Haviva Reick

Haviva Reick (alternately, Havivah Reich or Chaviva Reich) (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.

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Biography

Reick was born June 14, 1914 as Marta Reick in the Slovakian village of Nadabula (now a part of Rožňava), 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.

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 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.[1]

References

  1. ^ Haviva Reik Paul Silverstone

External references