HR
Heroes of Israel

Haviva Reik

Share
Who

Haviva Reik · Heroes of Israel

What

Jewish parachutist of the Yishuv, executed after dropping into Slovakia to aid Jews (1944)

When

1914, Nadabula (now part of Rožňava), then Austria-Hungary — today Slovakia — 1944, Kremnička, near Banská Bystrica, Slovakia

Where

Mandatory Palestine / Slovakia

Biography

Haviva Reik is recognized among Israeli contributors to Heroes of Israel — Jewish parachutist of the Yishuv, executed after dropping into Slovakia to aid Jews (1944)

How & why

Haviva Reik was born Marta Reick in 1914 in Nadabula, in what is today Slovakia, and grew up in Banská Bystrica before making aliyah to Mandatory Palestine in 1939, where she joined kibbutz Ma'anit and then the Palmach. She was one of the 32 or 33 Jewish parachutists sent by the Jewish Agency together with British military intelligence into German-occupied Europe. In September 1944 she reached Banská Bystrica during the Slovak National Uprising, where she helped organise Jewish resistance, ran a soup kitchen and refugee centre, assisted children trying to escape and sheltered downed Allied airmen. When German forces overran the partisans' mountain camp she was captured and executed on 20 November 1944 at Kremnička; kibbutz Lehavot Haviva and the Givat Haviva institute carry her name.

Sources & external links

Verify and go deeper with these external references.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haviva_Reik

Contributions & Sources

Jewish parachutist of the Yishuv, executed after dropping into Slovakia to aid Jews (1944)

1944

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haviva_Reik