KADDISHEL
A Life Reborn
New Life in Our Ancient Land Shmuel Peleg recalled that when the group arrived, there was a celebratory mood — “half of Haifa was on the docks.” Before go- ing to Kibbutz Yagur, the new immigrants were taken to Atlit ref- ugee camp, where they were sprayed with DDT against parasites and lice, as was customary. Children from religious backgrounds were sent to religious communities, while those from secular back- grounds were placed by the youth movements to which they be- longed. Because Dror was affiliated with Achdut HaAvodah, one of the most influential Zionist organizations, the Dror children were sent to Kibbutz Yagur, as youth leader Zvi Zahira had promised them when they were still in Bitom. Behira Zakay remembered a heartwarming reception at Yagur. “The Yagur members were crying...crying,” she said. “We were the first survivor group to arrive. We were thirteen or fourteen years old, although we looked not more than ten or eleven. They show- ered us and dressed us with Eretz Yisrael clothes — khaki shorts and T-shirts. For the first time, we exposed our white legs. While we were eating, they started to surround us and asked us, in Yid- dish and Polish, ‘Who are you?’ ‘Where do you come from?’ ‘Do you know this and that?’ There was great excitement.” Her sister, Chana Haklay, remembered that the Yagur members were carrying red flags for May Day. An article dated May 3, 1946 in the Yagur Journal reported the arrival as follows: “We were blessed to receive among us young new immigrants, a group of children, survivors of our people who survived in Poland in Gentiles’ houses and in the camps and who came here now via France on the boat Champollion. Only late in the evening, the night of May 1st, the kibbutz was given permission to take the group to Yagur the next day, and when the May meeting was over, the secretary, the education committee, the school committee, teachers and educators sat until late after midnight to discuss the urgent ar- rangements. As to the question of whether to accept the children,
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