questioner was a young man who spoke Hebrew with a Moroccan-
French accent and identified himself as Haim Avergil. Avergil was
caught and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment after his return to Is-
rael in 1958.AVIDAN, SHIMON (1912–1996).Born Shimon Koch in Germany,
Avidan immigrated to Palestine in 1934. After World War II he com-
manded the German Platoon of the Palmah underground militia,
composed of Jewish German speakers. In 1944 he parachuted into
Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe, aiming to encourage resistance
against the Nazis and gather intelligence. After the war, Avidan com-
manded the Avengers(Nokmim). Following the establishment of the
State of Israel in 1948, he commanded the Givati Brigade and then
served as head of the Operations Section of the General Staff of the
Israel Defense Forces. He resigned from military service after the
War of Independence. See also SERENI, ENZO.AVIGUR, SHAUL (1899–1978).Born Shaul Meyeroff in Russia, he
adopted the name Avigur (Hebrew for “father of Gur”) after his son
Gur was killed in Israel’s 1948–1949 War of Independence. Avigur
had immigrated to Palestine in 1912. Like most of the early pioneers,
he lived in a kibbutz and became a farmer. After his closest friend
was killed in a skirmish with a band of Arab marauders, he volun-
teered to serve in the prestate Haganah militia. Eventually he held a
series of senior positions in the Jewish defense establishment and the
settlement department of the labor movement, and he organized Jew-
ish settlement during British Mandate in Palestine.
With the establishment of the Mossad Le’Aliyah Beth, Avigur en-
gaged in illegal Jewish immigration to Palestine. In June 1940 he
submitted a proposal to the Haganah command to establish a secret
intelligence service to be known as the Information Service.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the first two decades of Israel’s indepen-
dence, Avigur was involved in rescuing Jews from oppressive coun-
tries, bringing them to Israel, and dealing with their absorption. In
those years Avigur directed Nativ, the organization that held secret
contacts with groups of Jews in the Soviet Union and other Eastern
European countries behind the Iron Curtain. This was the zenith of a
long, rich, multifaceted career, much of it conducted behind the
scenes, far from public view.20 • AVIDAN, SHIMON06-102 (02) A-G.qxd 3/24/06 7:23 AM Page 20