Yannay Yaakov (1919-1988)

YANNAY (Yankelovich) Yaakov (Yaka) (1919, Riga – 1988, Tel Aviv), Zionist activist (in Latvia, the Soviet Union, and Israel). Born into an educated family that observed Jewish traditions. In his school years he joined the Zionist-socialist youth organization Netzah (No'ar Tsofeh-Khaluts), which had broken away from Ha-Shomer Ha-Tza'ir, and forever remained faithful to its ideals. During the years of K. Ulmanis's dictatorship (1934–40) in Latvia, the Netzah organization operated semi-clandestinely; after Latvia's annexation by the Soviet Union, the activities of the organization — whose leader was Itskhak Gordon (?–1945) — continued in underground conditions. Yannay led the Riga branch of Netzah. The organization was divided into cells of three; the liaison of each cell communicated with members of the center, who maintained contact with Yannay, who was at the time a student at the Riga Conservatory (piano class).

With the start of the Soviet-German war Yannay, with a group of organization members, went east; for a time the group worked at agricultural work in Yaroslavl Region; then a decision was made to split up and head for the southern border of the Soviet Union in order to cross it and repatriate to Eretz Israel. Contact with Yannay was established by one of the Netzah leaders, Sh. Ioffe, known as Mulka; together they reached Tashkent. Yannay continued his studies there at the conservatory, but the main content of his life was Zionist activity. Around Yannay and Ioffe united Netzah members K. Skop, D. Galperin, Polya Aronas (Neishtat), sisters Leya and Sima Munits, and others. In the “Tashkent commune” mutual aid and charitable activities were organized; group members taught Hebrew and told Soviet Jews about Zionism; contacts with Eretz Israel were established. From 1945 began work on organizing both legal and illegal repatriation.

In 1945 Yannay returned to Riga, continued his conservatory studies as cover for conspiratorial work. Sh. Ioffe, having traveled to Italy, managed to make contact with the Bricha organization. Yannay joined the “action staff” together with M. Bakhat and I. Shur; active members also included E. Zaydin, E. Goldberg (?–1948), and others. The staff, headed by Sh. Ioffe on his return to Riga, managed to illegally transfer through Poland to Eretz Israel 450 Jews from Latvia, Lithuania, and other regions. When the Soviet security organs got onto the trail of the organization, the staff recommended that Yannay and Ioffe urgently leave with one of the groups setting off for Poland; however, both refused and decided to leave last. In the summer of 1946 arrests began; Yannay went to Lviv, then to Moscow, to organize aid for arrested friends. On 27 September, together with Sh. Ioffe, he was arrested in Baranovichi; both were sentenced to 25 years in the camps. In January 1957 Yannay was released.

In 1961 he repatriated to Israel. He worked in the “Nativ” organization under the Office of the Prime Minister, which coordinated the struggle for the right of Jews of the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries to repatriate, and engaged in public activities. He wrote the book “Mulka. Sippur 'Ha-Briha' mi-Brit Ha-Mo'atsot 1945–46” (“Mulka. The Story of 'the Flight' from the Soviet Union in 1945–46”; Tel Aviv, Am Oved, 1988). Yannay died during the presentation of this book.

Yannay's activities are described in the documentary book by A. Itai and M. Neishtat “Korotekha shel Tnu'a Netzah be-Latvia” (Tel Aviv, 1972; abridged Russian version — “Through Three Undergrounds: From the History of the Khaluts Netzah Movement in Latvia”; Jerusalem, Biblioteka-Aliya, 1972).