Reisz, Stephan Rafael

Birth Name Reisz, Stephan Rafael
Birth Name Rice, S.

    Stephan Rafael Reisz assumed the name S. Rice when he parachuted into Slovakia.

Call Name S.
Gender male
Age at Death unknown

Events

Event Date Place Description Notes Sources
Birth      

 
Military Service     Stephan Rafael Reisz served as Sergeant, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 159 G.H.Q. {Middle East} and SOE

 
Military Action     Chaviva Reik volunteered to parachute behind enemy lines in Nazi-held territory

Event Note

The British Special Operations Executive (SOE) asked the Palmach if they could supply people for special operations in Central Europe.
Chaviva Reik joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), serving as 2992503 ACW.2 'Ada Robinson', attended SOE specialist training, including a parachuting course.
She was promoted to Sergeant, and assumed another new name, Martha Martinovic.

Event Note

As part of Operation Amsterdam מבצע אמסטרדם, Chaviva Reik, and Stephan Rafael Reisz (serving as769472 Sgt. S. Rice, RAFVR), Zvi Ben-Yaakov, and Haim Hermesh (Kassaf) waited in Bari, to be parachuted into Slovakia.
On September 15, 1944, the three men parachuted into Slovakia. but the British authorities refused to parachute a woman behind enemy lines for a military operation.
On September 17, 1944, Chaviva Reick hitched a ride with a group of American pilots flying to Banská Bystrica.
On September 21, 1944, she joined up with her group.
At the end of September, 1944, a fifth parachutist, Abba Berdiczew, joined them, bringing radio equipment.
The paratroopers evacuated 60 soldiers and officers of the United States and British Armies.
In late October, 1944, when the Germans occupied Banska-Bystrica, Chaviva Reik and her group of parachutists escaped with 40 Jewish participants and built a camp in the mountains
They were captured after a few days by Ukrainian SS troops of the Galicia Division, and three of the parachutists were interrogated, tortured and sentenced to death as spies.

 
Death November 20, 1944   Stephan Rafael Reisz, age 30, was shot as a spy, by the Germans

 
Burial   הר הרצל Har Herzl הר הזכרון Mount HaZikaron, ירושלים,הרי יהודה, ישראל  

 

Pedigree

    1. Reisz, Stephan Rafael