The end of World War II (WWII) brought celebration all over the world. However, there were those who did not see the end as 'the end'. These Jewish men and women, Nakam, sought to avenge the dead by pursuing not only the Nazis but all Germans.
As early as 1943, Alan Turing and his team of cryptologists cracked the German Enigma code. This shortened World War II by two years with 14 million lives saved.
However, this victory was over a war of many, it could never bring back six million Jewish lives lost.
The trials that the SS soldiers were to face were not enough for the Nazis to take responsibility for their crimes. Many believed that revenge had to be taken. There were 50 Holocaust survivors seeking revenge for bringing greater liberation than the trials.
These survivors came together as 'Nakam' (Avenge), The 'Avengers' of the Holocaust.
Their plan was a mass murder of men, women and children. The plan was to take six million German lives. In their eyes, whether they were Nazis or not, it was all Germans who were to blame.
In addition, this will send an international warning message.
The Beginning of Nakam, Lithuania, 1943
It started in Vilnius, Lithuania.
There were 8,000 Jews located and a storm of Nazi soldiers broke out.
At this time, rumors spread about the massacres and mass graves in the surrounding forests of Vilnius. A true story was given by Joseph Harmatz, a Holocaust survivor and future 'avenger'.
Harmatz was put to the detail work.
Years after World War II, he described the gruesome scenes he witnessed. His job was to burn the bodies in the mass graves.
Harmatz: "When you see it with your own eyes, it invades you so deeply that even if you want to break from it, you cannot break free."
Lives were lost and their city became their prison.
News hit Abba Kovner, an Israeli poet and author, who then wrote a manifesto. With a view to the Germans, his manifesto was reportedly the first to identify the German plan for mass murder of Jews. It was called 'Let us not go as lambs to the slaughter!'.
As the rumors grew, Kovner laid out a plan for those willing to follow. Among these giants was Harmatz, as angry as Kovner for what he had seen.
They escaped from the Vilnius ghetto through the sewer with another, Hasia Warshowski.
Kovner, Harmatz and Warshowski set out to call for more fighter jets, in the face of the tough elements to achieve their common goal.
Kovner: “Vilnius Jews must not go as lambs for slaughter. They have to fight back. "
Return to Lithuania, 1944
Saturday, September 2, 1944 World War I ended. The Allied forces took over Germany, eliminating the Nazis as they saw fit.
Back in Lithuania, Kovner's Jewish resistance fighters joined forces with the Russian army.
Despite their efforts to stay strong, they were not prepared for the news to come.
They discovered that 6,700 Jewish lives were lost in Vilnius.
Kovner lost his mother; Harmatz lost his brother and father, and Hasia lost his mother, father and brother.
Soon they came to find 100,000 Jewish lives lost in Lithuania.
The massacres, mass graves and the realization of lost lives triggered a collective revenge. It was not just for the Jews of Lithuania, but for all who suffered.
Kovner and his handful of soldiers knew who to look for as fighter jets:survivors who would easily adapt as the unknown while working undercover.
Kovner: "We had selected a group of people, with the qualities and skills capable of handling this operation, that we knew would be high risk."
Among the new members were Yehuda 'Poldeck' Meiman, one escaped from Auschwitz and the death march, and Simcha 'Kazik' Roten, one escaped from the ghetto killings.
With the 'Avengers' and a plan in the pipeline, another group was on its way through Europe to seek revenge on Holocaust survivors.
The Jewish Brigade
The Jewish Brigade was a group of English soldiers from British-occupied Palestine. They were the only military to serve in the British Army, as well as the Allied forces, as an independent, national Jewish military formation.
These were soldiers who never saw or experienced the Holocaust. However, they were beginning to understand why they were fighting to free them in the camps.
Holocaust survivors made their way through Italy to a better life and by chance met the Jewish Brigade. They told about their experiences in the camps and about those responsible.
The Jewish Brigade made it its mission to find the SS soldiers who went into hiding all over Europe.
The Jewish brigade took them to the forest and tied up the SS soldiers and made them admit their crimes.
Although the exact number is still unknown, the Jewish brigade may have killed more than 100 SS soldiers.
The Avengers of the Holocaust Assembled, 1945
In July 1945, Kovner met the Jewish Brigade. He asked for their help in their plan to take six million German lives.
However, the brigade refused to take part in the massacre. Their target was war criminals, those directly responsible.
With the fall of Nazi Germany, more people were exposed to the world for their cruel actions.
Many Holocaust survivors saw the gruesome sites for the first time, including Kovner. From the site of the massacre at Ponary, which claimed 100,000 Jewish, Polish and Russian lives, to the extermination camps.
Their liberation from the Nazi regime could not compensate for the unforgivable actions. Many talked about revenge, but very few chose to act.
50 Holocaust survivors together to complete 'Nakam', the 'Avengers', formation. They feared that another form of enemy would emerge in the future.
Out of this fear of the future, part of their revenge plan was to send an international message:a warning of what would happen if someone harmed Jewish lives as the Nazis did.
Paris, France became the Nakam headquarters with Pasha Reichman, Kovner's Deputy Commander, leading the members according to Kovner's instructions.
Nakam spread throughout Europe, seeking new members and awaiting orders.
Poldeck, based in Milan, supervised money for Nakam's daily expenses with counterfeit banknotes sold on the Italian black market.
It was an ironic situation. The Nazis forced Holocaust victims to forge banknotes in hopes of undermining the British economy, and these notes funded Nakam.
The groups went on to the big ruined cities in Germany for their plan:Kazik supervised the group in Munich; Harmatz supervised Nuremberg; and Hasia supervised Hamburg.
Harmatz: "The Gentiles will forever know, and so will history, that this act is an act of revenge on the part of the Jewish people."
Plan A:Attack the water supply
Nakam was to infiltrate the waterworks in five ruined German cities:Nuremberg, Weimer, Hamburg, Munich and Frankfurt. They studied the water supply and how it pumped into German homes through the pipes.
Their weapon of choice should be as unconventional, cruel and as inhuman as the actions of the German nation:poison.
Kovner traveled to Tel Aviv, Israel, where he met Israel's future president, Chaim Weizman. He stated that Weizman approved the plan.
From there, Kovner met biophysicist, another future president of Israel, Ephraim Katzir. Katzir worked for Weizman, who accepted that poison was used to attack Nazi soldiers.
While this may be true, it is noted that he was not aware that the poison was going to kill millions.
Poldeck confirmed with Katzie's brother, who helped Katzir. They actually made the drug.
On his way to Germany on a British convoy, Kovner disguised himself as an English soldier. The poison was in the hold, disguised in cans of condensed milk.
He was to travel from Alexandria in Egypt to Toulon in France.
In a message to Reichman, Kovner was arrested by British soldiers and the boxes of "condensed milk" were through the sea.
It is still a mystery who gave Kovner away, but many suspicions lied with a Jewish leader who did not agree with Nakam's plan.
Kovner was imprisoned in Cairo for a few months and could soon return to Israel.
Plan A ended before it began.
Plan B:Infiltration of the Allied POW Camps
Before the arrest, Kovner made another plan. It was more focused, but less venturous than Plan A. The Avengers were to directly target the perpetrators of the Holocaust. The goal was to kill tens of thousands of SS soldiers. The Avengers knew that a large number of SS soldiers were in the Allied prisoner of war camps and awaiting trial.
According to Professor Michael Bar-Zohar, a scholar who studied Nakam in 1969, their goal was to "... generate direct revenge on the criminals."
Harmatz sat down to examine the prisoners of war. The Americans provided the food and bread locally made. The bakery was on its way in.
Reichman was responsible for the operation. The Avengers, sent to two of the main prison camps, had to infiltrate the bakeries. Kazik, Ideck and their group were in Dachau, a former concentration camp, in Munich. Harmatz, Ariel 'Liebke' Distel and their group were in Stalag 13 in Nuremburg.
Leibke and Ideck, both from a family of bakers, infiltrated the bakeries in the POW camp. Leibke was able to explain the situation to the owner of the bakery, and was given easy access. Unfortunately for Ideck, he had to be more insidious since no one knew their plan.
Their months-long investigation began.
While Leibke and Ideck were investigating, Poldeck contacted an engineer from Vilnius about the arsenic poison. Yitzak Ratner, after being sent to Paris, made the toxic substance.
Problem in Dachau
U.S. authorities were on Nakam, as reported by Ideck. Their suspicions grew, and with it the risk became higher.
Reichman had two options:continue as planned or cancel the plan.
With the plan canceled, Nakam members stationed in Munich returned to Paris.
All hopes were dashed with Nuremberg.
Eventually the poison came to Nuremberg. Hidden in hot water bottles, Leibke hid the poison under the floorboards in the bakery.
After the last shift change, they planned to lace up the bread with poison on a Sunday.
Monday morning, American lottery tickets delivered the bread.
Sunday, April 12, 1946
In the dead of night, Liebke and two Nakam members go to work.
The arsenic, while mixed with glue, had to be brushed on the underside of each loaf.
Without delay, they made around 3,000 loaves of bread early in the morning.
Monday, April 13, 1946
The American soldiers delivered the loaves.
Tuesday, April 23, 1946
Shortly afterwards, Reichman chose Rachel Glicksman to investigate the outcome of their operation in Nuremberg. Her task was to count the corpses that left the camp.
If she was caught, she would not mention Nakam and Nakam would not help her.
When she arrived, Rachel was able to mingle with the wives of the SS soldiers who crowded the gate and waited again for their husbands.
Many soldiers were ill, suffering from the effects of arsenic.
However, arsenic caused only serious illness, but no deaths were reported.
Professor Bar-Zohar believes more than 100 soldiers died from poisoning. The truth had to be left out. If not, it would have caused mass panic in other Allied prisoner of war camps.
The end of Nakam
After Plan B, the Avengers received a message from Kovner. He talked about stopping the killing, abandoning all plans for revenge and building a new home for himself and others in Israel.
Nakam arrived in Haifa, Israel. For the first time in many years, there was peaceful silence.
Harmatz: "There is no hatred for the present youth in Germany, but there will never be forgiveness for those who committed the heinous crimes against the Jews."
The experiences of the 50 Holocaust survivors haunt them, in the camps and as members of Nakam.
Some still believe that the Germans deserved Nakam's anger. On the other hand, others remain in conflict with their vengeful actions, constantly wondering if revenge was the right path to take.
Kovner and Nakam were not charged with the crimes in connection with the plot. Years later, German prosecutors investigated the case. However, due to "extraordinary circumstances", they did not press, and no charges were brought.
Before his death in 1987, Kovner had surviving Nakam members meet in a home. The meeting was to cover the events from 1943 to 1946, where everyone could share.
In 2018, the remaining Nakam members heard the recording for the first time
As of April 2021, 175,000 of the Israeli Jewish population were Holocaust survivors out of 6.8 million Jews.
"A man who takes revenge, keeps his own wounds green, who would otherwise heal and do well."
- Francis Bacon, Essays.