Tuviah Samuel Friedman
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BiographyTuviah Samuel Friedman was born on the 23th of January, 1922 in Radom, Poland. His family lived in Poland as this is where his father owned a printing business. As Tuviah was born to a Jewish family, his family was sent off to a Nazi concentration camp during World War II near Radom, when he was around the age of 18. Both his parents, and one sibling died at the camp almost instantly except for his sister Bella and himself. Purely by chance, Tuviah was randomly selected for the labour camp. The Nazis imposed forced labour on all the Jews, making them work in extreme & dangerous conditions often without food or water, clothing, shoes, equipment or materials. Thousands of Jews in these forced labour camps ultimately died of pure exhaustion, starvation and illnesses. Tuviah was forced to work and be embroiled in these conditions but was indeed lucky as he somehow managed to escape the labour camp in 1944 through the sewer system. However, shortly after, he was re-captured but managed to circumvent death once again by stealing the rifle from the officer who had fallen asleep while guarding him. He grabbed the bayonet in the soldier's belt and stabbed him in the neck, and then managed to cross to the Russian lines. "Sick with fear I raised it and plunged it into his neck. "I was nauseated by the sensation of it ripping his flesh". - A quote recalled from his memoir, "The Hunter" (1961)
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Tuviah Friedman made it his life-long mission to capture and eradicate all of the Nazi officials that were at the camps near Radom. He believed it was only right, making them accountable for their horrid actions. He also wanted to avenge the death of his family members that were brutally murdered in cold-blood, and for all Jews in society. He soon joined the Semi-Official Polish military, and was a hard-working member. Soon after this, in 1950, Tuviah immigrated to Israel and started to work closely with Israeli officials to hunt down Nazis, particularly those who were in the Polish concentration camps. The Nazis became quite paranoid, and many went into hiding, under new identities so that it made it incredibly difficult to locate them. To try and find all of the Nazi officials, Tuviah sought through thousands and thousands of documents and interviewed many Holocaust survivors that were sent to the same camps as the officials worked in. Driven by hatred, he was extremely ruthless and hunted, tortured and sometimes killed those Nazis he captured. He was said to have revelled in his nickname, "The Merciless One". Tuviah married Anna Gutman, who was an eye surgeon. She often begged him to let go of his obsession to find the Nazis, but he never swayed. Anna felt a sense of empathy towards Tuviah, but was not driven by the same rage to hunt down the Nazis. She told him people wanted to forget the Nazis. She also blamed emotional toll for her miscarriage.
Tuviah Friedman, along with the Israeli authorities and Simon Wiesenthal managed to hunt down many Nazi officials who were at various camps during WWII. They successfully brought over 250 Nazis to justice. One of the main Nazi officials they were trying to locate was Adolf Eichmann, who went into hiding in Argentina under a new alias and had his wife cover up for him. Adolf Eichmann was a lead general in the events of the Holocaust. He oversaw and approved of the mistreatment of the Jews, murder (in the gas chambers), deportation to concentration camps, the starvation and slavery of the Jews, and rounded up all the Jews at the camps: Auschwitz, Chelmno, Treblinka, Sobibor and Belsec. Tuviah bought classified ads in newspapers, imploring for information and offered a $10,000 reward for Eichmann's arrest despite having no money. Anna (Tuviah's wife) said to him that people wanted to forget the Nazis, but he did everything in his power to keep Eichmann's name in the headlines, to make sure everyone remembered and was well aware of what he had done. Tuviah was so dedicated to finding Eichmann that it took him fifteen years to do so (along with Polish authorities), but was the greatest achievement of his life. After the capture of Adolf Eichmann, Eichmann was sent to a prison and convicted of crimes against humanity, and then hanged in 1962.
Due to his traumatic experiences during the Holocaust, Tuviah was greatly impacted in a negative way. It affected him psychologically, emotionally, socially and physically. The horrid events not only affected him, but his wife, friends, colleagues and those around him. It is expected that Tuviah would have definitely been traumatised, at least till he escaped and the war was over, until he knew he was safe. Trauma would have only impacted his life for a short amount of time, as it later turned into rage. Mental anguish would have been a major factor as well, a constant reminder of the pain and suffering that he had to go through. After being re-captured and managing to escape once again, Friedman would have been frightened and paranoid, scared that he might have to go through the pain again, or get sent to the gas chambers. Tuviah was indeed lucky he managed to escape and tolerate the harsh conditions the Jews were put through. Once escaping, he would have been physically weak and generally unwell as malnutrition, limited clothing, and extreme slavery would have made him exhausted, to the point where it would have been difficult to walk.
After recovery from being weak and physically ill, to when the war was over, Tuviah was incredibly infuriated and began to obsess over hunting down the Nazis. This put a great stress on his marriage as he and his wife, Anna did not always agree with the same morals and values. He simply did not want to let go of the past. Becoming a Nazi hunter unmistakably took a hold of Tuviah's life. He became caught up over catching the Nazis, because the simple thought of letting it go haunted him, as it was an obligation towards himself to bring them to justice. He not only did it for himself, but for his deceased family and for all of the Jews. It is safe to say that Friedman would have had psychological flash backs to the event, ones which haunted him and this was most likely his motivation to keep going and catch the murderers. As he completely gave up his job, to become a full-time Nazi hunter, his wife Anna was now the breadwinner of the family, and had too much stress on her shoulders. This was one factor that put a strain on their marriage. Stress and emotional toll caused his wife to have a miscarriage, but they were later blessed when they managed to have a son.
Tuviah Samuel Friedman was greatly affected by the events of the Holocaust. It impacted his life in negative ways, but he was strong-willed and managed to move on by avenging the deaths of his family and all of the Jews in society. He brought so many Nazi war criminals to justice, to the relief of many. Tuviah Friedman was unfortunately predeceased by his wife Anna and by their son. He also wrote a book detailing the story of his life, his experiences, findings and journeys. It is entitled, The Hunter: Autobiography Of The Man Who Spent Fifteen Years Searching for Adolf Eichmann.
"All these years, I was a beaten man but I had patience." - Tuviah Friedman said this quote after the capture of Adolf Eichmann.