List of notable Irgun members

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The following persons have been listed either by the Irgun's website^[1] or by reputable independent sources (meeting Wikipedia standards for reliability) as being notable members of the Irgun, a Zionist paramilitary organization that existed from 1931 through 1948, when it was formally dissolved and its members integrated into the modern Israeli Defense Forces.

Former Irgun members^[2] have held positions of highest influence in the Israeli political and security establishments since independence, and the lasting effect of the ideology espoused by extremist groups such as the Irgun and the Lehi continues to be a source of active research and debate among responsible historians and political observers to this day.

1 Persons listed on the Irgun website
2 Persons cited in other sources
3 Contract affiliates
4 ZZW / IZL issues
5 References

[edit] Persons listed on the Irgun website

[edit] Irgun Chief Commanders

Jabotinsky Zeev – Leader of the IRGUN (1880 - 1940)
Tehomi Avraham – First Commander in Chief (1903-1990)
Bitker Robert – Second Commander in Chief (1907-1977)
Rozenberg Moshe – Third Commander in Chief (1890-1989)
David Raziel – Fourth Commander in Chief (1910-1941)
Meridor Yaakov – Fifth Commander in Chief (1913-1995); Likud member of the 10th Knesset.
Begin Menahem – The Last Commander in Chief (1913-1992); first Likud Prime Minister of Israel.

[edit] The Gallows

The Irgun website lists the following as having been executed during the British occupation; though many were indeed hanged at places such Acre Prison, others were killed during firefights, or committed suicide to avoid capture.

See also: Olei Hagardom

Alkahi Mordechai (1925-1947)
Barazani Moshe (1926-1947)
Beit-Tzuri Eliyahu (1922-1945)
Ben-Yosef Shlomo (1913-1938)
Dresner Yehiel (1922-1947)
Feinstein Meir (1927-1947)
Gruner Dov (1912-1947); according to the Irgun website, "took part in numerous military operations, one of them was blowing up of Goldschmidt House Officers Club."
Hakim Eliyahu (1925-1945)
Haviv Avshalom (1926-1947)
Kashani Eliezer (1923-1947)
Nakar Meir (1926-1947)
Weiss Yaakov (1924-1947)

