Ask Haviv Anything — Episode 100

They Escaped Europe — Then Parachuted Back In, with Matti Friedman

Date: March 22, 2026
Host: Haviv Rettig Gur
Guest: Matti Friedman (journalist, author of “Who By Fire,” “Pumpkin Flowers,” and “Out of the Sky”)

Overview

In this milestone 100th episode, host Haviv Rettig Gur welcomes acclaimed journalist and author Matti Friedman to discuss his riveting new book, Out of the Sky. The work uncovers the powerful, little-known story of 32 young Jews from Mandatory Palestine who, during World War II, trained with the British and parachuted into Nazi-occupied Europe. Their missions — equal parts daring and tragic — aimed to help both the Allied war effort and the Jews trapped behind enemy lines. Though their direct successes were heartbreakingly limited, their story illuminates deep truths about Jewish agency, Zionism, and the enduring power of narrative in the darkest of times.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

Setting the Historical Scene (04:06–08:23)

• The Yishuv (Jewish community in Palestine) in 1944 was about 600,000 strong, facing uncertainty and little sense of the coming declaration of independence.
• European Jewry was almost entirely decimated; the worst for Hungarian Jews was to come in mid-1944.
• Jewish leaders began to grasp the Holocaust’s scale in late 1942, largely triggered by refugees who arrived with first-hand accounts.
• British reluctance: Despite desperate Jewish offers, the British refused to arm large groups or allow an independent Jewish force, fearing postwar repercussions.

Notable Quote:

"There’s something about Jewish history that actually makes you see things in a sunnier way … if you remember where the Jewish people were 80 years ago in 1944 … things don’t seem that bad.”
— Matti Friedman (05:22)

The Missions and Motivations (15:53–24:18)

• The British saw the paratrooper operation as a technical military operation — liaison and rescue for downed pilots, not a humanitarian effort.
• The Jewish volunteers, however, saw their purpose as saving Jews, or at least bearing witness for them.
• Each leadership figure had a distinct vision for the mission: military resistance (Haganah), organizational survival (some in the Yishuv), or, as Ben Gurion urged, to tell Jews they had only one hope after the war — a home in Palestine.

Notable Moment:
Ben Gurion’s guidance prioritized narrative over operations:

“What we have to do is we have to make sure that they know that after the war they need to come here … after the war, we need to see a river of Jews making their way to the Land of Israel.” (17:05–18:35)

• The Zionist movement framed hopelessness as a call for agency, using a unique vocabulary that redefined “refugees” as “pioneers,” making storytelling central to survival and self-perception.
• The paratroopers’ families were often in the same countries they were parachuting into, fueling personal motives beyond ideology.

Tragedy, Failure, and Legacy (24:18–37:51)

• Logistics and British indifference made direct rescue almost impossible. Even when Jewish paratroopers found Jewish refugees (e.g., in the Yugoslavian forests), British policy forbade their evacuation.
• The paratroopers demonstrated to Jews hiding in Europe that they had not been forgotten; sometimes, the act of showing up was itself a lifeline.

Notable Quote:

“He could give them some inspiration. He blew their mind by being a Jewish parachutist that could speak to them in Hebrew in a forest in occupied Yugoslavia. But there wasn’t anything else he could do.”
— Matti Friedman (26:20)

• The “failure” of the missions is contextual — saving even a single Jew was out of reach, but the presence of the fighters delivered a vital message: “You are not abandoned; there is still hope, and there is still a future.”
• Encounters with partisans and even fellow socialists (Tito’s forces, Soviet officers) were often tainted by antisemitism, forcing the Jewish agents to hide their identity (by pretending to be Welsh or Irish) even among ostensible allies.

Notable Moment:

“They realize that the partisans don’t like them either … they cannot reveal to their hosts that they’re Jews … there’s no quarter, and even people fighting the Nazis hate the Jews only marginally less than the Nazis.”
— Matti Friedman (35:16)

• Their story embodies Zionism’s tragic necessity — not as a luxury but as a bitter but essential response to a world that left Jews friendless and powerless.

