b'BC_5782_2021final_cmyk_Layout 18/8/219:47 AMPage 12Bela Hazanwas born in 1922 in the town of Rozyszcze, then part of Poland andnow in Ukraine. Her father, a cantor, died when she was 6. In her teens, she joineda Zionist youth movement, and became a defense instructor at a kibbutz in Bedzin. After the German invasion, it was suggested she go to Vilna (present-dayVilnius), from where it might still be possible to go to Palestine. On her arduousBela Hazan journey to Vilna, she was captured, spent three weeks in a Russian jail, and wasat a young able to continue with her traveling companions after she insisted to the headage. prison guard that they be released. Once in Vilna, she was able to pass as Polishbecause of her blonde Aryan good looks, and even obtained a false passport.Tasked with finding a base for the resistance in Grodno, wearing a cross she went to theemployment office to find workand got a job as a translator in the local Gestapo office! Shewas able to get permission to travel to Vilna, where she was able to share her new ID with theresistance to be used as a template for forged documents. When she was invited to the 1941 Gestapo office Christmas party, she brought along two fellowJewish couriers who were staying with her, and the resulting photo, shown on the cover of thiscalendar, has become famous.In June 1942, she was caught smuggling guns. After months of torture, she was sent to Auschwitz,which she somehow survived, along with a death march, the bombing of a train on which shewas being transported, and incarceration at other campsstill using her false Polish name,Bronislawa Limanowska. She was liberated at the wars end, married and emigrated to Israel. Shehad two children, and died in 2004.'