Letters from a Prisoner in Latroun, Acre, Carthaga, Asmara and Gilgil / Letters from the Relief Committee for the ...

Letters from a Prisoner in Latroun, Acre, Carthaga, Asmara and Gilgil / Letters from the Relief Committee for the Exiles in Eritrea, 1944-1947
Archive of handwritten and printed letters, Polack-Moser family of Haifa, 1944-1947.
In November 1944 Avraham (Avivi) Polack, a Humanities student in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem was arrested and sent to a detention camp in Latroun; by mid-December he was transferred to the prison in Acre, and from there to various British detention-camps in Africa: Carthaga (Sudan), Asmara (Eritrea), and Gilgil (Kenya). During his years in exile, Avraham wrote many letters to his family and relatives, and these are in the collection in front of us, the letters are rich with descriptions of daily life in the camps. Baruch Moser-Polack established in Haifa, concurrently, the "Committee for assisting the families of the Jewish Detainees" and the "Committee for the Eritrea Exiles and their Families" and sent many letters with pleas for assistance and aid (he kept copies of most letters and these are included in the collection herewith) – to Jewish leaders and organizations, among them: the High Commissioner, Central Secret Police, Haim Weizmann, Chief rabbinate, Mania Bialik, Prof. Klausner, Anitta Müller-Cohen, The Women Workers Union, The Jewish National Council, Newspapers' Editorials, and more, sometimes with the assistance of lawyers. The letters reflect his concern about his son and his daughter, 16-17 years old, who was also arrested for a long time in the women's detention prison in Bethlehem (see next item). During all the period of his imprisonment in Africa, Avraham Polack continued his studies, with books which were sent to him by his father and by the University library, thanks to efforts made by its president, Prof. Magnes.
This is a varied and rare archive in its scope, enabling a thorough research of the lives of Etzel and Lehi exiles in detention camps in Africa through first-hand detailed documents, while watching the fight for their release on the part of their parents in Palestine. The archive contains:
- About 125 letters by Avraham Polack, mainly from Carthaga and Asmara camps. Deletions or lines chopped by the censor can be traced in some of the letters (in particular in the early letters).
- About 180 letters and copies of letters from the Assistance Committee for the Eritrea Exiles some in several copies.
- About 16 letters sent to Avraham by his father and his sister Ruth Stern and her husband.
- About 16 letters concerning the continuation of Avraham's academic studies in the camps: order of books, examination grades, etc.
- About 50 general documents: certificates for delivery of parcels or money, payment-confirmations, renewal of newspaper subscription for Avraham, and more.
Total of about 400 documents, sizes and conditions vary.