The Story of Hannah Senesh (27:22–34:32)

• Hannah Senesh stands as a powerful counterpoint to Anne Frank. Both are young, literary Jewish women caught in the Holocaust, but while Anne Frank became a symbol of pure victimhood, Senesh is seen as a fighter: a poet who left safety to struggle for her people.
• After making aliyah and joining a kibbutz, Senesh volunteered for the paratrooper program, knowing her mother was trapped in Budapest.
• Betrayed by compromised security, she was captured, tortured, and ultimately executed in a Hungarian prison, alongside a heart-wrenching encounter with her imprisoned mother.

Notable Quote:

“Anne Frank dies quietly in a Nazi camp, and she doesn’t live beyond the war ... Hannah’s response ... is not to write a diary and then be murdered. Hannah fights. Hannah makes it to the Jewish enclave in Palestine and ends up wearing a uniform and jumping into the Holocaust with a gun. And that’s a very different response.”
— Matti Friedman (28:40)

The Psychology of Heroism, Literature, and Zionism (39:48–46:52)

• Many of these parachutists, including older, intellectual, pacifist Enzo, were motivated not by naive optimism or military prowess, but by the stories and literature that shaped them. They fully understood their slim chances of survival.
• These acts were less about victory than about lighting a symbolic match in the darkness: giving hope, modeling agency, and asserting that some response — even a doomed one — was necessary.

Notable Quote:

"These were people who had very powerful stories in their head. ... If you grew up with literature ... you know that the response to a dark time, to a hopeless time, is not to jump into bed and pull the covers over your head. ... The response is to embark on an act of heroism that, even if it doesn't succeed, will inspire others, that will light the flames, that will demonstrate to other people the correct way to respond to tragedy and disaster. ... Their heroism is deeply connected to the stories that they had in their head."
— Matti Friedman (43:49)

Closing Reflection:

"In the deepest, darkest moment, the pinnacle of the Holocaust, the valley of death, 32 Jews went into the valley and struck a match … because that's how you respond to darkness."
— Haviv Rettig Gur (46:52)

Important Timestamps

• 04:06 — Setting the wartime scene; status of the Yishuv and Jews’ knowledge of genocide.
• 10:07–15:53 — British distrust of Jewish volunteers; motivations and conflicting goals.
• 17:05–22:37 — Ben Gurion’s vision; storytelling as Zionist agency.
• 24:18–27:22 — The impossibility of rescue; the impact of simply showing up.
• 27:22–34:32 — Hannah Senesh: life, motives, and tragic fate.
• 35:16–37:51 — Paratroopers encounter antisemitism among supposed allies.
• 39:48–46:52 — Why they chose almost certain death; the primacy of literary heroism and example.
• 46:52–47:24 — Episode close, with a summary of their legacy.

Memorable Quotes

• On Jewish historical perspective:
  "Things don’t seem that bad … compared to where the Jews were in 1944." — Matti Friedman (05:22)
• On Ben Gurion’s real mission:
  "We need to see a river of Jews making their way to the Land of Israel." — Ben Gurion, recounted by Friedman (17:45)
• On Zionist storytelling:
  "You are not a refugee. You are a pioneer … and you’re not homeless. You are actually on your way to your real home." — Matti Friedman (19:53)
• On the futility and heroism of the mission:
  "He blew their mind by being a Jewish parachutist … but there wasn’t anything else he could do." — Matti Friedman (26:20)
• On Senesh versus Anne Frank:
  "Anne is really interesting … but she’s not complicated as an adult would be ... Hannah fights." — Matti Friedman (28:40)
• On encountering allies’ antisemitism:
  "They cannot reveal to their hosts that they're Jews ... they start making up different stories about Cardiff and being Welsh." — Matti Friedman (35:16)
• On why they went:
  "The answer is literature ... the response to a dark time is to embark on an act of heroism, that will inspire others." — Matti Friedman (43:49)
• Sum of the episode:
  "32 Jews went into the valley and struck a match … because that's how you respond to darkness." — Haviv Rettig Gur (46:52)

Takeaways

• Agency in Tragedy: Even absent tangible success, agency — exerted through story and action — mattered profoundly.
• Enduring Lessons: The “failure” of these missions illuminated the stark reality of Jewish vulnerability, the limits of assimilation or outside help, and the tragic necessity of Zionism.
• The Power of Narrative: Literature, collective myth, and reframing tragedy are not just comfort but unique sources of resilience and action.

Out of the Sky by Matti Friedman is available as of March 24th.

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