(Los Angeles Times) Frank Shatz - In 1953, I was serving as a foreign correspondent for Hungarian newspapers in Communist-ruled Prague, Czechoslovakia. When I learned that Erika Fabian, 13, her sister Judith, 16, and their mother had been imprisoned in Bratislava, Slovakia, for trying to escape from Communist Hungary by crossing Czechoslovakia to reach Austria, I explained to officials that the Fabian family were Holocaust survivors, and their aim was to immigrate to Israel, not to the "evil" West. To obtain an affidavit confirming that their late father's brother, Ely, who lived in Israel, was ready to take care of the Fabians, I needed the assistance of the Israeli Embassy in Prague. After several meetings with a consular official who, I realized eventually, was the Mossad representative in Prague, I was asked if I would help assist Czech Jews to reach Israel and I agreed. Eventually the Fabian family were set free, and, after a separation of 65 years, I had a recent reunion with Erika Fabian.
2018-07-13 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive