Tag #138005 - Interview #78465 (Egon Lovith)

In 1948 the members of the DJYO accepted the formation of Israel very calmly and coldly. The Buchenwald group – Docsi, Dr. Hersko, Lajko – was a passionate illegal communist bunch, they were all very nice, honest and deeply moral people. They were much more reluctant to go to Israel than the Zionists. The fermentation at the DJYO started when it came to light that some of the members wanted to emigrate to Israel, which was against the beliefs of the older, communist generation. Today this is crystal clear, but unfortunately back then I didn’t understand so clearly what was happening. It was just natural for me that I didn’t want to leave this place. Whoever was enrolled in higher education didn’t move. People from modest Jewish families, from poor backgrounds and the young poor proletarian youth left quickly for Israel. In the times of the nationalization, when the government started to confiscate people’s property, those who had money and fortune realized the situation and left the country – and the DJYO.