Page 48 - issue
P. 48
BETWEEN 1948 AND 1953, HUNDREDS –
SOME CLAIM THOUSANDS – OF BABIES
FROM FAMILIES OF YEMENITE, MIDDLE
EASTERN, AND BALKAN IMMIGRANTS
DISAPPEARED, MOST OF THE TIME
DECLARED DEAD. IN THE SQUALID,
CONGESTED TRANSIT CAMPS, SICK (AND
NOT SO SICK) INFANTS WERE SEPARATED
FROM THEIR PARENTS AND SENT TO THE
INFIRMARY. THESE CHILDREN NEVER
A?MRAMCAMEBACK…
Mby Sam Finkel the families were en route the thousands that Yemenite activists
y friend calls – it is 9:15 a.m. to the camps! Very often, have claimed. But crucial details of
“Turn on Reshet Bet (channel the parents were told a their findings are off limits until the
two),” he says with some year 2070!
urgency, “they’re talking about newborn child had
the missing Yemenites!” “died.” In many cases, the authorities We are talking about a democracy,
I tune in and listen to host Karen did not even produce a death certifi- where the basic right of its citizens to
Auerbach interviewing a woman from cate or show the parents the grave of know the fate of their family members
an organization called Amram, which is the infant.1 Yet, 18 years later, these is being denied in order to protect the
advocating the opening of State same families received draft notices in privacy of bureaucrats, politicians,
Archives to the public, so that families the mail for the child who had suppos- judges, social workers, rabbis, and
that lost children in the ma’abarot edly died! adoptive parents involved in this myste-
(transit camps) can search for missing rious and sordid affair!
relatives. The Yemenite Children Affair has
surfaced periodically, and three investi- The woman from Amram mentioned
Between 1948 and 1953, hundreds – gations have been conducted over the that her organization was collecting tes-
some claim thousands – of babies from 60-plus years of the State. The Amram timonies from families that lost children
families of Yemenite, Middle Eastern, organization is interested in obtaining and siblings under mysterious
and Balkan immigrants disappeared, death certificates, adoption files, and
most of the time declared dead. In the the full report of the Shalgi 1 Was it a case of sheer pandemonium,
squalid, congested transit camps, sick Commission – the third and last gov- caused by the influx of hundreds of
(and not so sick) infants were separat- ernmental committee that investigated people arrived each day to the camps
ed from their parents and sent to the the issue of the missing babies. In with very limited resources and in such
infirmary. These children never came 1995, the commission only publicized a a short time? Others claim that the
back. Sometimes, the children were very brief synopsis of its findings. The camps were very organized, with docu-
taken from the parents at night while Shalgi report concluded that the num- mentation down to the last blanket and
bers were only in the hundreds – not bowl.
44 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
SOME CLAIM THOUSANDS – OF BABIES
FROM FAMILIES OF YEMENITE, MIDDLE
EASTERN, AND BALKAN IMMIGRANTS
DISAPPEARED, MOST OF THE TIME
DECLARED DEAD. IN THE SQUALID,
CONGESTED TRANSIT CAMPS, SICK (AND
NOT SO SICK) INFANTS WERE SEPARATED
FROM THEIR PARENTS AND SENT TO THE
INFIRMARY. THESE CHILDREN NEVER
A?MRAMCAMEBACK…
Mby Sam Finkel the families were en route the thousands that Yemenite activists
y friend calls – it is 9:15 a.m. to the camps! Very often, have claimed. But crucial details of
“Turn on Reshet Bet (channel the parents were told a their findings are off limits until the
two),” he says with some year 2070!
urgency, “they’re talking about newborn child had
the missing Yemenites!” “died.” In many cases, the authorities We are talking about a democracy,
I tune in and listen to host Karen did not even produce a death certifi- where the basic right of its citizens to
Auerbach interviewing a woman from cate or show the parents the grave of know the fate of their family members
an organization called Amram, which is the infant.1 Yet, 18 years later, these is being denied in order to protect the
advocating the opening of State same families received draft notices in privacy of bureaucrats, politicians,
Archives to the public, so that families the mail for the child who had suppos- judges, social workers, rabbis, and
that lost children in the ma’abarot edly died! adoptive parents involved in this myste-
(transit camps) can search for missing rious and sordid affair!
relatives. The Yemenite Children Affair has
surfaced periodically, and three investi- The woman from Amram mentioned
Between 1948 and 1953, hundreds – gations have been conducted over the that her organization was collecting tes-
some claim thousands – of babies from 60-plus years of the State. The Amram timonies from families that lost children
families of Yemenite, Middle Eastern, organization is interested in obtaining and siblings under mysterious
and Balkan immigrants disappeared, death certificates, adoption files, and
most of the time declared dead. In the the full report of the Shalgi 1 Was it a case of sheer pandemonium,
squalid, congested transit camps, sick Commission – the third and last gov- caused by the influx of hundreds of
(and not so sick) infants were separat- ernmental committee that investigated people arrived each day to the camps
ed from their parents and sent to the the issue of the missing babies. In with very limited resources and in such
infirmary. These children never came 1995, the commission only publicized a a short time? Others claim that the
back. Sometimes, the children were very brief synopsis of its findings. The camps were very organized, with docu-
taken from the parents at night while Shalgi report concluded that the num- mentation down to the last blanket and
bers were only in the hundreds – not bowl.
44 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
