Israel (Yisrael) Carmi (born Israel Weinman, 1917 – 20 January 2008) was an Israeli soldier and the founder of the

Tilhas Tizig Gesheften Tilhas Tizi Gesheften (commonly known by its acronym TTG) was a group of Jewish Brigade members formed immediately following World War II. Under the guise of British military activity, this group engaged in the assassination of Nazis and SS cons ...

(TTG) Brigade, known for tracking down and executing former Nazi officers after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Life

Carmi was born in Danzig (now

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

) sometime in 1917. At the age of 17 he immigrated to Israel, changing his surname from Weinman to Carmi. Carmi worked at a farming

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

in the area of

Givat HaShlosha Givat HaShlosha (, ''lit.'' Hill of the three) is a kibbutz in central Israel. Located about 4 km east of Petah Tikva, near the Yarkon river, it falls under the jurisdiction of Drom Hasharon Regional Council. In it had a population of . ...

in central

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. At the age of 19 (1936) Carmi was recruited into the

Haganah Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist political violence, Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the reg ...

(anglicised

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: ''"The Defense"''), and in the winter of 1936 Carmi volunteered for the

Palestine Police Force The Palestine Police Force (, ) was a British colonial police service established in Mandatory Palestine on 1 July 1920,Sinclair, 2006. when High Commissioner Sir Herbert Samuel's civil administration took over responsibility for security from ...

on orders from Haganah. During the

1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine A popular uprising by Palestinian Arabs in Mandatory Palestine against the British administration, later known as the Great Revolt, the Great Palestinian Revolt, or the Palestinian Revolution, lasted from 1936 until 1939. The movement sought i ...

, Carmi fought whilst outnumbered by the revolting Arabs who tried to overrun

Kfar Yehezkel Kfar Yehezkel (, ''lit.'' Yehezkel Village) is a moshav in northern Israel. Located in the Jezreel Valley, six kilometres southeast of Afula, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gilboa Regional Council. In the moshav had a population of . History ...

, and in 1938 at the age of 21 Carmi was selected for the

Special Night Squads The Special Night Squads (SNS) was a joint British–Jewish counter-insurgency military unit, established by Captain Orde Wingate in Mandatory Palestine in 1938 during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt. The SNS consisted of British infantry soldiers, ...

, receiving the Colonial Police Medal of Valor for his duties. In 1939 at the end of the Arab Revolt, Carmi returned to

and married Tonka, promising to stay on the farm and grow oranges and melons. However this changed with the issuance of the

White Paper of 1939 The White Paper of 1939Occasionally also known as the MacDonald White Paper (e.g. Caplan, 2015, p.117) after Malcolm MacDonald, the British Colonial Secretary, who presided over its creation. was a policy paper issued by the British governmen ...

. Carmi joined the

Posh (Haganah unit) POSH (, also Romanized ''Fosh'', an abbreviation for Plugot Sadeh (), ''lit.'' Field Companies) was an elite Jewish strike force that served as the commando arm of the Haganah during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine when the country was ...

, whose goal was to 'prevent the British from arresting the underground leaders and messing up covert training grounds. When

broke out Carmi joined the

Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), formerly the 3rd Regiment of Foot, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army traditionally raised in the English county of Kent and garrisoned at Canterbury. It had a history dating back to 1572 and ...

under orders from Haganah and became the rank of sergeant. During the summer of 1942 Carmi was stationed in Sinia where he stole British arms for future use. Carmi also served with the SIG Jewish Commando in North Africa (see Sugarman 'The Jewish Commandos of the SIG' in 'Fighting Back', London, Valentine Mitchell, 2017). Then during July 1943 Carmi was in

Benghazi Benghazi () () is the List of cities in Libya, second-most-populous city in Libya as well as the largest city in Cyrenaica, with an estimated population of 859,000 in 2023. Located on the Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, Ben ...

as part of the 2nd Battalion of the

Palestine Regiment The Palestine Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army that was formed in 1942. During the Second World War, the regiment was deployed to Egypt and Cyrenaica, but most of their work consisted of guard duty. Some Palestine Regiment mem ...

