Avraham Polack collection

Avraham Polack, a humanities student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was arrested in November 1944 and sent to a detention camp in Latrūn. It is likely that Avraham was a member of either Irgun, National Military Organization for the Land of Israel, or the Lehi, Fighters for the Freedom of Israel. Avraham’s daughter was also arrested and held in a female detention prison in Bethlehem. On October 14, 1944, after several escape attempts by detainees, the British government sent the imprisoned Irgun and Lehi underground members to detention camps in Africa. By mid-December 1944, Polack had been transferred from the Acre prison in Israel to Africa. Polack was held in various British detention camps including Carthago, Sudan; Asmara, Eritrea; and Gilgil, Kenya. During his imprisonment Polack sent detailed letters about his experiences within the camps to his family. Around 1945, Baruch Moser-Polack, Avraham’s father, established the Committee for Assisting the Families of Jewish Detainees and the Committee for the Eritrea Exiles and Their Families. It is likely that Avraham Polack returned to Israel with the other detainees in July 1948 after the declaration of Israeli independence.