The second World Kinus was help in Cracow in 1935. Never before had the old Polish city witnessed such scenes. The townsmen gaped in bewilderment at the thousands upon thousands of excited young Jews who thronged the streets leading to the conference hall. They came from every corner of Europe. It was four years since the first Kinus in Danzig. There had been fewer of them then.

In danzig, they were a self conscious, ill-sorted crowd, making conversation awkwardly in all the languages and jargons of the Galut. No two countries uniforms were the same. But in Cracow it was possible to see how those four years had welded Jabotinsky's disciples into one movement that extended across Europe.

The B'rith Trumpeldor had been tested in an ordeal greater than any ordeal of hate, slander, starvation, ostracism, physical violence, and blood libel combined. It had survived the ordeal, and from the shadow of strength had emerged with an intensity of purpose and inner strength never equaled in Jewish history since the times of Bar Kochba's legions.

The Betarim marched through the resounding streets of Cracow. Thousands of them dressed in the same uniform, wearing the same insignia to determine their ranks, Walking tall, looking proud, and this time speaking one language - Hebrew.

No longer was there any outward differences between them, no longer could one tell which country a Betari came from by the uniform he wore or the language he spoke. They were now an army of brothers united in suffering and martyrdom, facing a hostile world with a defiant "Tel Hai" on their lips. On their shoulders they carried in Abraham Stavsky, now a free man, who had come to Cracow to gather with Rosenblatt as a delegate of the Palestine Betar.

Jabotinsky spoke to them in a packed hall. Thousands clamored for entrance at the door, unable to find as much as a foothold within. The Rosh Betar wore the uniform of Betar, just like the one they are were wearing. But when they saw him in it for the first time, his young disciples burst into a storm of delirious enthusiasm. Jabotinsky had aged somewhat since those days at Danzig. He had suffered with his Betarim, and now he looked down at them with a stern tenderness in which there was more than a hint of awe.

What makes them stay with me? He wondered. L-rd, haven't I given them enough pain, heartbreak, and suffering for them never to want to see me again and to take another road that offers more peace, more prosperity, more security? But here they still are - more than ever before... He put his thoughts into words. "Who can understand this phenomenon called Betar? There you are stronger, more resolute, even more happy after going through immeasurable suffering. They promise you everything - certificates for Palestine, money for your settlements, praise without limit. We promise you only pain and hardship.

"The road that leads into Betar is very small and narrow, but the door for those who want to leave Betar is big and always wide open. Yet thousands and still more pour in through the small door, while only a few slink rather shamefully out the big one."

He turned his head and looked straight at Stavsky and Rosenblatt: "You will have to suffer far more than you have, The bodies of men like you will have to pave the way by which our people will cross into their liberated homeland."

The delegates were more excited now than ever. Here, standing before them, and just for them, the Rosh Betar spoke. Now their mission was clearer than ever.

Two hundred and sixteen official delegates were present at the second World Kinus, representing more than 60,000 organized members. The number of Maozim by this time numbered 689.

A burning necessity demonstrated by the second Kinus was a greater Aliyah Bet - Aliyah in the face of British opposition and in spite of Jewish Agency interference.

In 1935, Rosh Betar and the Revisionist movement came to the conclusion that there was no hope of changing the policy of the Jewish Agency. They were convinced that Jewish patriots should themselves take the offensive without waiting for the meek and the timid. About three-quarters of a million Jewish votes gave Rosh Betar the mandate. He travelled to Vienna, where, On September 8, 1935, he proclaimed the fundamental principals of the New Zionist Organization.

 

edited by Fred Taub, of Cleveland Betar

The Picture: Betar Madrichim from Austria in the second kinus in Cracow. In the middle - Yermiyahu Halpern. 06/01/1935. The file belongs to Jabotinsky institue.