Egyptian Jewry and Zionism

Elvir's father came to Egypt from Thessalonki. Her family was traditional. Until age 9 she went to a Christian school, then in 1928/9 transferred to the newly established Lycee Juive where Hebrew was taught. When some of her friends who had gone to Mikveh Yisrael came home for vacation, they took her to the Hachshara Kibbutz. There she met Moshe Ben-Asher, whom she married in 1938, after having spent one year in a WIZO school in Nahalat Yitzhak. The couple left Egypt in 1942 (the time of El Alamein). A journalist called Rabin who was active in an English anti-Fascist group arranged for a train to take journalists and engineers who worked for the British army from Egypt to Palestine. The Ben-Asher couple boarded the train at Kantara, illegally. Told that they had reached Rehovot, the couple jumped out and realized that they had come to Ashdod. They fell into the hands of Arab guards; Elvir describes in detail what happened. They were released and spent 2 months in Palestine before returning to Alexandria. Elvir is then questioned about the Hachshara farm of Turiel in Ras-el-Sudar where Jewish boys were trained for Aliyah along with Arab workers. Some of the Jewish boys worked on the farm of Agion. Neither he nor Turiel were Zionists. ; 12 boys went to Palestine in 1938 and others followed, mostly illegally. During the war no entry certificates were allotted to Egypt, and the Ben-Ashers left only in 1945, when the farm still functioned. She also talks about 3 ships in Alexandria port bought by Moshe Ben-Asher, where young Zionists met and some of them fished or guarded the ships, even during the war. Asked about her husband, Elvir says that he was born in 1900 in a small village in Poland, to a family of rabbis. He joined Hashomer Hatzair, and, against the will of his father, wanted to study secular subjects and fled to Palestine when he was 18. When he got ill, he was sent to Egypt, where he earned his living by teaching Hebrew. He learned French and became a tour guide, and was then hired by Peltours Travel Agency in Cairo. In 1936 he was transferred to Alexandria and worked there as branch manager until 1944/5, when he left and started work for the Jewish Agency. His work with Peltours allowed him to get in touch with people and institutions, in Egypt and in Palestine. ; He communicated with Berl Katzenelson, Leib Yaffe, Yitzhak Ben Zvi. She does not know details but remembers that he was in prison in 1934 and suddenly released. Elvir was in touch with Yolande who, under the guise of being a journalist, had many important connections and collected very important information. She was imprisoned by the authorities, became seriously ill, and after her release went to Paris. Elvir refuses to talk about Yolande's activities, as they were top secret. She herself had no part in them - her task was to smuggle arms, and to help Jewish refugees arriving by ship in Alexandria to absent themselves and hide in Jewish families before going to Palestine. The Ben-Ashers had a hotel which served the Hagana and was a hiding place. They wanted to leave but many times "surrendered" to pressure - also from Eliahu Golomb - to remain. In 1945 they left. WIZO functioned in Egypt mainly to serve Jewish soldiers in a rather small club. Then the Zionist Organization established a bigger club catering mainly to soldiers of the Brigade and to Jewish soldiers in the British forces so that they could speak Hebrew there and feel at home.