Refugee survived by saving himself
BARRY COHEN
Editor
During World War II, David Kamchi rejected becoming a yenim.
"Yenim means 'Someone else will do it. Not me. Someone else will save me,' " says Jerry Kamchi, David's nephew.
David Kamchi survived the war by constantly acting to save himself - and later inspired his nephew to a career of military service.
His struggle began at the start of World War II as a soldier in the Polish army. After a quick defeat by German forces, Kamchi escaped by walking into Russian-controlled territory.
"Stalin had a plan to take all of these refugees and use them as manpower to work the mines (in Siberia)," says Jerry Kamchi, Chandler resident. When his uncle learned of this plan, he escaped from the train by ripping up the floorboards, says Jerry. He then returned to Poland and became a partisan. Though jaundiced and only 110 pounds, 5 feet, 5 inches tall, he became an expert marksman.
At the end of the war, David Kamchi was living near Trieste, in Yugoslavia. He learned that Marshall Tito planned to execute every guerilla that did not fight with him, says Jerry.
"He never went back to his room. ... With just the clothing on his back, he walked into (American-controlled) Trieste and registered as a displaced person," he says.
After being transferred to a DP camp in Italy, he read a list of those who died during the war. It included his wife, his son and many other family members, notes Jerry.
At the DP camp, he decided to start his life anew. He met Dinah, and they agreed to marry.
When they immigrated to the United States, they lived with Jerry Kamchi and his family in Brooklyn.
His uncle did not talk about any of his World War II experiences; he feared becoming a target because he knew he was the only survivor of his group of partisans, explains Jerry.
Jerry learned about what he went through only because he taught Dinah and his uncle how to speak and write English.
Learning about his uncle's adventures served as an inspiration, says Jerry.
"David showed me that Jews have to be fighters," he says. Jerry Kamchi served in the Air Force ROTC at New York University, 1948-1952, and worked in the Pentagon for 20 years.
David Kamchi died in 1990 and is buried in Toronto, Canada.
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