"Perhaps I will be the only one of my family left alive ..." - A collection of letters from a Jew exiled to Pune ...

"Perhaps I will be the only one of my family left alive ..." - A collection of letters from a Jew exiled to Pune, India during World War II and engaged in the service of the British army

25 letters from a Jew named Nehemiah who was exiled from Israel via Damascus to Pune city in India in 1941, which was then under British control. In Pune he employed in a medical unit to treat British sicks. The letters were sent to his relatives and friends in Eretz Israel during his stay in India between 1941 and 1944, in which he describes in detail his duties under British command, his daily routine, his attitude to what was happening in Eretz Israel and the consequences of the world war against Jews, his longing to return home to jerusalem, and more. After the war, Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem.

Along letters with personal content detailing the experiences he faces in the vicinity of British soldiers, he details his feelings about the world war: "It is hard to believe that they will find any 'Jewish masses' in continental Europe after the end of this war. What happens is completely beyond description. Hitler and the fascist murderers They will "solve" the Jewish problem in these territories and erase the memory of Israel from all of Europe. Needless to shout and cry and knock on the chest. Help and redemption for the unfortunate people we do not have in our empty hands... There will be a change in the balance of our people, and the center of gravity will move to Eretz Israel or the United States ". And in another letter written in August 1943: "We are present to acknowledge that Hitler succeeded worldwide in his plot to lower and weaken our people's standing ... Other governments would not dare to treat us as the despicable Nazis treat, they lowered the general standard ... The Nazis announced on a perfect purge of the Jews From Berlin ... do you remember my cousin ... who can say where he is and his family, perhaps I will be the only one of my family left alive ..."

In another letter from March 1942 in which he describes his experiences he writes: "I am in the same place all the time and there is still no change in the general conditions or in my private situation", he adds and describes his activities: "Due to false accusations I stopped working in patients about three months ago. After that I worked in the sanitation department, which means I just walked around according to the accepted tradition in the war industry ... I supervised a group of Indian cleaners ... I was very tired of this bad business and managed to leave it ... despite of all we now have an exceptionally intelligent and gentle commander, And even the chief officer has no flaw ... Every soldier of the Army who serves in India for a certain period of time deserves a free round-trip ticket once a year to anywhere throughout the British regime in this huge country ... ", and goes on to describe his trip to India, and his attempts to obtain a camera from one of the soldiers, and then move to security service in the Near East.

In one of the letters, Nehemiah refers to the events in the Land of Israel, as well as to the affair of the Tehran children affair, he heard about: "I was present to feel doubly that our land and settlement has been evolving over the period since my flock in the Indian Diaspora ... I receive their Zionist monthly every month. I had learned about the Tehran children before... I came in contact with Bombay families who had children in their home as guests while they were waiting to be sent to Eretz Israel. The quarrels between the institutions and the parties over the question of the division of the children and their final absorption are stinking. There was shame and disgrace. shame for our people who have not yet understood what a vital matter ... ". and more. In one of the letters, a piece of written paper of several lines was apparently cut by the British censors.

About half of the letters are written in Hebrew, and the rest in foreign language. It is interesting to note that in his letters Nehemiah asks his friends and family to write to him only in the Hebrew language. In addition, there is one letter which was later sent to Nehemiah from a friend, after his return to Israel in jerusalem 1947.

Various sizes and conditions. general condition very good.