Tag #136641 - Interview #78463 (Bela Muller)

In Kolozsvar, in the 1930s, there was a strong Zionist movement. The Hashomer Hatzair [10], the Hanoar Hatzioni [11], the Barissia [12] and the Aviva [13] had activities of education, preparing the young people participating in the movement for emigration. They established several agricultural ranches in Transylvania and trained the people there, who were idealists and aimed to build the Jewish homeland. They learned agriculture there. There was such a ranch in the vicinity of Kolozsvar, as well. They rented a plot of land, they had agricultural tools, and several young Zionists lived there. Not every young person who immigrated to Palestine participated in these agricultural trainings, but these were the majority of those who were favored to emigrate. In Kolozsvar the Zionist movement was very diverse; there were different trends. There were the observant and the less religious, the leftist and the rightist ones. I was still religious then, just like my parents and siblings, and I used to go to the Mizrachi [14], a religious Zionist organization. Its members came from families pertaining to the religious level. I don’t remember the name of any of its leaders.