Authors: Cynthia Freeman
When the experimental station was thoroughly demolished it was suspected that he’d run off to the hills with many other men from NILI. He was not found.
As a last resort Jamal Pasha dispatched soldiers to Chavala and Dovid’s house, this time with instructions to intimidate but not molest her. Eventually, he was sure, her husband would try to reach her. After hours of intense, exhausting interrogation she stuck to her denials … “I’ve told you over and over again, I don’t know where my husband is,
but
if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. You can torture me, kill me, but I will tell you nothing.”
They would wait, as instructed. They still needed her alive as a lure to draw her husband…
Certain that it was only a matter of time before he was caught, Dovid prayed to be free long enough to accomplish this one last mission … At midnight he worked feverishly in the underground vaults with Nachman Shamir and Moses Bartov, taking sacks of gold through the tunnel that connected Athlit to the Crusaders’ Castle. When they were finished, Dovid wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, then looked at the two men dressed in stolen Turkish uniforms.
“Well,” he said, “it seems a long time since we first met at Athlit. You, Nachman, wanted to know that night if you were supposed to twiddle your thumbs.”
Nachman managed a smile. “I remember, Dovid. You said we wouldn’t have time for that, and you were right.”
Dovid nodded. “And you, Moses Bartov, the Shomer from Galilee … you have been a real friend. Now, get the gold loaded into the wagon, you have your instructions which kibbutzim they’re to be hidden in.
Shalom
.”
After the men had gone Dovid thought back to that first meeting, marveling that any of them had survived. Well, that was what Jews did best…
He crawled back through the tunnel, waited in the vault and listened for any sounds above. He had no way of knowing how much time had passed, but when he felt, hoped it was safe, he cautiously slid back the trapdoor and peered out. Even through that tiny slit he could tell the Turks had been here, could see their ugly trail of devastation. Quickly he lifted himself up and secured the trapdoor.
There was no time for fear. Tonight he had to rendezvous with the
Menagem.
He crawled through the high grass, then along the seawall until he reached the appointed place. He took the small flashlight from his back pocket, lay down on his stomach and signaled the code … S-A-L-A-N-E-H I-S A S-I-L-L-Y W-O-M-A-N S-H-E L-A-U-G-H-S. Then he lay very still, waiting for the message to be decoded.
Chaim, his face collapsed in grief, handed Lieutenant Ian Smith the translation.
Salaneh
was NILI…
Silly
meant exposed …
Woman
was captured …
She Laughs
was gold is safe. There was a hush aboard, but this was not the time for mourning.
Quickly the motor started and the
Menagem
made a run for it…
Dovid took a deep breath when he heard the sound of the ship going off in the distance, then he waited and listened for still another sound. He’d been through this act so many times he could almost predict when the Turkish patrol would come and go. He heard them pass. He got up and ran from rock to rock until he was almost within arm’s reach of the Crusaders’ Castle, where, as expected, he was captured by four Turkish soldiers …
First he was beaten with the butt of a gun, then kicked when he fell to the ground. To hell with the pain, he willed himself to stand up. His right eye was swollen shut, he felt the blood running down the side of his face. But at least he walked as he was taken off to prison.
The two-by-four cell was barely large enough to accommodate his body. He sat against the wall, not even able to stretch his legs. Each time he shifted, the pain in his head became excruciating and his bruised body ached almost beyond endurance. As he sat in the dark, there was little else to do except contemplate what would happen to him. Finally, the heavy metal door swung open.
“
Stand up
.”
He did, with great effort, and was led by a guard down the narrow passages, past the death row cells, until they reached an iron gate. Another guard unlocked it. The clang of the ancient metal bolt sounded to Dovid like giant cymbals being clashed together. He wanted to put his hands over his ears, but he was prodded by the butt of a gun down another corridor, to be shoved into an interrogation room.
Hamed Bey motioned to the guard, and Dovid was pushed into a chair.
“What were you doing at the Crusaders’ Castle early this morning?”
“I was out for a stroll—”
“Don’t try your stupid heroics on me … I know you’re terrified … what were you doing? … I will give you one minute to answer.”
