Youth Aliyah (עלית הנוער Aliyat Hano'ar) rescued 22,000 Jewish children from the Nazis
during the Third Reich. They were resettled in kibbutzim and youth villages and
received proper schooling.
The organization was founded in 1933 by Recha Freier, a
rabbi's wife, an idea supported by the World Zionist Organization. Freier
supervised the organization's activities in Germany, and Henrietta Szold in
Jerusalem, founder of the Hadassah. Recha Freier was born in Germany at the end
of the 19th century and died in Jerusalem, in 1984. In 1957 she
founded the Israeli Composers Fund and sponsored the Israel Testimonium, a
music event that took place in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. She also wrote poetry
and prose.
In 1919 Recha married Rabbi Dr. Moritz Freier (1889–1969),
whom she had met in Breslau, where they also began their married life. They
soon moved to Eschwege, where her husband was already a rabbi. Here, their
first son, Shalhevet, was born in 1920. From 1922 to 1925 her husband served as
a rabbi to the Jewish community in Sofia and while there she taught at a German
high school. In 1923 their second son, Ammud, was born, followed in 1926 by a
third son, Zerem. In 1929 the couple welcomed a daughter, Ma’ayan. In 1925 the
Freier family moved to Berlin, since Moritz had been hired by the Jewish
community of Berlin to officiate as rabbi at three synagogues: Rykestrasse
(Prenzlauer Berg), Heiderreutergasse (Alte Schul) and Kaiserstrasse. In
addition to being a busy young wife and mother, Recha worked as a writer and
folklorist.
The involvement of the organization increased after March 31,
1936 when even German elementary schools were closed to Jewish children. "The
utter senselessness of Jewish life in the Diaspora stood palpably before my
eyes," Freier wrote.
After a brief period of training in Germany, Youth Aliyah
youngsters were placed on kibbutzim for two years to learn farming and Hebrew.
Kibbutz Ein Harod in the Jezreel Valley was one of the first cooperative settlements
to host such groups.
Just before the outbreak of World War II, when immigration
certificates to the British Mandate of Palestine became difficult to obtain, Youth Aliyah activists in
London came up with an interim solution whereby groups of young people would
receive pioneer training in countries outside the Third Reich until they could
immigrate to the Holy Land. Great Britain agreed to take in 10,000 endangered
children, some from Youth Aliyah groups.
After the Holocaust and World War II, emissaries were sent to
Europe to locate children survivors in Displaced persons camps. Children's
homes in Eastern Europe were moved to Western Europe, fearing that evacuation
from Communist countries might be difficult later on. A Youth Aliyah office was
opened in Paris.
Later, Youth Aliyah became a department of the Jewish Agency.
Over the years, the organization has brought young people to Israel from North
Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Soviet Union and
Ethiopia.
In 1958, Youth Aliyah was awarded the Israel Prize for its
contribution to education, being the first year in which the Prize was awarded
to an organization.
Directors of Youth Aliyah after the establishment of the
State of Israel include Meir Gottesman (1978–1984), Uri Gordon and Eli Amir.
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