Robert (Boris) Bitker (; 1907 - 1977) was a military commander of the

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

group

Irgun The Irgun (), officially the National Military Organization in the Land of Israel, often abbreviated as Etzel or IZL (), was a Zionist paramilitary organization that operated in Mandatory Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of th ...

Early life and education

Bitker was born in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, Poland. Bitker subsequently became involved in the

Revisionist Zionist Revisionist Zionism is a form of Zionism characterized by territorial maximalism. Revisionist Zionism promoted expansionism and the establishment of a Jewish majority on both sides of the Jordan River. Developed by Ze'ev Jabotinsky in the 1920s ...

Betar The Betar Movement (), also spelled Beitar (), is a Revisionist Zionism, Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky. It was one of several right-wing youth movements tha ...

movement. In 1933, he was appointed head (''netziv'') of the Betar command in southern China. In 1937, he went to

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

, where he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Irgun. He held this position for a short time, and was quickly replaced after difficulties arose from two of his operations.

Career

Bitker, adopting the strategy of Tsarist-era Russian revolutionaries, attempted to use bank robbery as a means of obtaining funds for operations. To this end he, with ex-members of Brit HaBiryonim, staged a bank robbery, though it was ultimately unsuccessful. Bitker was also allegedly involved in the killing of Zvi Frenkel, a fellow Irgun militant who had killed an Arab in an act of retaliation using a gun he held illegally. After British authorities identified Frenkel as culprit in the killing, he was hidden by the Irgun. However, the British subsequently arrested his mother and spread rumors she was being tortured, which convinced him to turn himself in. Frenkel was later found, drowned and bound with wire, in the

Yarkon River The Yarkon River, also Yarqon River or Jarkon River (, ''Nahal HaYarkon''; , ''Nahr al-Auja''), is a river in central Israel. The source of the Yarkon ("Greenish" in Hebrew) is at Tel Afek (Antipatris), north of Petah Tikva. It flows west throu ...

. According to Binyamin Eliav, Bitker was involved in the decision to have Frenkel killed because of worries that he might reveal details about Irgun members to British authorities. Bitker was then smuggled out of Palestine and returned to Shanghai, where he led the local Betar group before emigrating to the United States, where he lived for the rest of his life. Yaʼacov Liberman
''My China: Jewish Life in the Orient, 1900-1950
Gefen Publishing House Ltd, 1998 p,35,

References

1907 births 1977 deaths Betar members Irgun members Military personnel from Warsaw Polish Zionists Emigrants from Mandatory Palestine to the United States {{Israel-mil-bio-stub