Revenge is Good For The Soul

Experts in social psychology, experts who treat us when stuff inside our heads go wacky, the people we often turn to, to help us emerge from a blue funk of various kinds, they all talk about how hating is bad for us. They say we are the beneficiaries when we give up harboring these negative feelings about people and events that have caused us pain. They even say we should find it in our hearts to forgive and forget. That may work for some things and for some people. But for me, there are things for which forgive and forget just doesn’t work. That is particularly true when opportunities exist to right the wrongs that have been experienced. And that is particularly true for me when there are opportunities for revenge.

Some time ago there was a movie that came out, called “Inglorious Basterds”* It recounts the tale of a Jewish/American commando squad that was sent into Europe during World War II to find and kill Nazis. Their relentless, and horrific actions, were presented as a “what if” story, involving a plot to kill all the top Nazi leaders, including Hitler, and thus end the war. I always wondered if such a revenge-motivated unit ever existed. It turns out that it really did. And their actions may really have helped shorten the war.

Declassifying records have revealed that a commando group, designated Troop X, or officially, “No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando 3 Group”, was set up by the British during the war. It was comprised of 87 individual volunteers, mainly Jewish refugees from Germany or Austria, who had seen their families  destroyed. Some were survivors of incarceration in Nazi concentration camps. They were all hell-bent on exacting revenge on the Nazis.**

Sworn to secrecy about their true identities, they all adopted English names. After a year and a half of intensive training, they were assigned to spearhead the Allied forces that invaded Europe. Some, on the bicycles they brought with them during the invasion, were the first to go into occupied territory. Using their native knowledge of German, using advanced combat and intelligence techniques, they infiltrated behind enemy lines. They captured and interrogated enemy personnel, providing crucial intelligence to the Allied war effort. How many soldiers’ lives were salvaged from the information these heroes provided? How much did they help speed our efforts to a victorious solution?

This effort did not go without cost. Many of the group did not survive the war and there is a memorial to them in Aberdovey, Wales, where the Troop trained. There is no detail available as to the specifics of the Troop’s activity some of which was supplied as a fantasy by Director Tarantino in his film. There was also a group called the Ritchie Boys, of the same character, recruited as part of the U.S. Army.

 I recall my days as a youngster, listening to the grim news during the early days of the War, and then my horror and rage, as the news leaked out as to the wholesale murder of Jews carried out by the Nazis, I try to imagine today how satisfied it must have been for those teenagers turned commandos to exact some measure of revenge by their actions. For the participants, particularly the survivors, recapturing normal lives, knowing how they had transformed themselves from victims to forces of vengeance, exacting some measure of retribution, it must have been enormously satisfying. Their masters did not send them there for that, but performed as such instruments nevertheless.

Recounting this little bit of history, known by so few, I, personally draw a measure of satisfaction, quelling somewhat the rage that burns inside me to this day. I know that most of the perpetrators of those of the crimes I weep about, have found shelter in their graves by this time. Nevertheless, whenever I meet someone of my age or older, of a European origin, now very few, I instantly speculate and wonder, what were they doing during those years. I know it is illogical, but the instinct persists. I was eleven at War’s end.

I will never have the solace that these brave souls enjoyed in carrying out the heroic tasks they did. I will never enjoy their satisfactions, risking their own lives to exact revenge in their acts of retribution. But I draw some pleasure from the story of their exploits. Their revenge is good for my soul. Stories of IDF accomplishments in the Middle East, and elsewhere, help me personally as well. They reassure me in these days of rising antisemitism everywhere that, different from the past, there are forces that will come to our defense. There are forces today who stand to exact revenge against the evildoers that we face. They will never be able to rest easy.

Remember Eichmann, the man who designed and implemented Hitler’s planned attempt to eradicate the Jews. He was captured by agents from Israel, brought to trial there, convicted for his crimes, and executed. This week Jews celebrate Yom Kippur, when we ask and hope to receive G-d’s forgiveness for sins this past year. Pious Jews ask forgiveness from those they may have offended and their forgiveness in return. I am not godlike. G-d may forgive, but I cannot!

*Inglorious Basterds, produced by Universal Pictures, (among others), starring Brad Pitt, in 2009. The title was inspired by an Italian war movie of similar name which appeared in 1978. Their story relates to actions that might have been carried out by the Ritchie Boys.

**XTroop: The Secret Jewish Commandos of WWII, Leah Garrett. Ms Garett is a Professor at Hunter College, (NYC) and The Director of the Jewish Studies Center,