נסיה פרידמן
November 7, 2024
Image: David Guber, left, in British Army uniform with a friend next to the signpost between Derna and Tobruk, Libya. From the David Guber Collection, Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi Picture Archives
By: Nessiya Freedman
Among the collections we have accessed at the Documentation Center is a large portion of the typed collection of Gunner H. Henry Kassman’s letters prepared by his daughter in 2010, held as part of the overall collection of his private papers in London’s Imperial War Museum.
Hyman Henry Kassman was born to Isaac and Rebecca Kassman on January 26, 1914, in Willesden, Middlesex, England. He joined the Royal Artillery (RA) by early 1940; during his time in North Africa (1941-1943) he served in the 153 HAA (Heavy Anti-Aircraft) Battery and 152 HAA Battery, within the 51st HAA Regiment RA (4th AA [Ant-Aircraft] Brigade). Of that period, he spent a full year stationed in Tobruk (January 1941-January 1942), as well as shorter periods in places including Benghazi and Egyptian locations of wartime significance Mersa Matruh and El Alamein.
Henry Kassman wrote many letters home over the course of his military service; the vast majority of the typed letters from the time he spent in North Africa are addressed to his mother, Rebecca Kassman (later Eibuschitz), in London, followed by his fiancée (and later wife) Viviane Maisel and also his mother’s second husband, Alfred Eibuschitz, whom she married while both Henry and his younger brother Alec were deployed. The sons greeted this marriage with enthusiasm and relief, detailed across several of Henry’s letters, and Henry proceeded to strike up a correspondence despite having yet to meet Alfred in person.
The High Holidays in Tobruk, 1941 were, it seems, unavoidably different to the High Holidays in London. In an airgraph to his mother from September 23, 1941, Henry describes the previous day’s Rosh Hashanah celebration. His description of the event itself is brief: “There were 27 men at the service of one hour’s duration, most of them Australians, one of whom led the service. There were a couple of Poles, one of them being an officer, rather to my surprise. I am afraid there was nothing very spectacular about the service, but at any rate the surroundings were quite memorable.” He goes on to mention that one man in his and Alec’s regiment attended the same English synagogue and mentioned remembering a time when Henry and Alec, as boys, arrived late to the service with their father, embarrassed over causing a minor disruption; to which Henry responded with the expansion of how they had waited by the front door while his mother “put the finishing touches on upstairs”! In December, he also mentions finally receiving a gift of 120 cigarettes from Hampstead Synagogue (letter to mother from December 26, 1941).
On Yom Kippur, described in a letter from October 6, 1941, around thirty Australian, Polish, and English servicemen gathered in a concrete dugout for a service led by an Australian layman. Henry relates: “I cannot say the service was inspiring; it was very disjointed and obviously assembled by a layman, but the circumstances at least were memorable and the familiar parts of the service quite nostalgic.” He adds that, as happened last year, he “had visions of stewed salmon and fruit salad in the refrigerator,” but had to make do with the usual army rations. The additional anecdote for this holy day involves another meeting with a man who recognized him from home.
Sukkot goes unmentioned. Looking at the dates, it seems that Henry spent it without leave (but preferring to be on active duty over cooling his heels at a Base camp) and, apart from any military maneuvers that go unmentioned, swimming and noticing the beautiful wildlife: king-fishers, swifts, swallows, curlews, yellow buntings, and halftime birds of “a gorgeous turquoise colour” (letter to mother from October 14, 1941, two days after Sukkot).
In short, Henry Kassman’s High Holidays in Tobruk, 1941 seem to have achieved both novelty and familiarity while being, inescapably, colored heavily by his military surroundings. All that is left to say is to wish you all, as Henry sent to his mother and Alfred at the end of the calendar year, “everything of the very best this coming year”! (Letter to mother December 3, 1941).
If you have information about Jewish soldiers who served in North Africa, we would love to hear from you!
Similarly, if you have private materials (such as letters or photographs) connected to the Second World War period in North Africa that you would be willing to share with us, please reach out!
We would love to be in touch with you as we work to expand public knowledge about this important historical period.
Email: [email protected]
Links:
Private Papers of H H Kassman Collection on the IWM website https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030021868
Private Papers of H H Kassman – Airgraph from Kassman to Mother, September 23, 1941
Private Papers of H H Kassman – Letter from Kassman to Mother, December 26, 1941
Private Papers of H H Kassman – Letter to Mother, October 6, 1941
Private Papers of H H Kassman – Letter to Mother, October 14, 1941
Private Papers of H H Kassman – Letter Card from Kassman to Mother, December 3, 1941
Main letters referencing wedding between Rebecca and Alfred/Henry and Alec’s response:
Private Papers of H H Kassman – Airgraph from Kassman to Mother, July 24, 1941
Private Papers of H H Kassman – Letter to Mother, August 16, 1941
Private Papers of H H Kassman – Letter to Alfred, August 21, 1941
Some basic biographical information sourced from a public family tree on My Heritage.