The Naftali Botwin Battalion

During the Spanish Civil War from 1936 - 1939, thousands from around the world flocked to Spain to volunteer in the fight against fascism. Roughly 25 percent of fighters in the International Brigades were Jewish.

Within the International Brigades, the Naftali Botwin Battalion within the Palafox Battalion stood out even more so. Its composition consisted of largely Polish-Jewish volunteers. As well as many Jews from British Mandate Palestine.

Boston Noir

Long Wharf, Boston, Massachusetts
October 2017

Via S&S Consulting

Hackney, London, 2012

Marcus Hessenberg, Flickr

Begin

Menahem Begin as a soldier of the Polish Armed Forces in Anders' Army during his service in the Second World War based in the Middle East. He is pictured in uniform with his wife Aliza and friends in Tel Aviv in 1942.

Rehov Herzl, Tel Aviv

A vintage postcard from 1929 with a view down Herzl Street in Tel Aviv with the former Gymnasia Herzliya in the near distance.

Historical Poznań

Wolności Square, Poznań, Poland
1920s

Plac Wolności w Poznaniu

Shepheard's Hotel, Cairo

A historical postcard from the late nineteenth century showing a British military band performing in the courtyard of Cairo's iconic Shepheard's Hotel.

Maybe it's the nostalgic part of me speaking, from staying awake for late night World Cup qualifiers, where futility can only be redeemed by so much genuine Israeli pride in our national team, to the annual comedic circus of Eurovision, Mabat, and more. I simply can't imagine Israeli television without the IBA and Channel 1 on the air.

The significance of its shutdown isn't lost. Workers, public employees, all deserve better than this.

חג עצמאות שמח!

Not a bad aerial panoramic view from Jerusalem's Old City on the State of Israel's 69th Independence Day!

Israel Bardugo (Ynet)

Our history

C'est la véritable alliance

"This is the true alliance"
French postcard during the Great War, 1915

Via Poppies Pressed (Lost Splendor)

Ratisbonne Monastery, Jerusalem, 1917

The courtyard view from the Ratisbonne Monastery in Jerusalem's Rehavia neighbourhood in 1917. Austro-Hungarian soldiers can be seen in the background. During the First World War the monastery served as a hospital for Austro-Hungarian military units who were fighting alongside Ottoman forces against the British.

An American soldier and his girlfriend, 1940s.

We Remember

Just over four years ago, I found myself in Prague rather unexpectedly, seeking a brief respite from the frenzy of Tel Aviv, and in search of a long absent feeling of real winter if only for a few short days. It was my first time visiting the city. We didn't have to look far for fascinating ways to explore and spend our time. We visited Josefov, the old Jewish Quarter, Prague Castle, Old Town Square, Kafka's childhood home, and every imaginable site for the standard tourist. All of which were fascinating to no end. But it was one particular place that I happened to come across almost by chance which stood out the most and struck me most poignantly.

SS Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich is widely regarded among historians as the most sinister figure within the Nazi leadership. It was under Heydrich's command that Einsatzgruppen death squads ruthlessly murdered nearly 1.5 million Jews throughout Eastern Europe, and under his direct orders where plans for the Final Solution took place at the Wansee Conference in 1942. Little did I know at the time during my visit, but 1942 would also be the same year in which Heydrich would acutely meet his end. And that seemingly, just by chance, I would happen to be exactly where it all took place. Reinhard Heydrich was the highest ranking Nazi to be assassinated in the Second World War and the dramatic story behind it is often untold and forgotten.

Memorial and bullet-scarred exterior of the Church of Ss. Cyril and Methodius

There are certain places where time stands still and the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius is certainly one of them. It sits just on the edge of Prague's New Town, only blocks from the Vltava river and the adjoining Jiraskuv bridge. Bullet scars from that day in early June 1942 still mark the faded exterior walls of the church. It was here where Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík, two British-trained Czech soldiers, and assassins of Reinhard Heydrich during Operation Anthropoid, fought to their literal last breathe deep within the church's crypt. If you read the entire story of Heydrich's demise and the heroism of the Czech resistance fighters who embarked on essentially a suicide mission, it's as dramatic as anything you'll come across. 

Just as the Jews of Warsaw would heroically rise up less than a year later to fight the Nazi machine despite insurmountable odds, we remember many of the forgotten heroes whose names have now seemingly faded from our collective conscience. It's up to us to keep them alive.

By marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day we recognize the critical importance of not only words in honoring the memory of those lost, but the necessity of deeds and actions to ensure that the saying Never Again will ever lose its true meaning.

The heroes of Operation Anthropoid

Nightlife WW2

Soldiers and civilians dine and dance at a night club in London during the Second World War. 1 November 1941.

Embed from Getty Images

Blitz Wedding

St Bartholomew's church, Newham, London, 1941.

Corbis Images