetery of Israel on the west side of Jerusalem. It is named for Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism. Herzl's tomb lies at the top of the hill. Yad Vashem, which commemorates the Holocaust, lies to the west of Mt. Herzl....
military cemetery in Jerusalem, along with those of Szenes and Reiss. Kibbutz Lahavot Haviva, the Givat Haviva institute, a small river, a gerbera flower, a big Water reservoir, an Aliyah Bet ship, and numerous streets in Israel are named after her.
External references
- Zionist Parachutists in World War II
- http://www.fluchschrift.net/verbrech/november/201144.htm