In 1943, at the height of World War II, the allies were focused on defeating the German military. Consequently, they were unable or uninterested in empowering the local Europeans to fight their oppressors.
Nevertheless, many rose arms, formed partisan groups and resistance movements, and led small and large uprisings. At times, they received some help from Jews from abroad.
The Jewish Agency, operating in Palestine, in what would soon become the State of Israel, came out with a plan to recruit, train, and send parachutists from Palestine to infiltrate certain European areas. They would bring relief to the population, contact the resistance, organize partisan camps, and perhaps even trigger a Jewish uprising.
Initially, 250 young men and women volunteered for the mission. Only 110 were trained. They further narrowed it down to 37. At last, only 32 made the jump on European soils. Twelve of those were captured. Seven died.
This is the story of one of them.
This is the story of Sarah Braverman.
Surika, as she was known, was born in 1918 in Botosani, Romania. Luckily, she left Romania for Palestine in 1938, right before the war. But that did not deter Surika from returning to Nazi-occupied Europe to help her brothers and sisters.
“You have to understand, we didn’t go to Europe to overthrow the Third Reich,” Braverman said. “We didn’t think they would make of us heroes; we wanted to go to the Jews of Europe and say that we had come to help.”
Sarah was one of the three female paratroopers and the only woman of the trio to survive this mission.
Sarah’s mission did not take her back to her native Romania. Instead, she spent much of the war at the partisan camps in the mountains of Yugoslavia. She helped milk cows and took care of the wounded.
She was also one of the first females to join the Palmach, an elite force of an underground army fighting against the British mandate over Palestine.
Upon returning from her mission, she was one of the first women to join the IDF and one of the founding members of the Israel Defense Forces Women’s Corps. She personally recruited the first 32 women to join the forces. She signed up last, receiving military number 33.
The last of the parachutists, she died on February 10, 2013, at 95.
To Surika and all the brave women out there. May we know them. May we be them.
