My father was the secretary of the Brisk [now Brest-Litovsk] Jewish community he continued in a heavy voice. He walked to his death at the head of 500 Jews. They all sang ‘Hatikva’; ‘Hatikva’ and Ani Ma’amin – ‘I believe with perfect faith in the Messiah’s coming.’
The Germans pushed them into the River Bug. They opened fire with machine guns from both sides and the river became red with blood. The water turned to blood. That is how they died.
And my mother – she was an old woman sick in hospital. They summoned her and all the sick women in the hospital and slaughtered them.
So yes I don’t deny it – I live with this. It colors everything I do. I will live with this until the day I die.
Everybody sat gazing at Begin with poignant earnestness as he dabbed his moistening eyes. Then snapping out of his gloomy reminiscence he remarked with renewed composure But now baruch Hashem – thank God – we have the means to defend ourselves. We have Israel. We have our courageous Israel Defense Forces.
And because we have Israel and the IDF can there be no pardon ever? asked Bob a lively fellow from Denver with a southern drawl and sparkling blue eyes. Doesn’t there come a time when we have to put the past behind us?
No Bob I can’t do that. I shall never forgive the German people. Every German I see of that generation I think to myself – for all I know that man murdered my father my mother and our little children. And when I speak of my father I speak of all the fathers. And when I speak of my mother I speak of all the mothers.
And when I speak of my little brother and my little cousins I speak of all the little Jewish children – of all the Moysheles and the Surahles and the Yankeles and the Rivkales and the Dovidils and the Leahles.
The names came out in whimpers and when Begin next spoke it was between clenched teeth:
The Germans bear collective responsibility for a horror the like of which has not been known since God created Satan. So long as that embodiment of all evil Adolf Hitler brought them victories they hailed him. When his fortunes declined they began to turn their backs on him – a little. So no I will never shake the hand of a German – never!
But what do you do when you have to officially shake a German’s hand? asked Charlotte a middle-aged lady in a flowery frock.
Oh then it is quite a different matter Begin reassured her. As prime minister I have to fulfill my official role. When the German foreign minister Mr. Genschar was here recently I received him with courtesy and we talked of many important matters.
In German? asked Charlotte.
No. I know German but I won’t speak their language. We communicated in English. And by the by [Begin liked that expression] if Chancellor Helmut Schmidt were to visit Jerusalem I would sit and talk to him too as it is my official duty to do. And there would be some things I would like to say to him face to face in particular.
The head of the delegation Frank Lautenberg a patrician soft-spoken gentleman who was shortly to be elected United States Senator from New Jersey asked if the prime minister would care to elaborate on that. He had heard that the prime minister had had a serious quarrel with the German chancellor and that as a consequence relations between the two countries were strained.