The oath that led to a deadly confrontation | Forensic Files

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[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at any
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please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website [Music]
it was a particularly hot and humid august today in 1954 when a french foreign legion corporal led his squad of
soldiers through the fields and scrubland along road 18 east of the vietnamese village of bakkening
suddenly a barrage of bullets shot out from a cluster of trees 100 meters away and flew towards the exposed
legionnaires the squad's corporal a short and stocky man in his late 40s yelled for his
troops to take cover and dropped onto his chest in the long grass and mud the gunfire eventually stopped and the
air fell silent the corporal cursed under his boozy breath ranting quietly about the
violence he would inflict should he capture the enemy for the time being no one was moving and
no further shots were fired the corporal was momentarily relieved his fellow soldiers were positioned a
little further back safely obscured by grass and shrubs all of a sudden he heard a voice behind
him say stenescu [Music] [Music] [Music] eliahu itzkovitz was born in the early 1930s and lived in kischenow bessarabia
a region then annexed to romania eliahu known as ellie didn't come from a wealthy family
but he was loved by his parents and three older brothers who ensured his early years were filled with joy
everything changed by the time ellie was 10 years old anti-semitism among ethnic romanians had
already been brewing for decades then on september 6 1940 a fiercely jew-hating government minister named
john antonescu overthrew romania's king and was installed as dictator antonescu's ultimate goal was to quote
racially purify romania he wasted no time in implementing even harsher anti-jewish laws than had
previously existed jewish citizens were no longer permitted to attend educational institutions
patronize bars restaurants or theaters jewish professionals such as doctors and lawyers were forbidden to practice and
jews were deprived of their businesses and property all jewish men of working age were
conscripted into forced labor emboldened by this new state order romanian police military and some
ordinary romanian citizens felt free to insult humiliate rob beat and even murder any jew at will
antonescu expressly sanctioned this violence on april 15 1941 he told the council of
ministers quote i give the mob a license to massacre the jews i withdraw to my fortress and after the
slaughter i will restore order antonescu was intent on removing jewish people from romania and began his
campaign in the region of bessarabia home to more than 200 jews under orders from antonescu the romanian
army began their sweep of bessarabia on july nine they slaughtered jews from rural areas
on site and imprisoned those from urban neighborhoods in ghettos eight days later the army marched into
kischenow the capital of bessarabia and home to about 60 000 jews who made up half the city's population
ten thousand kischenel jews were executed in a single day the next few weeks were spent rounding
up remaining jewish people in the city killing some and herding the rest into the newly created kischenow ghetto
by mid-august ellie itzkovitz his parents and his three older brothers were among eleven thousand five hundred
chisinau jews confined within the walls of the ghetto an area less than a quarter the size of
new york's central park the kitchen el ghetto was located in the primarily jewish quarter of the city
hastily erected high wooden walls enclosed the ghetto and the two points of entry and exit were heavily guarded
jews were not permitted to leave the ghetto although those who had money could bribe guards for temporary passes
to obtain food or work some even managed to escape however the vast majority of people
imprisoned there were poor with guards looting what little money or possessions they had managed to bring
conditions inside were appalling food was scarce as was clean clothing and bedding and there was little
opportunity to practice basic hygiene typhoid fever spread quickly throughout the overcrowded ghetto
on average about 10 people succumbed to illness or starvation every day the ghetto was guarded by various
kischenow-based police and military units the majority of whom brazenly abused their power
each day scores of men and women were seized for forced labor often never to return
on august 1 1941 450 jewish people left the ghetto under such work orders only 39 returned
the rest had been shot guards regularly raped the women and girls while routinely beating the men
and boys at the whim of any guard all jews men and women children and the elderly the
abel and the ailing were vulnerable to violence torture and death one especially ruthless guard was a man
by the name of stenescu he was in his mid to late 30s was short and poorly from drinking excessive
amounts of alcohol stanescu knew there would be no repercussions for his violence
weeks earlier romania's foreign affairs minister had announced during a cabinet meeting that the guards must be
merciless to the jews and use their guns if necessary he added quote i take formal responsibility and tell
you there is no law so no formalities complete freedom stanescu took these instructions
literally firing close range pot shots at passing victims during his drinking binges or otherwise subjecting them to
vicious beatings whenever the urge arose one evening stanescu approached the ghetto dormitory in which the itzkovitz
family lived having learnt to be fearful of all guards ellie itzkovitz quickly crawled