“I’m a Jew, why would you believe me?”
“Jews are cowards. Little as it’s worth,
you
value your life, and I understand you have a wife and child …
now
, your minute’s running out.”
“The truth is, I was a little restless tonight I enjoy watching the water, it calms me down—”
“Enough nonsense. I know you’re the head of NILI. Guard, take him out.”
Dovid was beaten and thrown back into the windowless cell. Again he sat in the dark. He remembered the day he dedicated himself to the survival of his people. He heard the echoes of his own voice come back to him, from that night in Aaron’s laboratory when he’d said, “Every man has his breaking point …” So far, thank God, he hadn’t come to his, nor had, so far as he knew, the other seven who had sworn on the Bible that night. He was proud to have been a part of that group, proud of the recruits who were no less dedicated, just less prepared. He did not blame the young man, recently sworn into NILI, who had gone back on his oath to save his father. How could he?
Once again the heavy iron door opened, and once again he was all but dragged down the stone passageway, but this time to a waiting room. Pushed into a chair, he looked at the man behind the desk. Jamal Pasha, no less.
Pasha ignored Dovid for what seemed like an eternity.
“Well, we meet again, Landau, and under unfortunate circumstances. For you. The last time you were in my office I was most hospitable. You smoked my cigarettes and drank my coffee. You also were given an opportunity to look at some very important plans. Now, after all that, I think it only fair that you oblige me with Aaronson’s whereabouts.”
“I’ve no more idea than you do.”
Jamal Pasha recalled too well the way he’d been tricked into letting this Jew go, how he’d underestimated him. “That’s strange, Landau, since I know you’re always in contact with him. Well, as you know, I’m a patient man, but there is a limit. Now, once again, I ask you, where is Aaronson?”
“I repeat, I do not know.”
Jamal Pasha poured a large glass of water from a pitcher, took a sip, then let it stand on the desk.
Dovid had had nothing to drink or to eat for two days. He said nothing.
“Where is Aaronson?”
Dovid only shrugged.
Jamal Pasha got up from his desk and slapped Dovid across the face so hard that the chair in which he sat almost toppled over. Then: “Guards, take him out of my sight. I assure you, Landau, that when we are through, you’ll beg us to kill you.”
He was almost right…
By now all of Zichron was put in a quarantine, and every man, woman and child received punishment. Rations were a cup of water per person a day. No one was to leave his house under penalty of death …
Chavala was singled out, taken off to jail and tortured when she refused to tell about Dovid’s involvement in NILI. When she sufficiently recovered she was asked again and again, “What was your husband’s position? What did he do? What were his plans … ?”
There were times she almost faltered, but somehow her mind ruled her body as she kept repeating to herself,
They can only kill me once … only once … only once …
Abruptly she was sent home. Jamal Pasha had decided she was still too valuable as a tool to break down her husband’s resistance. He would not kill her. Not yet
Lieb Schachamwas finally to be executed. He had still not talked. When he stood on the scaffold with the rope around his neck, he called out “NILI!
Netzah Yisroel Lo Ishkahem!
Israel’s perpetuity shall never forget thee!”
Nachman Shamir and Eliave Yitzchak were escorted to the main square in Damascus, where the gallows had been set up. Nachman told the crowd, “You are near your end, we will liberate our country. We will not betray our true homeland. We are liberating Palestine. Very soon the Turks will be driven out of our land. We, NILI’s men, have dug a grave for you. While you are busy hanging our people, the British have entered our Holy City of Jerusalem, your army is running without a battle. On the day of my death, I send you a curse from the bottom of my heart. Be damned forever …”
When the Turkish guards came to take Sarah’s father and brothers, she received them calmly.
They forced her to watch as old Ephraim and her brothers were beaten on the bare soles of their feet. When she could stand it no longer she told them, “It was
me
, I started NILI … I am its real head … I started it and I will end it. Please … if you have any decency, in the name of your Allah, let my father go …”
The old man was “released” from the room, to be taken off to his death when he was out of Sarah’s sight.
