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[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at any
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time you need support please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
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please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website [Music]
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it was a particularly hot and humid august today in 1954 when a french foreign legion corporal led his squad of
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soldiers through the fields and scrubland along road 18 east of the vietnamese village of bakkening
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suddenly a barrage of bullets shot out from a cluster of trees 100 meters away and flew towards the exposed
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legionnaires the squad's corporal a short and stocky man in his late 40s yelled for his
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troops to take cover and dropped onto his chest in the long grass and mud the gunfire eventually stopped and the
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air fell silent the corporal cursed under his boozy breath ranting quietly about the
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violence he would inflict should he capture the enemy for the time being no one was moving and
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no further shots were fired the corporal was momentarily relieved his fellow soldiers were positioned a
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little further back safely obscured by grass and shrubs all of a sudden he heard a voice behind
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him say stenescu [Music] [Music] [Music] eliahu itzkovitz was born in the early 1930s and lived in kischenow bessarabia
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a region then annexed to romania eliahu known as ellie didn't come from a wealthy family
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but he was loved by his parents and three older brothers who ensured his early years were filled with joy
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everything changed by the time ellie was 10 years old anti-semitism among ethnic romanians had
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already been brewing for decades then on september 6 1940 a fiercely jew-hating government minister named
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john antonescu overthrew romania's king and was installed as dictator antonescu's ultimate goal was to quote
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racially purify romania he wasted no time in implementing even harsher anti-jewish laws than had
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previously existed jewish citizens were no longer permitted to attend educational institutions
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patronize bars restaurants or theaters jewish professionals such as doctors and lawyers were forbidden to practice and
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jews were deprived of their businesses and property all jewish men of working age were
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conscripted into forced labor emboldened by this new state order romanian police military and some
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ordinary romanian citizens felt free to insult humiliate rob beat and even murder any jew at will
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antonescu expressly sanctioned this violence on april 15 1941 he told the council of
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ministers quote i give the mob a license to massacre the jews i withdraw to my fortress and after the
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slaughter i will restore order antonescu was intent on removing jewish people from romania and began his
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campaign in the region of bessarabia home to more than 200 jews under orders from antonescu the romanian
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army began their sweep of bessarabia on july nine they slaughtered jews from rural areas
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on site and imprisoned those from urban neighborhoods in ghettos eight days later the army marched into
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kischenow the capital of bessarabia and home to about 60 000 jews who made up half the city's population
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ten thousand kischenel jews were executed in a single day the next few weeks were spent rounding
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up remaining jewish people in the city killing some and herding the rest into the newly created kischenow ghetto
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by mid-august ellie itzkovitz his parents and his three older brothers were among eleven thousand five hundred
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chisinau jews confined within the walls of the ghetto an area less than a quarter the size of
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new york's central park the kitchen el ghetto was located in the primarily jewish quarter of the city
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hastily erected high wooden walls enclosed the ghetto and the two points of entry and exit were heavily guarded
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jews were not permitted to leave the ghetto although those who had money could bribe guards for temporary passes
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to obtain food or work some even managed to escape however the vast majority of people
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imprisoned there were poor with guards looting what little money or possessions they had managed to bring
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conditions inside were appalling food was scarce as was clean clothing and bedding and there was little
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opportunity to practice basic hygiene typhoid fever spread quickly throughout the overcrowded ghetto
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on average about 10 people succumbed to illness or starvation every day the ghetto was guarded by various
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kischenow-based police and military units the majority of whom brazenly abused their power
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each day scores of men and women were seized for forced labor often never to return
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on august 1 1941 450 jewish people left the ghetto under such work orders only 39 returned
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the rest had been shot guards regularly raped the women and girls while routinely beating the men
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and boys at the whim of any guard all jews men and women children and the elderly the
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abel and the ailing were vulnerable to violence torture and death one especially ruthless guard was a man