[edit] Senior Commanders

Aharoni, Yaakov-Sika
Allis, Shraga – "took part in planning the blowing up of the King David Hotel, the attack on the British officers club and other operations."
Amitai, Shmuel ("Mike") (1920-1998)
Amitzur, Bezalel – later chairman of the board of directors of Maman Aerospace, and founded the Irgun Museum at Jabotinsky House.
Amrami, Yaakov (1916-1996) – set up the Hadar publishing house, which mainly published books connected with the anti-British underground. Wrote a book entitled Hadvarim Gdolim Hem Me-itanu (Hadar, 1994).
Ashbel Michael (1922-1947)
Assaf, Avraham (1914-1980)
Avinoam, Yitzhak – articipated in KDH bombing and Goldschmidt House operations.
Avni, Yosef – "took part in the conquest of Deir Yassin, where he was wounded upon attacking the Muchtar's house." Commanded the first group ("the porters") that arrived at the King David Hotel prior to Yisrael Levi's "strike force".
Ben-Eliezer, Aryeh (1913-1970) – co-founder, Committee for the Rescue of European Jewry and later on the Committee for National Liberation. Elected to the Knesset as a Herut member and served as Deputy Speaker.
Cohen Dov ("Shimshon") (1915 - 1947)
Cohen, Ben-Zion ("Giora") – "[c]ommanded the capture of the village of Dir Yassin and served as deputy commander in the capture of Malha." Later joined the IDF and attained the rank of Major, and "participated in various security projects within the framework of Raphael (The Authority for Development of Weapons)."
Cohen, Rahamim ("Gad")
Efrat, Dov
Eliav, Yaakov ("Yashka") (1917-1985) – during the split the Irgun, sided with Avraham Stern and became one of the founders of the Lehi, and later, its Chief Operating Officer.
Fallan, Chaim
Germant, Natan-Niko ("Shimshon")
Gershoni, Shalom ("Nachum") (1916-1991)
Globman-Naot, Yehuda ("Avitagar")
Goldshmid, Yehoshua ('Gal") (1925-1948) – took part in KDH bombing, attack on the Schneller Army Camp and planned the attack on Deir Yassin.
Grosbard, David (1915-1990) – served as a member of the central institutions of the Herut movement and manager of the Herut newspaper.
Heichman, Aharon – listed by other sources as a High Commander^[3]; later a manager of ZOA House in Tel Aviv.
Hillel, Yaakov ("Asher") – according to the Irgun website, "took part in reprisals against Arabs rioters", in the blowing up of income tax offices in Haifa and in the embarkation of the Altalena from France.
Kalai (Strelitz) Hanoch (1910-1979) – temporarily joined with Avraham Stern after the split, but left at some point due to ideological differences. Later a member of the Academy of the Hebrew Language, and was put in charge of language standards at the Israel Broadcasting Authority, and became an editor at the Bialik Institute.
Katz, Shmuel (b. 1914) – one of the founders of the Herut movement and a member of the First Knesset; was later inivited by Menachim Begin to be his propaganda advisor.
Koenig, Zvi ("Yishai") (1924-1948)
Kook, Hillel – operating within the U.S. during WW II, set up the Committee for the Rescue of European Jewry, and the Hebrew Committee for National Liberation. Elected to the First Knesset as a Herut member.
Landau, Haim ("Avraham") (1916-1981) – Herut founder, Knesset member, held positions in the Begin government.
Lapidot, Yehuda ("Nimrod") – commanding roles in the assault on Ramat Rachel and in Operation Kedem; later an advisor to Begin and noted author.
Lenkin, Eliyahu ("Benyamin") (1914-1994) – commanded the Altalena; later a battalion commander in the IDF, and a member of the first Knesset.
Lev-Ami, Shlomo
Levi, Yisrael ("Gideon") (1926-1990) – commanded the "strike force" that delivered explosives to the King David Hotel.
Levi, Yosef ("Uzi") (1916-1948)
Livni, Eitan (1919 - 1992) – took part in the Night of the Trains attack, a joint Irgun-Lehi-Haganah bombing of the country's railroad network on October 31-November 1, 1945. Later active in the Herut movement and served as member of the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Knessets; father of Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni. Eitan's gravestone bears a map of Greater Israel with borders extending out to the Jordan River.^[4]
Malatzky, Menahem
Mazali (Pshadetzky) Aryeh (1917-1983)
Meiten, Shmuel
Meridor (Vizhvolovsky) Eliyahu ("Dan") (1914-1966) – active in the Herut movement and member of the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Knesset; father of Finance Minister Dan Eliyahu.
Nathanson, Isser (1916-1977) – later joined the Department of Physics at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Nehmad, Moshe ("Shimshon") (1912-1963)
Paglin Amichai ("Gidi") (1922-1978) – took part in several major operations, including the KDH bombing and the Seizure of Jaffa in 1948.
Pedahzur Eliezer ("Gad")
Raanan-Kaufman, Mordechai – had a key role in planning the Deir Yassin assault.
Raz, Yaakov (1919-1938)
Salomon, Dov ("Yishai")
Schiff, Menahem ("Zeev") (1926-1983)
Shamir, Petachia – Herut founder, serving as head of its Organizational Division; also served as Betar commissioner
Simchon, Yosef (1926-1955)
Stern, Avraham ("Yair") (1907-1942)
Sudit-Sharon, Eliezer ("Kabtzan")
Tahori, David ("Yitzhak") – took part in the September 29, 1947 Haifa police station bombing, in which 4 British policement, 4 Arab policemen and 2 Arab civilians were killed, and 46 persons injured.
Tamler, Eliyahu ("Yehoshua") (1919-1948)
Tamir, Shmuel (1923-1987) – lawyer in the Rudolf Kastner case, Knesset member (1965-1980), Minister of Justice in the Begin government (1977-1980)
Tavin, Eliezer-Yaakov (1919-1994)
Verner-Vered, Shalom ("Shimshon", "Giora")
Virnick, Yisrael ("Zvi") (1921-1948)
Zeroni, Benyamin

[edit] Persons cited in other sources

The Irgun's exact membership roster is not known, and like many paramilitary and clandestine organizations, was somewhat nebulous; and in any case certain highly notable early Irgun members (such as Yitzhak Shamir) simply are not listed on the Irgun website. The following persons have been attributed by reputable sources as having significant roles, either as bona fide IZL members, assets or close affiliates.

Yitzhak Shamir, joined the Irgun in 1937; joined the Stern faction in 1940; commander of the Lehi after Stern's assassination.
Uri Avnery, joined as a teenager (1938-1942); later became a noted secularist and peace activist. In 1945 he would publish a famous pamphlet, "Terrorism: the infantile disease of the Hebrew revolution".
Israel Eldad
Natan Yellin-Mor
Sarah Agassi, b. 1926, who reminisced about her experiences casing the King David Hotel in preparation for the famous bombing attack, at a 2006 commemoration of the event.^[5]
Zippora Levi-Kessel, staff secretary at the time of the Altalena affair^[6]
Moshe Hason, also listed by Lapidot as a High Commander during the Altalena Affair.
Abraham Stavsky, who procured the Altalena for the Irgun (though not a member); also said to be active in the so-called Bergson Group (the Irgun delegation to the U.S.)^[7]
Victor Ben-Nahum, also part of the Bergson Group.

[edit] Contract affiliates

Persons of notable affiliation to the Irgun, but who were probably not members in any formal sense.

Lt. Monroe Fein, the U.S. naval officer who captained the Altalena.

[edit] ZZW / IZL issues

The whole issue of the Żydowski Związek Wojskowy (known in Hebrew as Irgun Zwai Yehudi and in English as the Jewish Military Union), the Revisionist Zionist resistance organization in Warsaw under the time of the German occupation, is rather complicated due the ZZW's being largely ignored by the "mainstream" Irgun in Israel, while all the same there are ZZW members such as David Wdowinski who pointedly describe theirs as a bonafide IZL faction.^[8]