אוסף צבי כרמל- קרוכמל

Zvi Crochmel (Carmel) was born on June 30, 1925 in Vienna, Austria. His parents, Sender (Alexander) and Hinda-Ella were born in Poland and later moved to Vienna. In 1941, with the outbreak of WWI, Sender, the father, was drafted into the Austrian army and sent to the Italian Front. When he returned he was forbidden to work because he had been a Polish citizen. During the war Hinda took care of a relative who had tuberculosis and caught the disease. However she recovered. At the end of the war, in 1919, their daughter, Devorah Chana was born. Six years later the couple's son, Zvi was born. In his youth he studied in a Talmud Torah. With the rise of the Nazi Party in Austria, Sender and Hinda tried to get a 'certificate' (immigration document) to Palestine, however they were denied, because of Hinda's health. During the Holocaust Sender was sent to Buchenwald and from there to the extermination camp, Auschwitz. Hinda died earlier from tuberculosis. In 1939 he joined a group of children and youth who had Italian visas and came to Israel. Some years later his sister, Devorah Chana came to Israel on an immigrant visa through Wizo. She lived in Nahalal. (She was a good friend of Hannah Senesh). Zvi moved to live with his relative, Oscar Frostig, in Haifa (Kiryat Frostig is named after him.) Zvi began studying in the 'Yavne" High School, but didn't fit in. He worked in an electrical shop at 44 Herzl Street. There he met a Lebanese Jew who wanted to study to become a radio technician. Zvi took advantage of the situation and joined him. With the encouragement of his teacher he obtained permission from Professor Franz Olendorf to study radio at the vocational high school at the Technion. In 1946 Zvi joined the Haganah in Haifa and served as the commander of the radio operators in the North and as a teacher in the course to train radio operators. He was drafted into the Palmach for training in Kibbutz Na'an, Company B, Second Battalion. In 1946 he took a course as a Morse /wireless operator in the camp in Jo'ara. He served as a radio operator in various locations. He was a radio instructor from 1947-May 1948. He was drafted into the Hagannah and was in charge of setting up the network communication system on the Northern front. In 1948 he was transferred to the position of a wireless operator on the 'Gidoni' ships (ships that brought illegal ammunition). While filling this position, he spent some time abroad at the Mossad stations for the Aliyah Bet from Europe where he served with Chaim Senesh (the brother of the paratrooper-Hannah Senesh), Dan Ben-Amotz, Meir Bennet and others… Between the years 1949-1951 he worked as a radio operator in Prague and assisted in bringing Holocaust survivors to Israel. It is here that he met his wife, Katya. They married and returned to Israel. Katya, who was born in Slovakia, was a Communist. She studied in London. She was forced to escape Prague because she was suspected of dual loyalty. Zvi and Katya returned to Israel in 1951 and Zvi started working at the relais station. Between the years 1954-1967 he was sent abroad with his family to be in charge of the wireless stations in the Embassies of Moscow, Rome, Ankara and Ethiopia. In 1968 he was appointed Deputy Head of the relais stations. In 1977 he began to work in the Mossad where he filled various positions in Israel and abroad. He worked there until his retirement in 1980. Since then he has continued to volunteer at the Mossad. This album includes personal and family photos as well as pictures of the years he was a radio operator in the Palmach and on the 'Gidoni' ships- "Yardena", "Hazaken" and "Behira". اقرأ أكثر