Mike Gal

Mike Gal was born in 1928 in Czechoslovakia

Michael Gal, born Getzovich, was born in 1928 in the village of Mensters near Hust in the Carpathian Mountains of Czechoslovakia. He was the second of 6 children of Dora and Yosef Getzovich. He studied at a general school and at a cheder.

His father was drafted into the Czech army in 1939. After the Germans invaded Hungary, the family was sent to a ghetto and to camps including Auschwitz, Gross-Rosen and Reichenbach. Gal and his brother Emil survived when the Soviet army freed Reichenbach in May 1945, while the rest of the family was murdered.

After the war he worked as a translator for the Soviets, then stayed with an uncle until 1946. He reached a displaced persons camp in Germany, worked in coal mines in Belgium, and later crossed into France to the Bandol immigration camp.

In March 1948 he joined the escort crew of the ship Nachshon and became a Palyam member. When the British seized the ship near the coast, he hid in a secret compartment and came ashore in Haifa. He later commanded a flotilla of Sa'ar boats, captained a ship that smuggled immigrants from Morocco, and helped the Mossad in field work in Europe.

After his discharge he managed activities of the Citrus Marketing Board in Europe. He died in 2008.