Brothers For Resistance And Rescue By David Gur

Slovakia and Poland.After the German occupation of Hungary on 19.3.1944, Moshe was aprominent activist in the Organization for the protection and rescue ofJews. In the argument among the different movements on the issue ofthe building of bunkers, he expressed his opposition, arguing that in lightof the reality in fascist Hungary the bunkers would be deadly traps fortheir occupants. Moshe dealt with the return-tiyul in view of a period ofrelative calm there, as well as the tiyul. He often traveled to the borderhimself.Moshe represented his movement in various forums of the undergroundand of Hungarian Jewry.After 15.10.1944, when the Arrow Cross Party formed the government,Pil was mainly engaged in rescuing people serving in forced labor unitsand Budapest Jews. He took part in the establishment of children’shouses where thousands of Jewish children, many of whom orphans,found a shelter.In December 1944 Moshe was the soul and organizer of the liberationstrategy of members of the Zionist youth movements underground fromthe central military prison on Margit Boulevard. After the liberation, inJanuary 1945, he engaged in the rehabilitation of the movement and inhelping those returning from concentration and extermination camps.Moshe was active in the organization of the illegal aliya within theframework of Aliyah Bet.In 1946 he made aliya with his wife, Tova Diamant, an undergroundactivist, and joined Kibbutz Ha’ogen.At first Moshe worked in the fields and later became the manager of thekibbutz rubber factory. Between 1958 and 1974 he was a member of the“Koor” (the umbrella organization of the Histadrut industry enterprises)directorate. In the same period, in 1962, he went to London where hestudied economics.From 1965 to 1967 he served as the Israeli attaché for Economics Affairsin East Africa. From 1974 Pil was an independent consultant in the fieldsof industry and economics.In recent years he has served as the chairman of the Museum for theHeritage of Hungarian Speaking Jewry and a member of the directory ofthe Society for the Research of the History of Zionist Youth Movements inHungary. He was a resident of Kfar Saba.Moshe Alpan is the author of the book: Be'en Hasa'ara ( Weathering theStorm ), published by'The Society for the Research of the History of theZionist Youth Movement in Hungary'. Israel. 2001 ( Hebrew )His literary work translated to Hungarian - Mose Alpan: A viharban (Weathering the Storm ) Makkabea Kiadó. Budapest, 2004.Brothers for Resistance and Rescue 36