“…until the day when the Jewish state will be a fact.”
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The impact of the Jewish Brigade was felt even after the war ended; even after the unit ceased to exist as a military organization; even after its soldiers were demobilized, as attested to by an editorial that appeared in at least two Jewish newspapers during the summer of 1946:
One, The Jewish Herald of Allentown, Pennsylvania.
The other, The Jewish News of Detroit, Michigan.
Though published under slightly different headlines (Allentown: “Jewish Brigade Message: The Farewell Message of the Jewish Brigade on Its Forced Dissolution”; Detroit: “Jewish Brigade’s Farewell to Arms: Only Fighting Unit Under Jewish Flag Is Forced to Dissolve By British Orders”) the body of the editorial was identical in both publications. The authorship of the text is anonymous, and is ascribed to the “Committee of the Jewish Brigade Group”, while the motivation for the editorial’s publication is attributed (in The Jewish Herald) to a request from the “World Union of Jewish Combatants”,
The editorial (well, it is an editorial!) doesn’t expound upon or recount the Brigade’s accomplishments, and makes no mention of the name of any soldier or officer. Instead, the Jewish Brigade is discussed in terms of its impact upon the perception – from within and without – of the Jewish people, and the aspiration for Jewish unity in the context of the events of the Second World War. There are several direct and obvious allusions to British foreign policy vis-a-vis the Yishuv before and during the Second World War (most telling and pointedly, the line, “The same hand which shut the gates of our country and put obstacles in our path toward a Jewish Fighting Force, now decrees your disbandment.”). But, the editorial’s authors consciously steered away from actual mention of “Britain”, per se. Paralleling this – and the editorial’s central point and conclusion – is awareness and message that Jewish inhabitants of the Yishuv who were veterans of military service in either the Brigade itself, or, other British Commonwealth military formations, would have the military training, motivation, confidence, and sense of spirit needed – in the short term – to defend against anti-Jewish violence in the Yishuv, and – in the long term – the imperative to lay the foundation for a defense force in the re-established Jewish nation-state.
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Here’s the editorial, as it appeared within The Jewish News:
And, here’s the article itself, displaying the insignia of the Jewish Brigade in an image identical to that appearing in The Jewish Chronicle in November of 1944.
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The full text of the editorial, as it appeared in Allentown’s Jewish Herald in September of 1946:
Jewish Brigade Message
Note: Upon the urgent request of the World Union of Jewish Combatants, we release the following “Farewell Message” of the Jewish Brigade Group. Upon orders of the British Army, the only fighting Jewish force under a Jewish flag is being dissolved, under circumstances that call for protest, as well as a new proclamation of the role of Jewish soldiers in World War II. The “Farewell Message of the Jewish Brigade” is a historic document, and is here printed in its full text.
THE FAREWELL MESSAGE OF THE JEWISH BRIGADE ON ITS FORCED DISSOLUTION
The emergence of a Jewish volunteer Force was nourished by two impulses – the rebirth of the Jewish people in its Homeland and the immense catastrophe of the Exile. It was inspired by the Jewish determination to join, as equals, in the ranks of nations fighting the cruel foe.
The path toward this goal was long and difficult. After persistent and unceasing efforts by Jewish volunteers, the “Jewish Soldier” came into being. The desire to join their brothers in exile, the will to fight for them and to rescue them, even at a time when the enemy knocked with his iron fist at the door of Palestine, was a phenomenon of the utmost importance. This phenomenon fixed the destiny of the Jewish Brigade Group and its mission.
The “Jewish Soldier” had to fight hard in order to acquire the right to face the enemy as a Jew. Against innumerable official hindrances, he sought to achieve his place on the line of combat. For years he was denied the right to raise his flag – the flag of the Jewish nation. At the front, at last, amidst artillery fire, in the slit trenches, and with his dead before him – the Jewish flag rose above Jewish combatants.
Determined and aware, with burning heart impelling him toward the front and his people in Exile – despite the strangling shame of the White Paper – the “Jewish soldier” left his country, crossed the seas, fought and spilled his blood – saving and guarding the honor and freedom of Israel throughout Europe.
The appearance of the Jew as a fighting force was evidence of a momentous change in a world so long accustomed to the sight of the Jew – beaten, weak passive object of human savagery. The “Jewish Soldier” came charged with fighting spirit – inflaming and dynamic revolt against five years of Jewish suffering, helplessness and unrelieved tragedy.
Through its soldiers, the Yishuv gave new strength to the tragic remnants of Jewry. They came – the first spokesman of the Yishuv in uniform – bringing the message of “Unity,” “Liquidation of Exile,” “Halutziut,” “Aliya against all odds,” “A Jewish State.”
At their first encounter at the gates of the concentration camps where the shadow of death still hovered, a fraternal blood was forged which no force, within or without, can break. Out of this moving encounter was revealed the will to live of Israel’s remnants. Like the steel skeleton of a house burned to the ground, they were drawn to that most precious “will to live” and guarded it.
On this day of separation from the remnants of Israel among whom and for whom we have been living these days in Europe, we send this parting word: “Do not accept any form of exile – any renewed prospect of extermination. Stand firm against the new concentration camps. Be strong to beat your way toward a free life in our Homeland. Raise the banner of Jewish revolt in Europe.”
To the soldiers returning to the Homeland: “Brothers-in-arms we have been and shall be. That fraternity will continue to beat forever in our hearts. May it always bind us together – united in our constructive effort, united in our struggle.”
With this alliance of blood, woven on the battlefield and seven times sanctified in the face of Israel’s distress, we turn to the Yishuv of Palestine and its Youth, calling for greater unity, for firm and continued guard. You who return to the Homeland, return to a battlefield. All that you have seen and felt among the ruins of our people, you will add to the scales, as precious weight, in the decisive struggle of the Yishuv. The sight and memory of graves and camps in Germany will permit you no rest. In your hearts, as in the body of our people, is a wound still bleeding, with blood being spilt, despite the “liberation,” while awaiting Freedom.
We had not power enough to complete the formation of a Jewish army. We succeeded only in laying its foundations. The fate of the Jewish Brigade mirrors the destiny of our people. The same hand which shut the gates of our country and put obstacles in our path toward a Jewish Fighting Force, now decrees your disbandment.
But the vision of a Jewish Army remains alive. The voluntary enlistment of thousands of Jewish men and women, their proud appearance as Jews in uniform, their participation in the fight of the world against the common enemy, their heroism and sacrifice, and at last, the raising of the Jewish flag as a fighting banner in Europe – all this still lives in our hearts, and will continue to live in the hearts of this generation of Jews, until the day when the Jewish Army will be a reality, until the day when the Jewish state will be a fact.
With the entire Jewish people, we are filled with deep indignation by the organized pogrom against the Yishuv – Israel’s last hope. The aim of this bloody attack is clear – to leave us defenseless, to break the backbone of our nation, to make a new ghetto of our country. Thousands of Jewish soldiers are today returning to Palestine, greeted by the sight of burning homes and villages, smashed by tanks, while the terror of the Government is spread thru-out the land and thousands of our brothers, including members of the Jewish Agency Executive, are arrested and tortured in concentration camps.
The Jewish soldiers who fought for Jewish rebirth in a new world, will never accept this situation. And while the banner of the Brigade is still raised in Europe – the banner of combat, vengeance and liberation – we stand fast and swear to carry the standard to our land! OUR MISSION IS NOT YET FULFILLED!
– Committee of the Jewish Brigade Group