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by the name of stenescu he was in his mid to late 30s was short and poorly from drinking excessive
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amounts of alcohol stanescu knew there would be no repercussions for his violence
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weeks earlier romania's foreign affairs minister had announced during a cabinet meeting that the guards must be
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merciless to the jews and use their guns if necessary he added quote i take formal responsibility and tell
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you there is no law so no formalities complete freedom stanescu took these instructions
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literally firing close range pot shots at passing victims during his drinking binges or otherwise subjecting them to
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vicious beatings whenever the urge arose one evening stanescu approached the ghetto dormitory in which the itzkovitz
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family lived having learnt to be fearful of all guards ellie itzkovitz quickly crawled
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under a pile of clothes in the corner of the room the little boy was obscured from view
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but was able to peek through the garments to witness danescu barge through the door and confront his
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parents and older brothers the screams of his family soon filled the room as stanescu began brutally
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beating ellie's father ellie's brothers were stanescu's next targets once the men were down stanescu attacked
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ellie's mother then he left ellie listened as his laughter faded into the distance
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when all was silent he emerged from his hiding spot and approached his family stanescu had savagely beaten them all to
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death for no infraction or reason other than they were jewish terrified and now completely alone
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ellie was discovered by one of the few christian families who lived within the confines of the ghetto
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at severe risk to their own safety they took ellie into their home and hid him away
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it wasn't long before ellie's grief was consumed by hatred and rage at the tender age of 10 years old ellie
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itzkovitz swore an oath [Music] two months after the murder of the yitzkavitz family the jews who had
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managed to survive the ghetto were transported to transnistria a romanian administered territory
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thousands were murdered or perished during the journey thousands more did not survive once they
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arrived only a few dozen jews with tenuous permission remained in the ghetto but by june 30 the following year
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they too had gone the kitchen el ghetto no longer existed for three years ellie itzkovitz had
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hidden inside the home of his christian benefactors barely surviving on the meager scraps
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the impoverished family could afford to share then on august 23 1944 the soviet army liberated romania from
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the anti-semitic rule of john antonescu by the time of liberation all but a few jews in bessarabia had been murdered or
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deported surviving against all odds thirteen-year-old ellie itzkovitz walked out freely into the sunlight
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it took a long time for him to regain his strength once ready he began his quest
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he traversed war ravaged bessarabia traveling through the towns and villages for signs of the man he knew to be named
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stenescu ellie's frustration grew with each dead end until finally in 1947 his determination paid off
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the now travel hardened sixteen-year-old had discovered that stanescu was from a
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small town not far from where his own family had once lived ellie reached stanescu's town as quickly
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as he could only to learn that stanescu had fled romania after liberation by the
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soviets and was said to have traveled to the french occupied territory of west germany
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stanescu had attempted to register with the united nations as a displaced person
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using an alias and posing as a victim of the holocaust rather than one of its perpetrators
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the registrar was immediately suspicious of his claim so stanescu once again vanished into the chaos of post-war
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europe to avoid sanction while elie itzkovitz failed to catch up to the man responsible for murdering his
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entire family he did find something else one day ellie found himself standing face to
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face with stanescu's eldest son and the confrontation quickly turned violent the boys were about the same age and it
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might have otherwise been a close physical match but ellie's boiling rage tipped him over
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the edge during the fight he produced a butcher's knife and stabbed his rival stanescu's son died of his wounds
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while ellie might have believed this to be a morally justified form of retribution
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the law disagreed the romanian people's court sentenced him to five years in a juvenile
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detention facility for the killing by 1952 21 year old ellie had completed his sentence
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with nothing tying him to bessarabia he immigrated to israel the following year he was called up for
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mandatory service in the israeli defense force when his training was complete ellie donned the olive green uniform red
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beret and red boots of the paratroopers during his service ellie kept his ear to
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the ground trying to pick up even the slightest trail of stanescu after he had fled west germany