Sarah had sealed her death warrant. First she was beaten, her fingernails were pulled out, hot rocks were put under her armpits. For three days and nights she screamed out her pain in the black, windowless cell.
When the cell door was finally opened she was ready. At her sentencing she said, “It’s customary in civilized countries that the prisoner be granted a last wish. You are civilized people.”
“What is your request?”
“To be allowed to go home for a change of clothes. I do not wish to meet my God as I look now.”
The inquisitor grimaced. Only a stupid Jewess would think of such a thing, but, as she said, they
were
a civilized people. “Granted.”
Sarah was taken in chains through the streets of Zichron. When they arrived she was, after pleading, permitted to go to her room alone.
She locked herself in her bedroom, opened the dresser drawer and took out the small pearl-handled revolver she had carried with her when she left Constantinople.
Strange she thought, I took this for protection … Well, that’s what it will be used for. Without hesitation, Sarah put it into her mouth and pulled the trigger.
A soldier rushed up the stairs and broke down the door, where he found Sarah unconscious. Beside her lay the small pistol. Her pulse still beat weakly when the soldier felt it. He looked at the blood oozing from her mouth. Knowing how angry Jamal Pasha would be at being deprived of her hanging, the soldier immediately sent for a doctor.
After an injection she regained consciousness. “For God’s sake, kill me, I can’t stand any more …” She continued to beg for a lethal potion, cursed the Turkish commander, the governor, and especially the police officer, Osman Bey, who had tortured her. For two days she lay paralyzed but semiconscious.
Finally, blessed death came to release her.
D
OVID LAY ON THE
stone floor. Chavala had been brought to see him, in the hope that her pleading would break his spirit When they were left briefly alone she said, “Dovid, please, what will you accomplish now by not revealing where Aaron is? He’s beyond reach in Alexandria, so how can you hurt him?
Please
, Dovid. Save yourself …”
“Chavala, don’t be taken in by the Turks. Even if Aaron were to come back they would still hang me. At least I can die knowing I’ve betrayed no one. I want our son to know and never forget that I had something to do with the miracle that has happened to our people here. Just know that I love you, dearest Chavala. I have since the day I first knew you …”
How long ago, he now wondered, had it been since he’d seen Chavala and said those words? He had no idea. He had no idea what day or what date it was. The beatings had stopped, and now they were using starvation as their last resort. Well, it would soon be over, he almost looked forward to the day of his execution. He only hoped he would have the strength to go to the gallows saying the words,
Netzah Yisroel Lo Yshaker
, Israel’s eternity shall not die. And then call out, “Long live NILI!”
Dovid could not know that the British—thanks in part to the information he had furnished—had broken through the Turkish lines, demolishing them, and had dug in. The decisive offensive of the Allies began, and within two weeks the whole of northern Palestine was taken from the Turks.
The prisons were emptied …
When the iron door of Dovid’s cell was opened by a soldier in khaki shorts, he thought his mind was playing games with him. He was sure he was hallucinating as he lay in the corner of his cell… staring, afraid to move.
But the soldier, fantasy or not, came to his side and helped him up. Dovid braced himself unsteadily against the wall.
“It’s all over, mate, you walk out any time you like. Good luck, I’d say we got here just in time.”
Still unable to take it in, Dovid managed to get out, “What happened?”
“It’s all over, chum, we beat them proper.”
Dovid slid down the cold stone wall. He finally knew that he was alive … and would be going home to Chavala …
The litterbearers came for him.
“All right, old chap, we’re going to have you attended to right away. From the looks of it, you haven’t had a decent meal in a century or so.”
Dovid could still not believe it, he’d lived in darkness and fear for so long he was suspicious even now … “Where are you taking me?”
“Just lay back, we’ll have you good as new in no time. You’ll like the hospital we’re taking you to—”
“How long do you think I’ll have to be there?”
“Oh, maybe three to four weeks.”
“What day is this?”
“It’s
Armistice Day,
November 11, and in case you’re confused about the year, it’s 1918.”
Chavala was holding a basket of wash in her hands when she looked down the road and saw a man approaching.