The Aussie who saved Shimon Peres’ dad from the Nazis
IN the middle of World War II, Yitzhak Peres, the father of Israel’s immediate past president Shimon Peres, having enlisted with the British army, was captured by the Nazis. However, they didn’t know he was Jewish and thought he was a soldier from New Zealand.
IN the middle of World War II, Yitzhak Peres, the father of Israel’s immediate past president Shimon Peres, having enlisted with the British army, was captured by the Nazis. However, they didn’t know he was Jewish and thought he was a soldier from New Zealand.
Held in a prisoner-of-war camp, Yitzhak and a friend dug a tunnel and escaped. Having stolen civilian clothes, they posed as German villagers, but were subsequently caught and were set to be executed as spies.
However, an Australian military chaplain, Padre Rex Daker, stepped in.
Before he died, Yitzhak told Yad Vashem that Padre Daker “managed to influence the Nazi officer by using threats and persuasion to delay carrying out the verdict until we arrived at the camp where an investigation and trial would be lawfully carried out”.
“The priest even claimed that if he had murdered us, he would have to kill him too.”
After years of research Chemi Peres, Yitzhak’s grandson, met Padre Daker’s family at an emotional gathering in Melbourne on Sunday.
“It was a very moving meeting,” Chemi told The AJN this week.
“It was an amazing opportunity to meet the family and thank them on behalf of my family for a great human act.
“I told them that they had a remarkable father.”
Joel Kuperholz, who is related to Padre Daker and was at the gathering on Sunday, said he felt honoured when he heard the story of incredible moral courage.
“In a world of seven billion people, what an amazing coincidence that my Uncle Rex had an Uncle Rex who saved the life of a Jewish prisoner,” he said.
“It was a great honour and thrill to meet Chemi Peres with Uncle Rex’s family and, for the first time, find myself in the company of my family of Righteous Gentiles, as before today I only thought of my family legacy of being Jewish victims of the Holocaust.”
Chemi was in Australia for the first Israel Australia Investment Summit, “The Bridge”, and as the chairman of the Peres Centre for Peace and Innovation.
The Peres Centre for Peace in Australia, led by Tanya Oziel and Johnny Weiss, said Chemi’s visit is particularly significant at this time when their work will be focusing much more on building peace in the region through innovation.
“Our work in Australia for the Centre will follow the success of the AFL Peace Teams in 2008 and 2011,” Oziel told The AJN.
JOSHUA LEVI
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