ABSTRACT
Several circumstances seemed to promote the re-launching of Stern's organisation: Shamir and Giladi's escape from prison in September 1942; the growing realisation of the destruction of European Jewry; and the helplessness of the Zionist leadership-as indeed of the NZO and the IZL. Adhering to the old line, Friedman-Yellin and Eldadthe self-proclaimed ideological heirs of 'Yair'- still refused to concede that the Nazis were a greater enemy than the 'foreign ruler'. Shamir undoubtedly concurred with their priorities. The main task was now to destroy the British prisons before they destroyed the underground. 1 Not until November 1943, however, were Friedman-Yellin and his comrades able to escape from prison, and not until February-March 1944 could they realise their 'educational heritage' of 'death rather than imprisonment'. Meanwhile, in the late summer of 1943, the ideological ranks had to be reformed. This involved three sets of liquidations: of those who wished to return to the IZL (the Vilenchik affair);2 of the internal nihilistic foe (Eiiyahu Giladi); and of the enemy from their Revisionist past (Israel Pritzker).
