Jews of Germany and the Organization of Their Aliya, 1933-1945

Leah Cohen was born in 1919 in Poland, she grew up in a religious, moderate orthodox and pro-Zionist home in Berlin, Germany. She studied in an orthodox school run by Agudat Yisrael in which there was discrimination against girls from Eastern Europe. She encountered antisemitism which pushed her in a Zionist direction. She joined several youth movements: Habonim, Ezra and Brit Hanoar Hadati and in this framework she entered training for aliya to Eretz Yisrael. She immigrated in 1933 and joined the religious kibbutz Rodges adjacent to Petach Tivkva. After a short while, she moved to the religious work community near Kfar Yavetz for a few months and then returned to Rodges. There she married Max Cohen and gave birth to their first daughter Nehama. In 1936 the family moved to Germany on shlichut. Max directed the aliya training farm and Leah lived alternatively with her parents and at the farm. In both places she encountered antisemitism from the Nazi regime. In 1938 they returned to Eretz Yisrael. Shortly thereafter, Leah began studying to be a kindergarten teacher in the Seminar for Kibbutzim in Tel Aviv. During the week, she lived outside the kibbutz. In 1941 the kibbutz moved to its present location and was renamed Kvutzat Yavneh. In 1943, Leah was sent to receive some of the Teheran children for absorption in the kibbutz. She became their caretaker and unofficially adopted one of the girls. In 1944 her mother-in-law, Paula, arrived in Eretz Yisrael from the ; Bergen-Belsen concentration camp as part of an exchange between Jews and German prisoners in Israel. Leah speaks about the meeting with her. After Independence in 1948, the Egyptian army approached Yavneh and therefore the women and children were evacuated. Leah speaks about this period. After a chronological summary, Leah relates to some important facets of kibbutz life: equality vs money and private property, children sleeping in children's homes vs sleeping in family homes and inter-generational relations on the kibbutz. She concludes by narrating some anecdotes about well known personalities: Yosef Burg, Moshe Una and Zuriel Admanit.