under a pile of clothes in the corner of the room the little boy was obscured from view
but was able to peek through the garments to witness danescu barge through the door and confront his
parents and older brothers the screams of his family soon filled the room as stanescu began brutally
beating ellie's father ellie's brothers were stanescu's next targets once the men were down stanescu attacked
ellie's mother then he left ellie listened as his laughter faded into the distance
when all was silent he emerged from his hiding spot and approached his family stanescu had savagely beaten them all to
death for no infraction or reason other than they were jewish terrified and now completely alone
ellie was discovered by one of the few christian families who lived within the confines of the ghetto
at severe risk to their own safety they took ellie into their home and hid him away
it wasn't long before ellie's grief was consumed by hatred and rage at the tender age of 10 years old ellie
itzkovitz swore an oath [Music] two months after the murder of the yitzkavitz family the jews who had
managed to survive the ghetto were transported to transnistria a romanian administered territory
thousands were murdered or perished during the journey thousands more did not survive once they
arrived only a few dozen jews with tenuous permission remained in the ghetto but by june 30 the following year
they too had gone the kitchen el ghetto no longer existed for three years ellie itzkovitz had
hidden inside the home of his christian benefactors barely surviving on the meager scraps
the impoverished family could afford to share then on august 23 1944 the soviet army liberated romania from
the anti-semitic rule of john antonescu by the time of liberation all but a few jews in bessarabia had been murdered or
deported surviving against all odds thirteen-year-old ellie itzkovitz walked out freely into the sunlight
it took a long time for him to regain his strength once ready he began his quest
he traversed war ravaged bessarabia traveling through the towns and villages for signs of the man he knew to be named
stenescu ellie's frustration grew with each dead end until finally in 1947 his determination paid off
the now travel hardened sixteen-year-old had discovered that stanescu was from a
small town not far from where his own family had once lived ellie reached stanescu's town as quickly
as he could only to learn that stanescu had fled romania after liberation by the
soviets and was said to have traveled to the french occupied territory of west germany
stanescu had attempted to register with the united nations as a displaced person
using an alias and posing as a victim of the holocaust rather than one of its perpetrators
the registrar was immediately suspicious of his claim so stanescu once again vanished into the chaos of post-war
europe to avoid sanction while elie itzkovitz failed to catch up to the man responsible for murdering his
entire family he did find something else one day ellie found himself standing face to
face with stanescu's eldest son and the confrontation quickly turned violent the boys were about the same age and it
might have otherwise been a close physical match but ellie's boiling rage tipped him over
the edge during the fight he produced a butcher's knife and stabbed his rival stanescu's son died of his wounds
while ellie might have believed this to be a morally justified form of retribution
the law disagreed the romanian people's court sentenced him to five years in a juvenile
detention facility for the killing by 1952 21 year old ellie had completed his sentence
with nothing tying him to bessarabia he immigrated to israel the following year he was called up for
mandatory service in the israeli defense force when his training was complete ellie donned the olive green uniform red
beret and red boots of the paratroopers during his service ellie kept his ear to
the ground trying to pick up even the slightest trail of stanescu after he had fled west germany
when ellie would come across a fellow romanian he pressed them for any details that might lead to stanescu's
whereabouts some information trickled in due to the notoriety of the kischenow ghetto but
nothing of any value to ellie until one day he met a man who had heard a rumor the former guard known as stanescu had
made his way to ofenborg a french-occupied western german town near the border of france
while there he enlisted with the french foreign legion and was currently fighting in indochina
for nearly a decade vietnamese nationalists had been fighting for independence from french colonial rule
the ensuing conflict came to be known as the first indochina war or the anti-french resistance war in
vietnam ellie formulated a plan first he convinced his commanding officer that he would be better suited
as a naval officer his commanding officer agreed and days later ellie walked onto his assigned
ship at the navy base in the israeli city of haifa months later on june 6 1953 ellie's ship docked at the italian port
city of genoa to collect a cache of naval equipment having been granted shore leave ellie
casually walked down the gangway and slipped silently into genoa's bustling streets
he bid farewell to the israeli navy at the central station where he boarded a train that made its way west along the
ligurian sea coastline before ending at the small italian town of bordegara ellie disembarked and hiked across the
border into france once there he arrived at the foreign legion recruitment office in marseilles
within days ellie had been accepted into the legion after three months of basic training
ellie was assigned to the legion's paratroop corps he then boarded the ss pastor and was on
