Brothers for Resistance and Rescue 1 - CENDO

was arrested by the communist government, the movement stopped operating overtly and went
underground.
“Bnei Akiva”
“Bnei Akiva” was the youth movement of “Hapoel Hamizrahi”. It was founded in 1929 in Jerusalem.
The movement’s ideology was religion and Zionism. “Bnei Akiva” set up branches in Eretz Israel
(Palestine) and in the whole world. In Eretz Israel it founded kibbutzim and moshavim. In Hungary
the movement started with the establishment of the “Hashomer Hadati” movement in 1930. In the
congress held in 1932 it was decided to change the name of the organization to “Bnei Akiva”. The
prosperous years of the movement’s activities were 1939 and 1940, when kinim were set up all
over Hungary and many members went to agricultural and urban hahsharot.
In 1942 the movement transferred tens of its members, mainly speakers of Hungarian, from
Slovakia to Hungary. After the Germans invaded Hungary on 19.3.1944, the movement started to
deal with rescue operations. Its members produced and distributed forged documents and set up
bunkers. Most of the bunkers were apartments used as hiding places for the members. Some of
the movement’s members were armed but the weapons were meant for self-defense and not for
active operations. “Bnei Akiva”, in cooperation with other movements, operated in the “Glass
House” and its members lived in the attic which was called the ‘Bnei Akiva attic’. From the summer
of 1944 the movement worked within the framework of the tiyul, distributed money to the needy
and delivered food to the hungry Jews in the capital city. Many “Bnei Akiva” members were caught,
tortured and incarcerated in prisons and some were murdered by the fascists.
“Dror Habonim”
“Dror Habonim” was a Zionist-socialist movement that was founded before the First World War in
Russia and that engaged mainly in self-defense. After the Bolshevik revolution its center was
transferred to Poland and in 1925 it joined the "Left Poalei Tzion". It set up branches in a lot of
countries and founded many settlements in Eretz Israel (Palestine). The Hungarian “Dror Habonim”
movement was founded in 1939 as a result of the merger of “Dror” and “Hehalutz Hatzair” but
already in the 30’s it operated under various names. At the beginning of 1944 there was an
additional merger between “Dror”, “Hehalutz Hatzair” and “Habonim”. After 1946, as a result of a
split, “Dror Habonim” joined “Ahdut Avoda” whereas the second faction, “Netzah Habonim” joined
“Mapai”.
“Hanoar Hatzioni”
“Hanoar Hatzioni” was a Zionist youth movement and a branch of the “Hatzionim Haclali’im”
Organization. The movement was founded in 1930 in Poland. It founded kibbutzim and agricultural
settlements in Eretz Israel (Palestine) as well as the “Haoved Hatzioni”, which had branches both
in Eretz Israel and in the Diaspora.
In Hungary this youth movement had a deep influence on the Jewish youths as part of the Zionistdemocratic
block and it had branches and hahsharot inside and outside Budapest. The “Haoved
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