Haapalah / Aliyah Bet

Leah Weitzner was the only child of a judge in the Polish government who died when she was five.
She grew up at her grandfather's estate in Kochavina, in Galicia.

In September 1942, the Germans invaded Lea Weitzner's village, and hHer grandfather and uncle ran away.
Lea, her mother, and grandmother were rounded up with other Jews and stuffed into a cattle car heading east.

Lea Weitzner´s mother, Gusta, pushed Lea out through a narrow opening in the side of the train car.
Leah Weitzner survived being thrown from a cattle car destined for death, and made found her way back to her grandfather and an uncle, Mundek, who had escaped the deportation.

Lea Weitzner uncle, Mundek, had lived in Mandatory Palestine, but had come back to introduce his fiancée to his family and got caught in the war.
He was determined to save Lea, and acquired false papers for her, and taught her Christian prayers and customs.
Lea Weitzner lived with the Plauszewski family, and then with a relative, Stefania Gos, whose husband was a commander in the Polish underground.
She survived three years of lying about her identity, while living with Catholic families in Poland,

Leah Weitzner's uncle, Mundek Feldman, encouraged her to eventually emigrate to Palestine.
"After the war, never go anywhere except Palestine," he coached her. "Always go towards Italy, because from there you can get to Palestine. Always go towards the sea."

During a demonstration by the internees, Lea Weitzner was wounded by British police gunfire.
Her story was published in the Jewish press in Palestine, and her relatives on kibbutz Merhavia discovered that she had survived.
She was reunited with them when she was finally allowed to immigrate to Palestine.