his way to join the fight in indochina case file will be back shortly thank you for supporting us by listening to this
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the treacherous seabound journey from marseille took about 20 days regular fights broke out among the
soldiers who struggled to deal with the ship's cramped quarters rotten food and rat infestation
those unfortunate enough to be assigned to the lower deck bunks suffocated to death in the stifling heat generated by
their windowless rooms in early october 1953 the ss pasta arrived in the port city of haifang the
gateway to northern vietnam's only remaining french occupied region by the time ellie arrived the
legionnaires had suffered heavy losses across many battles and france was nearing defeat
vietnam with its reign heat and humidity had proved itself a formidable enemy the modified legionnaire uniform
of khaki shorts rolled up shirt sleeves and canvas combat attire did little to abate the troops discomfort in the dense
jungle battleground but it was the vietnamese revolutionaries that proved to be the
greater challenge like all foreign soldiers in vietnam the legionnaires were woefully unprepared
for the sheer number of and guerilla tactics employed by the viet ming it took a few months but in early 1954
ellie had learned that stanescu using an alias was serving with the first battalion of the legion's third foreign
infantry regiment the chain of command readily approved ellie's request to transfer to that
specific unit and he was soon marching towards the village of buckning the first battalion third regiment was
stationed in the region which was about halfway between the port city of haifan and the french-held capital hanoi
as the northern front of the only remaining french-occupied territory in northern vietnam
defending the region was critical to their mission the journey to buckning itself was a
risk as the chances of being ambushed by the viet minh were high as such ellie and the other recruits
were on high alert as they headed to join the first battalion after ellie arrived at the buckning base
he was assigned to a squad of about 10 soldiers commanded by a short and stocky corporal in his late 40s
the squad lined up for their routine inspection back straight eyes forward as the corporal approached ellie's heart
skipped a beat the corporal was thinner than ellie remembered but had the same callous eyes
stench of alcohol and screeching voice from ellie's memory there was no doubt in ellie's mind that
he was standing before his family's killer stanescu walked down the line examining
each soldier closely yelling abuse and chastisements into their sweaty nervous faces
nearing the end of the line the corporal finally stood in front of ellie despite his boyish looks ellie was an
imposing presence he was well muscled tanned and so tall that stanescu was forced to tilt his
head fully upward to spit insults into his face there was no way stanescu could recognize the skinny frightened 10 year
old boy in the man before him and yet something made him pause there was a fierceness in ellie's eyes
that momentarily unnerved stanescu ellie was so close to his family's killer he could reach out and strangle
him before anyone realized what had happened instead he stood motionless at perfect
attention retaining an outward calm that belied his raging fury inside having already waited 13 years
ellie would bite his time a little longer stanescu moved on to the next soldier down the line
several months later by august 1954 the french conceded victory to the vietnam and agreed to vacate northern
vietnam by the end of the month in the lead-up to their withdrawal the first battalion legionnaires continued
to conduct patrols of the buckning region one day as ellie's squad moved through a field
east of the village they were fired upon by vietng fighters hiding in the nearby
jungle the legionnaires dove under the cover of the long swampy grass until the sound of
gunfire ceased as he lay motionless ellie didn't even notice the leeches slide up his leg
nor the giant mosquitoes that pierced his skin he did not feel the weight of the heat
and humidity in his lungs nor the sting of the rain as it whipped across his face
instead ellie's singular focus was on the corporal lying prone in the grass before
him ellie took a moment to survey his surroundings the vietnam didn't emerge from the
surrounding jungle and the rest of ellie's squad remained hidden in the grass further behind him
in this tense stalemate ellie realised that he was finally alone with the corporal
he raised himself and called the corporal by his true name stenescu [Music] stanescu turned to face ellie surprised
to hear the name he had left behind so long ago yes he responded ellie continued
i'm from chisinau stanescu's confusion softened and his face lit up as if preparing to greet an
old friend this was the moment ellie had dreamed of for 13 long years for which he had survived the holocaust
travelled 40 000 kilometers and suffered gruelling conditions to reach he stared directly into the bloodshot
eyes of the man who had callously murdered his entire family and stated coldly i'm a jew from chisinau
ellie didn't speak any further he required neither reason nor apology there was only one thing left to do
ellie raised his mat 49 sub machine gun at point blank range he fired two rounds
into stanescu's chest those were for his family the force of the bullets punched
stanescu back down into the mud ellie aimed again and in rapid fire emptied the remaining 30 rounds on
behalf of all the kischenow jews the viet minh assumed that mat 49 rounds were directed towards them and
