On June 29, 1989, there was a reunion of former and current Betarim who had a connection with Australia. Attendees included the Australian-born, some immigrants from Europe who may have been naturalized Australian citizens or not, Schlichim from Israel who served one or more years in Australia, Machoniks currently in Isael and some guests from other countries.
The program consisted of a dinner followed by speeches and later singing and dancing. On display were images of the 'good old days' of Betar life during the year and, of course, at the camps that were held at years-end and during the year. These images - and more - now appear elsewhere on this website and can be found - particularly - in The Past section.
As of this date, it is nearly 30 years since the event. A 2-1/2 hour video was shot which included many interviews conducted by Jack Mirjam - who discovered that so many did not recognize the names of their predecessors from years past.
The video was edited by me during March 2019. I divided it into two areas of interest and eliminated much of the technical issues that were inherent. This is part 1 of 2 and consists of the more interesting parts of Jack's interviews. Reduced to about 34 minutes, it shows the people in the way they looked and acted 30 years ago - and quite a few of those we remember that have passed in the intervening years.
There are still some hard to understand parts due to background noise and a poorly-matched mic. The last interview was conducted by Yosef Steiner who spoke with Jack Mirjam and gave us a unique perspective into their philosophy.
There are still some unnamed people mainly because I could neither read their badges or understand what they said. If anyone can name them, I will add.
- Harry Stuart
Latest Version: Version March 21, 2019.
Correction: At about 19:24, Leonie Schultz was misnamed as Leonie Schwartz. Thanks to Varda Eisikovitch for the information. May 21, 2019.