, a supporting unit of the

Jewish Brigade The Jewish Infantry Brigade Group, more commonly known as the Jewish Brigade Group or Jewish Brigade, was a military formation of the British Army in the World War II, Second World War. It was formed in late 1944 and was recruited among Yishuv, Y ...

. Carmi caused mutiny in the 2nd Battalion after the commander ripped down the Israeli flag Carmi had raised instead of a British flag. In 1944 Carmi joined the

. Around October 1944 Carmi travelled to Alexandria and then directly to Italy where he smuggled two Haganah operatives as British soldiers, their mission was to determine the truthfulness of the gas chamber rumors. From here Carmi travelled north to a base established in

Fiuggi Fiuggi ( Central-Northern Latian dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Frosinone, in the Italian region of Latium. The town of Fiuggi became famous for its Acqua di Fiuggi (Fiuggi Water), which flows from its natural spr ...

. After this Carmi and operatives left

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

for

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, on the way there was an incident in which the group attacked

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

POWs and as a result the British ordered them not to enter Germany and to stay in

Tarvisio Tarvisio ( German and ; ) is a (municipality) in the Regional Decentralization Entity of Udine, in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. Geography The town is in the Canal Valley (''Val Canale'') between the Carnic Alps and Ka ...

. In June 1945 Carmi and operatives left the encampment in

to visit the

Mauthausen Concentration Camp Mauthausen was a German Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 f ...

. Carmi asked to be transferred to the intelligence units, where he gathered information regarding the whereabouts of Nazis. Together with Australian born Robert Grossman, Carmi travelled back to Italy, this time to

Treviso Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as of December 2024). Some 3,000 live within the Venetian wall ...

, and gathered information from locals around the area, including touting for information.

was considered the perfect location because the SS stayed throughout the war and the local train station was used in connection with the deportation of Italian Jews, and the area was also full of refugees and recovering

soldiers. Here Carmi got information regarding a high-ranking

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

officer in charge of confiscation of the property of

Italian Jews Italian Jews (; ) or Roman Jews (; ) can be used in a broad sense to mean all Jews living in or with roots in Italy, or, in a narrower sense, to mean the Italkim, an ancient community living in Italy since the Ancient Roman era, who use the It ...

. In turn Carmi went to the home of the Gestapo officer disguised as a British officer and searched the home, finding bags of jewellery, guns, and cash. Upon threats to kill him, the Gestapo officer offered information providing the addresses and other personal information of other SS or Gestapo officers - receiving 18 pages of names. Carmi gave the list of minor officers to the

Allied Intelligence Bureau The Allied Intelligence Bureau (AIB) was a joint United States, Australian, Dutch and British intelligence and special operations agency during World War II. It was responsible for operating parties of spies and commandos behind Japanese lines i ...

(AIB), but kept the major officers list. Carmi then organised a group of fellow

officers to track and kill those whose guilt was "definitively established" by evidence. Members of the group included Meir Zorea,

Haim Laskov Haim Laskov (; 1919 – 8 December 1982) was an Israeli public figure and the fifth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. Biography Haim Laskov was born in Barysaw in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (present-day Belarus). He i ...

, Abram Silberstein, Marcel Tobias, and Orly Givon. Some offered membership to the group due to the extrajudicial nature of their actions. The group began killing officers from the list, typically stating "in the name of the Jewish people, I sentence you to death," before carrying out a quick field trial, later the officers were killed by strangulation, and two SS officers were pushed over a mountain ledge.Blum p196 / p198 / p200

References

Bibliography

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External links

Hagana web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carmi, Israel 1917 births 2008 deaths British military personnel of the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Israeli assassins Israeli soldiers Israeli military personnel of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Israeli war criminals Polish assassins Polish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Polish war criminals Polish Zionists Haganah members Jewish Brigade personnel Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) soldiers Palestine Regiment officers Palestine Police Force officers Military personnel from Gdańsk Nazi hunters Vigilantes Immigrants of the Fifth Aliyah

Life

See also

References

Bibliography

External links