immediately returned fire ellie squatted besides danescu's blood-soaked corpse and took a firm grip
under his arms as a legionnaire it was his duty to never abandon his dead his wounded or
his weapons under the protective cover of his comrades down the line ellie dragged
stanescu's body beyond the vietnamese range and back to road 18. while the squad waited for the
extraction vehicle ellie sat pensively on the side of the road staring into stanescu's dead eyes
he had fulfilled his oath to avenge his family but the satisfaction was swallowed by a
deep emptiness upon returning to base ellie informed the chain of command that the corporal
died after catching the enemy's fire they had no reason to question ellie's story and even commended him for
recovering the corporal's body by the end of august ellie's battalion had withdrawn from vietnam
in late 1956 ellie was honorably discharged from the legion having served his minimum three years with the
requisite honour and fidelity ellie returned to israel an honorable former legionnaire
however as far as the israeli defense force was concerned elie itzkovitz was a deserter
the crime of desertion was one of the most serious that could be committed by a member of the israeli armed forces
subordinate only to rape mutiny during active fighting and treason ellie understood that his desertion
could not remain unaddressed upon his return to israel he presented himself to the naval authorities and was
immediately taken to a military prison where he would remain pending trial as the israeli military court was slow
to dispense justice ellie languished in military prison for over two years before his trial finally commenced
in may 1959 ellie stood before three naval judges in his white navy dress uniform and recounted his extraordinary
tale the judges verified what they could of ellie's story with the french authorities but there was no
corroborating evidence of ellie's killing of stanescu nor any official criminal proceedings
initiated by the french thus the naval judges were faced with a difficult decision
there was no question that ellie was guilty of desertion he had abandoned his commitment to the
defense of israel a mere eight and a half months into his minimum three-year term and did not return to israel until
well after his service term had expired this represented a most extreme case of desertion potentially warranting the
maximum penalty of 15 years in military prison on the other hand with the holocaust
still very much an open wound the judges were sympathetic to ellie's cause ellie stood to attention as the judges
pronounced him guilty of desertion as for ellie's punishment the court concluded that quote
in view of the circumstances of the case the court of the state of israel cannot
bring itself to impose a heavy sentence ellie was sentenced to one year's imprisonment
in consideration of time served twenty-eight-year-old ellie itzkovitz walked out of the military courthouse a
free man little more is publicly known about ellie's life after his release by the
israeli military court he was interviewed by french magazine paris match with the interviewing
journalist dubbing him ellie the avenger on april 20 2015 joshua sada posted a photograph to his facebook page
it depicted two elderly men sitting at a table about to share a home-cooked meal
the man on the left offering a hearty thumbs up was joshua a family man and seasoned electrical engineer in his
mid-seventies his companion a man in his 80s wore a slightly amused smile beneath a pair of
weary eyes he was joshua's neighbor eliahu itzkovitz both the joshua and eliahu were jewish
and each wore a white keeper yamaka in reverence to god although neither man was born in israel
they both had called the land home for many years now throughout this time the pair had gone
from neighbours to friends finally they embraced each other as brothers alongside the photograph joshua wrote a
post announcing that eliahu had passed away 24 hours earlier after having no more strength in his war to survive
joshua referred to ellie as a hero in the shadows and a hero to the jewish people
[Music] [Music] you

Case 216: The Itzkovitz Family

Eliahu Itzkovitz spent much of his childhood confined behind the walls of Romania’s Chișinău Ghetto – a place where he and other Romanian Jews were held prisoner by their government...

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Holly Boyd Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Music – Andrew D.B. Joslyn

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For all credits and sources please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-216-the-itzkovitz-family

Brief Summary

Eliahu Itzkovitz avenges his family's murder by killing the guard responsible during his service in Vietnam.

Key points

What Makes a Killer Returns. The podcast returns for a new season exploring infamous killers.
The Brutality of Antonescu's Regime. John Antonescu's government unleashed violence against Jews in Romania.
Ellie's Oath of Vengeance. At just 10 years old, Ellie Itzkovitz vows to find his family's killer.
Confronting the Killer. Ellie faces Stanescu, the man who murdered his family, during military service.
Ellie's Confrontation. Ellie finally faces Stanescu, the man who murdered his family, and takes revenge.
Ellie's Sentencing. Ellie is found guilty of desertion but receives a lenient sentence due to his past.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I give the mob a license to massacre the Jews.

John Antonescu's chilling directive to the council of ministers.

5:43WatchJun 25, 2022

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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