Jerusalem Field Trip to The "Underground Museum"

A couple of weeks ago, the senior citizen "vattimkim," program I attend every week had a field trip to Jerusalem. I already blogged about our visit to the Jerusalem Municipality complex at Safra Square where we saw their amazing scale model of some of the city.

Just behind Safra Square is what's known as Migrash Harusim, the Russian Compound, in which there's a police station, jail and the jail that the British used when they were occupying the Land of Israel, during the Mandate.

In that old jail is a museum dedicated to the Jewish prisoners who had been arrested, held and executed by the British before the declaration of Independence of the State of Israel. Over the almost half a century I've lived in Israel, I visited that museum a number of times. Each time there are updates and improvements to help the visitors gain a good comprehension of what imprisonment was like there during that difficult time.

Most of the Jewish prisoners had been members of the Etzel and Lechi, known as the "underground." Since members of the Haganah and Palmach cooperated with the British by informing on the Etzel and Lehi, fewer of them were jailed. Pretty much everyone in our group has a good knowledge of pre-state history and knows the historical context of the Underground Museum. Our guide had to take that into account, and she was wonderful. When members of the group wanted to enter a room that the guide hadn't planned on showing, she cooperated happily.

Most of the group I was with didn't need

This is a wonderful museum, not too large. It is easy to get to by public transportation, bus and the lightrail. The tour guides are excellent, as are the public toilets.

Geula Cohen, Israeli Heroine and Icon 90!

We've known Geula Cohen and her family, her late husband Emanuel (Adam, his underground Lechi name) Hanegbi and son Tzachi Hanegbi, pretty much ever since we came to Israel. My husband first met Emanuel before our aliyah when he had been a student in Machon Hamadrichei Chutz L'Aretz.

The Begin Heritage Center Auditorium and meeting rooms (set up with screens and speakers so people could see and hear the event) were packed, while many others found themselves even closed out of those extra venues, since there just wasn't enough space for all who wanted to attend this very special tribute/birthday celebrating Geula Cohen's 90th. It's so wonderful when someone who contributed so much to the Jewish People and the State of Israel is alive to hear what quite often just gets said at memorials.

Geula began her contribution to the Jewish People when still a teenager in what was then called Palestine, part of the Mandate the British were entrusted with to establish a Jewish State. When the British refused to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish State, a number of underground groups were formed to "convince" the British to leave. Among them, and the least compromising of all, was Lechi aka the Stern Group. As its iconic radio announcer Geula made her mark. At one point the British succeeded in arresting and trying her for the "crime." Actually, she was tried and sentenced for two crimes, her radio work and having a gun on her. They sentenced her for seven years for carrying a gun and two for broadcasting on the radio. She could not understand why they thought the gun was more a danger to their rule than her broadcasting, because she believed firmly in the power of words. No surprise that later on she made her mark as a journalist, and after that, when she was a Knesset Member, her speeches and phraseology were electrifying.

Geula has kept to her principles to this day, earning the respect of the Israeli establishment, even those who don't agree with her. In 2003 she received the coveted Israel Prize on Independence Day for her lifetime achievement and special contribution to society and the State.

Here are some photos I took at the celebrations:

We should all be thanking Geula Cohen, ad me'ah vi'esrim...