KADDISHEL
A Life Reborn
Palestine in the 1930s was under the British Mandate and there were approximately 300,000 Jews living there. Among the Zionist organizations in Palestine, also represented in Ludvipol, were HaShomer HaTzair (the Young Guard), Dror HeChalutz (Pioneer’s Freedom), Gordonia, and Beitar, which represented the Zionist right wing. The big tavern and liquor store in town was always full of Ukrainians drinking, and many got very drunk, very often. Drunk Ukrainians looked for trouble. If they ran across a Jewish man, they would often beat him up. Jews tried to avoid the area of the tavern at night so as not to run into trouble. I do not recall the police doing anything about these incidents. The Zionist organizations emphasized self-defense and brought a spirit of strength to the Jews of the town. This was the particu- lar emphasis of Beitar, the youth group led by Ze’ev (Vladimir) Jabotinsky that would become Menachem Begin’s political party. Beitar was by nature a political and militarist organization whose ideology was “only in blood and in fire can you conquer a land.” They felt that Jews could not afford to be passive, and that sooner or later, they would need to fight and make sacrifices for their inde - pendence. In fact, Beitar adopted a uniform that was very similar to both police and Nazi uniforms: brown, with belts similar to those worn by police officers, one around the waist and one strapped di - agonally from the shoulder to the waist. They also wore hats that were similar to police hats. In our town and all over Poland, Beitar created tough Jewish groups that could defend themselves. They trained people with sticks and taught them judo, karate, and march- ing in the streets. When they marched in a parade, they looked like a paramilitary group.
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