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when ellie would come across a fellow romanian he pressed them for any details that might lead to stanescu's
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whereabouts some information trickled in due to the notoriety of the kischenow ghetto but
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nothing of any value to ellie until one day he met a man who had heard a rumor the former guard known as stanescu had
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made his way to ofenborg a french-occupied western german town near the border of france
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while there he enlisted with the french foreign legion and was currently fighting in indochina
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for nearly a decade vietnamese nationalists had been fighting for independence from french colonial rule
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the ensuing conflict came to be known as the first indochina war or the anti-french resistance war in
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vietnam ellie formulated a plan first he convinced his commanding officer that he would be better suited
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as a naval officer his commanding officer agreed and days later ellie walked onto his assigned
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ship at the navy base in the israeli city of haifa months later on june 6 1953 ellie's ship docked at the italian port
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city of genoa to collect a cache of naval equipment having been granted shore leave ellie
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casually walked down the gangway and slipped silently into genoa's bustling streets
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he bid farewell to the israeli navy at the central station where he boarded a train that made its way west along the
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ligurian sea coastline before ending at the small italian town of bordegara ellie disembarked and hiked across the
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border into france once there he arrived at the foreign legion recruitment office in marseilles
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within days ellie had been accepted into the legion after three months of basic training
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ellie was assigned to the legion's paratroop corps he then boarded the ss pastor and was on
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his way to join the fight in indochina case file will be back shortly thank you for supporting us by listening to this
00:19:28
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the treacherous seabound journey from marseille took about 20 days regular fights broke out among the
00:22:57
soldiers who struggled to deal with the ship's cramped quarters rotten food and rat infestation
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those unfortunate enough to be assigned to the lower deck bunks suffocated to death in the stifling heat generated by
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their windowless rooms in early october 1953 the ss pasta arrived in the port city of haifang the
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gateway to northern vietnam's only remaining french occupied region by the time ellie arrived the
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legionnaires had suffered heavy losses across many battles and france was nearing defeat
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vietnam with its reign heat and humidity had proved itself a formidable enemy the modified legionnaire uniform
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of khaki shorts rolled up shirt sleeves and canvas combat attire did little to abate the troops discomfort in the dense
00:24:00
jungle battleground but it was the vietnamese revolutionaries that proved to be the
00:24:07
greater challenge like all foreign soldiers in vietnam the legionnaires were woefully unprepared
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for the sheer number of and guerilla tactics employed by the viet ming it took a few months but in early 1954
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ellie had learned that stanescu using an alias was serving with the first battalion of the legion's third foreign
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infantry regiment the chain of command readily approved ellie's request to transfer to that
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specific unit and he was soon marching towards the village of buckning the first battalion third regiment was
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stationed in the region which was about halfway between the port city of haifan and the french-held capital hanoi
00:25:02
as the northern front of the only remaining french-occupied territory in northern vietnam
00:25:08
defending the region was critical to their mission the journey to buckning itself was a
00:25:15
risk as the chances of being ambushed by the viet minh were high as such ellie and the other recruits
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were on high alert as they headed to join the first battalion after ellie arrived at the buckning base
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he was assigned to a squad of about 10 soldiers commanded by a short and stocky corporal in his late 40s
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the squad lined up for their routine inspection back straight eyes forward as the corporal approached ellie's heart
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skipped a beat the corporal was thinner than ellie remembered but had the same callous eyes
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stench of alcohol and screeching voice from ellie's memory there was no doubt in ellie's mind that
00:26:11
he was standing before his family's killer stanescu walked down the line examining
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each soldier closely yelling abuse and chastisements into their sweaty nervous faces
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nearing the end of the line the corporal finally stood in front of ellie despite his boyish looks ellie was an
00:26:38
imposing presence he was well muscled tanned and so tall that stanescu was forced to tilt his
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head fully upward to spit insults into his face there was no way stanescu could recognize the skinny frightened 10 year
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old boy in the man before him and yet something made him pause there was a fierceness in ellie's eyes
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that momentarily unnerved stanescu ellie was so close to his family's killer he could reach out and strangle
00:27:17
him before anyone realized what had happened instead he stood motionless at perfect
00:27:24
attention retaining an outward calm that belied his raging fury inside having already waited 13 years
00:27:36
ellie would bite his time a little longer stanescu moved on to the next soldier down the line
