(Author: Leila Bloch, Vol. 73, No. 2, Rosh Hashanah 2018)
It is important to preserve memories while there are people around to share them with us. This is the function of the Jewish Digital Archive Project (JDAP), a community project sponsored by the Kaplan-Kushlick Foundation at the South African Jewish Museum in Cape Town.
Among the JDAP’s treasures is the Machal Collection, originally donated by Jason Hoff. They include the transcripts of interviews with Leslie Marcus, a true war hero.1[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row] Leslie Marcus at the time when he was commissioned, Netanya Officers Course, 1949 “That’s how we were in those days – ‘one for all and all for one’”, Leslie told me as he recounted his experiences, his eyes glimmering with the memory of friendship during battles fought, between moments of real pain and fond memory. In 1948, the Jewish Agency recognised the necessity of forming an organised Israeli defence force from the underground forces of the Haganah and the Palmach. However, there was a crucial shortage of trained manpower and equipment. This led to the decision to ask Jewish veterans of World War II to join as volunteers. At the beginning of 1948, therefore, Machal2 was created. Its volunteers were “unpaid idealist” who served in all different types of army corps, including infantry, artillery, armour, signals, engineering and medical units.3 The time between Leslie’s enrolment in the army and setting off for Israel was short. He had not a moment’s hesitation about leaving: “My late brother Sam had a clothing shop, so I got a few shmattes together in a suitcase. There was a fellow called Solly Laloon (from Claremont kosher butchery) who had a car; he came and fetched me at six the next morning, and took us to the air port. There were two of us, myself and Max Korensky from Paarl. I had never been on a plane before. I said goodbye to my parents and we went to Yzerfontein airport. It took us four days to get to Israel. We had to stop every four hours to refuel. When we landed, the UN was waiting for us. We were taken straight away to some camp in Haifa. Two days later I was in the army, fighting. I was all of 21 but I was ready for it. I was physically very strong. ‘There were 32 of us in our unit of various nationalities. I was second in command. There were eight South Africans. We had guys from Russia, Romania, England and America. We were the first to go into battle. Why did we go to battle first? Because we were the most trained”. Leslie was in the B Company, 89th Commando, of the 8th Brigade, known as the “Terrible Tigers”. This was a unit commanded by Moshe Dayan, who had been instructed by David Ben Gurion to form an armoured unit, consisting of especially tough soldiers hand-picked by Dayan himself.4 Leslie was personally backed by Dayan: “I remember being given an instruction in the morning during physical training. They were making fun of me. Dayan said, ‘If you ever make a joke about Leslie I will knock you out.’” Members of the 89th B Platoon, Commander Unit Leslie Marcus and Moshe Dayan, some years after the 1948 War of Independence With this support and the strength of a resilient and dynamic team, Leslie fought in many battles. Certain moments stand out with vivid accuracy, the first being the capture of Beit Govrin police station south of Jerusalem. “This was an important route serving the Egyptian and Jordanian armies. Several members of our unit were wounded during this battle. One of our wounded was our medic, Shlomo Friedrich. He was in the greatest danger as he was lying closest to the Jordanians who were systematically bombarding the police station. Whoever tried to reach one of the wounded was immediately hit. I asked for permission to rescue Shlomo. My commander, Naftali Arbel, reported that it was early afternoon, a time when any movement would immediately be spotted unless it was in the shadow of rocks and shrubs. It was essential to act with speed and decisiveness.” “You must understand this was midday in the middle of the heat. He was bad. I told Naftali that I was going to go and get Shlomo out. So with all the bullets flying from our own army and the Egyptians towards me I managed to get to Shlomo and I supposedly said to him, ‘Shlomo either we will both get killed today or I will get you out alive. But I will not leave you alone.’ I had bandages in my kit bag and after I had bandaged his wounds, I put him over my shoulder and carried him up the mountain again towards the police station”. The Jordanians opened fire. Leslie picked up speed and ran across the ground, reaching the collection point with Shlomo on his back. Although exhausted from the physical and mental effort, he immediately went back down the hill to join his comrades in defending the command post.5 “Until Shlomo died, I would visit Israel every year. He had two sons and a son-in-law, all pilots, and he would bring his children and 22 grandchildren to meet me and tell them that none of them would be there if it were not for me.” Leslie’s unit fought in many battles against the Jordanians and against the Egyptians and they liberated a children’s village surrounded by Arabs as well as Lod airport. There is a plaque at the airport commemorating their battle there. They were also involved in the capture of the Iraq el Suedan fortress. This dominated the road to the Negev near the Israeli settlement of Negba which had been taken over by the Egyptians. After a battle, they blew a hole in the wall and Leslie and the assault forces poured into the three story building. The Egyptians came out of the fortress with their hands up. Not one of the attackers was killed. The many weapons they found in the fortress came in very handy. Among the Egyptians were several German officers. Hearing Leslie speaking English, one said, “What are you doing among these bloody Jews?” That was not a good idea because Yossele was standing next to Leslie. He was a thin concentration camp survivor, who had seen his family killed by the Nazis. Marcus giving training instructions to members of the 89th B Platoon After the war, Leslie returned three times a year to Israel for retraining. “The Six Day War was in 1967. I arrived in Israel two days before it broke out. Whilst I was in the desert we had heard on the radio they captured the Marivi. When we heard the Kotel had been recaptured by us these soldiers started crying. We had all the filth in our tear drops from fighting in the desert. There was nowhere to wash your face. The teardrops took out the salt and we could not see because we were blinded. Our tears blinded us. It took about six or seven hours for medics to wash our faces and eyes. “I regret that I had to fire and kill, but that is war. For years afterwards I used to wake up at night in terror, the delayed action of the effects of the war. Hashem looked after us and not one of us was killed. Wounded yes, but never killed and we are in regular contact with each other. Today, there are four of us still alive. Seventy years later and I’m the baby. I always said that Hashem came down to assist us”. These were just a few of the memories the Jewish Digital Archive has collected from Leslie, one of the 800 South African Machalniks whose personal sacrifices seventy years ago helped create the State of Israel. We are currently digitizing his many photographs, awards, souvenirs and anecdotes to add to his personal archive that will be permanentlyh housed in JDAP so that future generations can benefit from stories of the past, and keep up with the present. For further information or to donate photographs or other material to JDAP, contact Leila at JDAP@sajewishmuseum.co.za or www.jdap.co.za. Leila Bloch holds a BA (Hons) in Heritage and Public Culture from the University of Cape Town. She has been working on the Jewish Digital Archive Project for five years. She is currently a research assistant for the Biography of an Uncharted People Project, a Masters student in the history department at Stellenbosch University, and a researcher at the South African Jewish Museum. 
NOTES
