Anders' Army - Palestine

Palestine

When Anders' Army reached Palestine about 4,000 Jewish soldiers left the army. While some deserted, others, including Menachem Begin, obtained permission from Anders to depart their formations. Both groups joined the veteran settlements in the region. The mass departure of the Jewish soldiers was later called the "Anders Aliyah".

Despite calls from British authorities, the Polish army had not pursued Jewish deserters, except for a few smokescreen actions.

The Polish Jews in Anders' Army had additional goals besides fighting the Nazis. When Anders' Army left the Soviet Union on its journey towards the Middle East, families of the soldiers and groups of Jewish children, war orphans, joined the Jewish soldiers. After arriving in Tehran, Iran, the children were transferred into the hands of the emissaries who brought them to Palestine as the "Tehran Children".

The Jewish soldiers who left Anders' Army, thanks to their army expertise, contributed to the defense of the Jewish settlements in Palestine, and later on also fulfilled the important role of laying down the foundations of the Israel Defense Forces. Many, including Menachem Begin, joined the Irgun, a paramilitary organization that conducted terrorist activities in Palestine against Arabs and British rule.

In the year 2006 a memorial to Anders' Army was erected in the orthodox cemetery on Mount Zion in Jerusalem.