December 1945, Moshe Panitchev Amiel with members of the Beriha in Belgrade, Yugoslavia

The Beriha was the postwar movement of 250,000 survivors of the Holocaust to Displaced Persons' camps in Germany, Austria, and Italy. Their aim was to reach the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts, so that they could set off for Eretz Israel. The Hebrew word Beriha means "flight" or "escape."

Moshe Panitchev Amiel was born in Bulgaria in 1923. He was a member of the Beitar Zionist movement, and after his arrest he fled to Romania. He arrived in Eretz Israel in 1945 along with his father, Herman Panitchev. They settled in Haifa, where they joined the Etzel. Amiel joined the Etzel fighting force and participated in the battle for the liberation of Haifa in the War of Independence. He commanded an Etzel force in the city. Amiel enlisted in the IDF in June 1948 along with all of the Etzel fighters in Haifa. After the war he was a director and a playwright.

Yad Vashem Photo Archives 3883/3141