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| The History Of Betar |
| The Third Kinus |
| By Yoel Ben Ami (Joel Koniarsky) |
|
Autumn, 1938. In Warsaw the 3rd World Conference of Betar is taking place. Thousands have crowded into the Norvitz Hall. Thousands of others have remained in the streets waiting for the arrival of Rosh Betar. A short while before the opening of the Kinus, a common pride embrace them all. Before your very eyes unfolds an unforgettable scene - Jews of all sections - orthodox, workers, and intelligentsia all have come to greet our leader, and through him the whole of our movement. Here you meet Betarim from the whole world and once again you feel Lo Alman Israel, Israel is not orphaned. Your thoughts are interpreted by a mighty Tel Hai which bursts forth from the street and penetrates every corner of the hall. Rosh Betar has arrived. And even today I see him standing on that platform delivering the opening address. A prophet is speaking. He castigates, he teaches, and when from his lips the words are heard "Whither Jewish Youth?" then you fell that before you stands a father with a big heart, a heart that bleeds because of the fate of his children and at the same time does not fail to show the only true way. And when his last words were heard in that hall, a mighty Hatikvah was in was the answer to the call of the teacher. I leave the Norvitz Hall. Here one meets dozens of friends and acquaintances. Some are old participants in Betar schools and conferences - are all touched by the holiness of the occasion. Rosh Betar is among us. I enter the Jewish Academy Hall in the suburb of Praga, Warsaw. Here it is quiet and restful, but today is a festive occasion. The sittings of the 3rd World Kinus Betar are taking place here. And, as in a motion picture, there pass before you unforgettable scenes. Joseph Glazman speaks. He urges the Jewish youth to be prepared for the great battle in Eretz Israel. As yet, he did not know or feel know that he himself was about to enter the pantheon of the fighter-heroes from the Jewish Ghettoes. He certainly did not realize that Shir Hapartisanim, the Song of the Partisans, would be dedicated to him. And as one sees the picture of Joseph Glazman standing so firm and straight, you hear the words dedicated to him, "Do not say this is the last road..." A distance away, Ariah Radal notes down his impressions. This Betari from Kielco certainly did not know then that in a few years he would be one of the founders of the Betar underground and creator of the first Jewish military organization in the Warsaw Ghetto. Further away, you see alexander Rosenfeld running from the secretariat of the Kinus, carrying with him a bundle of bulletins, talking at the same time to some of the most important delegates. Now he is talking to Irma Halpern, asking questions about the interview he had with American journalist from Knickerbocker, concerning the Jewish marine schools. With the pen he served our information department with devotion, but even with greater devotion and even greater energy did he serve the Betar underground in the Warsaw Ghetto. Together with Dr. Stirkofsky, Frankel, and others, that defended Jewish honor, they wrote in golden letters that chapter of history known as the Warsaw Revolt. I remember the general debate. The news of Eretz Israel is tragic. The report is given by David Stern who has just come from Eretz Israel, and the delegates want to know "Where is the way out?" The Yishuv serves the golden calf of Havlaga, self restraint. As against this, Betar has erased this shame from Jewish history with its sacrifices of Ben Yosef, and through the hundreds of its members imprisoned in Akko, Bethlehem, and Sarafani. The leadership of the Yishuv belongs to the so-called moderates. From the platform, Aryeh Ben Eliezer puts forward the pathetic question: "Rosh Betar, How much longer shall we endure this pain?" But this question cannot become the main problem of the Kinus. Hitler's annexation of Czechoslovakia places this Betar Parliament before a tragic reality: In Eretz Israel pogroms, Jewish Havlaga and British provocations. In the Galuth, Jabotinsky's evacuation plan was rejected. A year later, the beginning of Hitler's march and the start of the extermination of European Jewry. And like the sword of Damocles, the prophetic words of Rosh Betar hung over our heads: "If you will not liquidate the Galuth, the Galuth will liquidate you." And like an answer to this warning of Rosh Betar, Menachem Begin suddenly appeared on the platform. The vast multitude is electrified. Short, but sharp words fall from his lips: "We do not wish to become subjects of ridicule and shame. Let Jewish youth collect iron, let it create the military potentialities and then we shall ensure for the Jewish nation a better tomorrow!" We felt that we were living in an historical moment. The words that were heard everywhere were like words of prophecy: "Begin is not only the hope of our movement, Begin is the hope of our nation." It is early on Friday morning. The last hours of the Kinus. A tired Rosh Betar faces the world conference and draws before us a picture of the pain and suffering which faces our movement. "Elokim Leyagon Be'hartanu, G-d has created us for pain and suffering. For the hangman's rope, and for prisons, these will accompany your lives in the struggle for the freedom of our land and nation. But the day will come when the nation will choose you to lead and the crown that will truly be yours. And if today, the youth in Eretz Israel have taken up arms, then remember: This is the work of Betar. Therefore, carry with dignity and pride your name: Betari." |
| Editors Note: Yoel Ben Ami grew
up with Menachem Begin in Poland. He was a member of the Betar and later became
a member of the Irgun. In Italy, he was Mefachet Betar. He wrote for the
Zionist Revisionist papers in South Africa and Latin America under the same
name. He has passed away a year before Menachem Begin. At the time of the third Kinus he was the youngest commander in the Betar in Poland. He later lived in Arona, Italy, where all of the Betarim were being trained. The following is a letter about Ben Ami from his son, Abe Koniarsky: |
| The following is a note by Abe Koniarsky, the son of Yoel Ben Ami: |
| My father's name was
Joel Koniarsky (Yoel in Poland). He was born in Wielun Poland on March 16,
1917. He joined the Betar at an early age. He became the youngest Betar
Commander in Poland. He had the pleasure of meeting and listening to Zev
Jabotinsky when he was young. The year after the Third Kinus, my parents were
captured by the Russian forces as they tried to escape from the Germans as they
attached their small Polish town bordering Germany. My parents lived in a
Soviet concentration camp till 1944. It's there where I was born in 1941. We
finally made it to Wrotzlaw (known as Breslau during the German occupation).
Very shortly, the NKVD infiltrated Poland. My father was very active in the
Irgun at the time and was arrested by the NKVD in an attempt to infiltrate the
movement with the hope of helping establish a Communist Jewish State in
Palestine. My father was tortured for several days and finally released with
the intent of being watched. My family and I were followed for over a year by
the NKVD. During that time, my father and I had the same routine--he and I
would walk to various places and end up at the train station ( my father always
carried a briefcase). My mother would go shopping and also end up at the train
station (she always carried a satchel), where we would meet. The agents
following us were used to that routine. That final day, my father had all of
his belongings in that briefcase and mother did the same with her bag..we all
met at the train station and boarded a train for Prague, Czechoslovakia--my
father had false papers supplied by the Irgun. From there, we proceeded to
cross into the Alps and settled in Arona where my father was the Betar
Commander. Most of the people there were trained for the Altalena. From there,
we went to a small town near Rome--Grottaferrata. It was there that my father
was the commander of the Betar. I remember being visited by Yakov Meridor,
Moshe Aren. I have a picture of my father with Menachem Begin in Naples when
they met to discuss strategies. The British secret police was trying to follow
us and it was not unsusual for us to get off the bus in the middle of the a
dark evening so that we would loose our tail. My father would take me along
whenever he was to meet someone important so that no one would suspect...My
father attended the first Zionist congress in 1948...I still have the letter he
sent my mother.He passed away on Shwat 20, 1992. My father's last wishes was to
be buried in Eretz Israel--the land he loved so much. He is buried in
Jerusalem, not too far from Menachem Begin... Abe January 17, 2000 |
