From Victim to Soldier
My Journey from Auschwitz to Israel
by
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Herman (Zvi) Rittman (b. 1930) grew up in Hungary. He went to public school and played sports with friends, even in the early years of World War Two. In 1944, the Third Reich began deporting Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz. Zvi and his family were sent there in early 1944, and most of them were immediately put to death. Zvi was assigned to hard labor. In the winter of 1944-45, he too was marked for execution but saved, paradoxically by war criminal Josef Mengele. He survived the Angel of Death’s medical experiments and the winter death march into Germany as well. Upon liberation by American troops at Dachau, he returned to Romania and in time made his way to Palestine shortly before the birth of Israel. Zvi served in a militia that defended his kibbutz and helped bring Lebanese and Syrian Jews into Palestine. He soon joined the Haganah and the Israel Defense Forces. He served in the War of Independence, the 1956 Sinai War, the Six-Day War, and the 1973 Yom Kippur War in which he was badly wounded. Entering a civilian intelligence service known as Shin Bet, he ran an espionage network in Lebanon and Syria which sought to protect Israel from terrorist attacks and assess the military capacities of surrounding states. Along the winding path, he encountered Ariel Sharon, Haim Bar-Lev, Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak, and other prominent figures in Israeli political and military history. In a short but moving epilogue, Zvi offers his thoughts on Israel’s current security situation and its internal divisions – divisions that more than a few generals and intelligence chiefs have expressed grave concern over. The Rittmans’ book has many powerful and poignant moments, as any work on the Holocaust, war, and espionage would. Many passages display Zvi’s dark humor which has been with him since Auschwitz and indeed helped him through that ordeal and many subsequent ones.
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About the Book
Herman Rittman was born in 1930 and grew up Hungary, enjoying the simple liberties of going to school and playing with friends, even in the early years of World War II. But in 1944, the Third Reich began deporting Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz, and Herman and his family were sent there, most of them immediately put to death. For Herman Rittman, this would be only the beginning of his journey. In From Victim to Solider: My Journey from Auschwitz to Israel, a retired Israeli colonel and intelligence officer recounts his life from boyhood in Hungary to his retirement in Israel. Herman Rittman, later adopting the name Zvi in his new country of Israel, was interned in a Hungarian ghetto before being sent to Auschwitz, where after enduring months of hard labor he would be paradoxically saved from execution by the war criminal Josef Mengele—only to be selected as a victim for the Angel of Death’s medical experiments. But after his liberation by American troops at Dachau, Zvi would go on to see the birth of the state of Israel and commit his life to fighting for its future. From Victim to Solider has many powerful and poignant moments, as any work on the Holocaust, war, and espionage would. Though many passages display Zvi’s dark humor, which has been with him since Auschwitz and indeed helped him through that ordeal and many more, there would be better days ahead—and Zvi would be part of making those dreams into realities.
About the Author
Herman (Zvi) Rittman survived the Holocaust and afterward returned to Romania, making his way to Palestine shortly before the birth of Israel. He then served in a militia that defended his kibbutz, later joining the Haganah and the Israel Defense Forces. He served in the War of Independence, the 1956 Sinai War, the Six-Day War, and the 1973 Yom Kippur War, where he was badly wounded, and Zvi eventually entered a civilian intelligence service known as Shin Bet, where he ran an espionage network in Lebanon and Syria. Today Zvi is enjoying his retirement along the Mediterranean Sea. Danny Rittman is a veteran of the Israel Defense Forces, and he designs semiconductors with both civilian and military uses. He helped design chips for DEC, Intel, IBM, and Qualcomm, and he has worked on sophisticated custom chips used by air defense systems. He shares his father’s compelling biography in From Victim to Soldier: My Journey from Auschwitz to Israel.