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several months later by august 1954 the french conceded victory to the vietnam and agreed to vacate northern
00:27:59
vietnam by the end of the month in the lead-up to their withdrawal the first battalion legionnaires continued
00:28:08
to conduct patrols of the buckning region one day as ellie's squad moved through a field
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east of the village they were fired upon by vietng fighters hiding in the nearby
00:28:21
jungle the legionnaires dove under the cover of the long swampy grass until the sound of
00:28:29
gunfire ceased as he lay motionless ellie didn't even notice the leeches slide up his leg
00:28:38
nor the giant mosquitoes that pierced his skin he did not feel the weight of the heat
00:28:44
and humidity in his lungs nor the sting of the rain as it whipped across his face
00:28:52
instead ellie's singular focus was on the corporal lying prone in the grass before
00:28:58
him ellie took a moment to survey his surroundings the vietnam didn't emerge from the
00:29:08
surrounding jungle and the rest of ellie's squad remained hidden in the grass further behind him
00:29:15
in this tense stalemate ellie realised that he was finally alone with the corporal
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he raised himself and called the corporal by his true name stenescu [Music] stanescu turned to face ellie surprised
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to hear the name he had left behind so long ago yes he responded ellie continued
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i'm from chisinau stanescu's confusion softened and his face lit up as if preparing to greet an
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old friend this was the moment ellie had dreamed of for 13 long years for which he had survived the holocaust
00:30:07
travelled 40 000 kilometers and suffered gruelling conditions to reach he stared directly into the bloodshot
00:30:16
eyes of the man who had callously murdered his entire family and stated coldly i'm a jew from chisinau
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ellie didn't speak any further he required neither reason nor apology there was only one thing left to do
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ellie raised his mat 49 sub machine gun at point blank range he fired two rounds
00:30:49
into stanescu's chest those were for his family the force of the bullets punched
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stanescu back down into the mud ellie aimed again and in rapid fire emptied the remaining 30 rounds on
00:31:07
behalf of all the kischenow jews the viet minh assumed that mat 49 rounds were directed towards them and
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immediately returned fire ellie squatted besides danescu's blood-soaked corpse and took a firm grip
00:31:25
under his arms as a legionnaire it was his duty to never abandon his dead his wounded or
00:31:34
his weapons under the protective cover of his comrades down the line ellie dragged
00:31:41
stanescu's body beyond the vietnamese range and back to road 18. while the squad waited for the
00:31:49
extraction vehicle ellie sat pensively on the side of the road staring into stanescu's dead eyes
00:31:58
he had fulfilled his oath to avenge his family but the satisfaction was swallowed by a
00:32:05
deep emptiness upon returning to base ellie informed the chain of command that the corporal
00:32:13
died after catching the enemy's fire they had no reason to question ellie's story and even commended him for
00:32:22
recovering the corporal's body by the end of august ellie's battalion had withdrawn from vietnam
00:32:32
in late 1956 ellie was honorably discharged from the legion having served his minimum three years with the
00:32:40
requisite honour and fidelity ellie returned to israel an honorable former legionnaire
00:32:53
however as far as the israeli defense force was concerned elie itzkovitz was a deserter
00:33:01
the crime of desertion was one of the most serious that could be committed by a member of the israeli armed forces
00:33:09
subordinate only to rape mutiny during active fighting and treason ellie understood that his desertion
00:33:18
could not remain unaddressed upon his return to israel he presented himself to the naval authorities and was
00:33:26
immediately taken to a military prison where he would remain pending trial as the israeli military court was slow
00:33:35
to dispense justice ellie languished in military prison for over two years before his trial finally commenced
00:33:45
in may 1959 ellie stood before three naval judges in his white navy dress uniform and recounted his extraordinary
00:33:54
tale the judges verified what they could of ellie's story with the french authorities but there was no
00:34:03
corroborating evidence of ellie's killing of stanescu nor any official criminal proceedings
00:34:09
initiated by the french thus the naval judges were faced with a difficult decision
00:34:18
there was no question that ellie was guilty of desertion he had abandoned his commitment to the
00:34:25
defense of israel a mere eight and a half months into his minimum three-year term and did not return to israel until
00:34:33
well after his service term had expired this represented a most extreme case of desertion potentially warranting the
00:34:42
maximum penalty of 15 years in military prison on the other hand with the holocaust
00:34:50
still very much an open wound the judges were sympathetic to ellie's cause ellie stood to attention as the judges
00:35:00
pronounced him guilty of desertion as for ellie's punishment the court concluded that quote
00:35:09
in view of the circumstances of the case the court of the state of israel cannot
00:35:15
bring itself to impose a heavy sentence ellie was sentenced to one year's imprisonment
00:35:24
in consideration of time served twenty-eight-year-old ellie itzkovitz walked out of the military courthouse a
00:35:32
free man little more is publicly known about ellie's life after his release by the
00:35:40
israeli military court he was interviewed by french magazine paris match with the interviewing
00:35:47
journalist dubbing him ellie the avenger on april 20 2015 joshua sada posted a photograph to his facebook page
00:36:04
it depicted two elderly men sitting at a table about to share a home-cooked meal
00:36:11
the man on the left offering a hearty thumbs up was joshua a family man and seasoned electrical engineer in his
00:36:19
mid-seventies his companion a man in his 80s wore a slightly amused smile beneath a pair of
00:36:28
weary eyes he was joshua's neighbor eliahu itzkovitz both the joshua and eliahu were jewish
00:36:39
and each wore a white keeper yamaka in reverence to god although neither man was born in israel
00:36:48
they both had called the land home for many years now throughout this time the pair had gone
00:36:55
from neighbours to friends finally they embraced each other as brothers alongside the photograph joshua wrote a
00:37:05
post announcing that eliahu had passed away 24 hours earlier after having no more strength in his war to survive
00:37:16
joshua referred to ellie as a hero in the shadows and a hero to the jewish people
00:37:34
[Music] [Music] you