"May 16, 1945: Alleged Jewish Agents arrested in Meran"
In the tumultuous years of World War II, a mysterious figure named Jaac van Harten emerged as a controversial figure, particularly in South Tyrol, Hungary, and Meran. However, current available knowledge suggests that there is no widely recognized or documented figure by the names Jaac van Harten, Jaques-Jules, or Julian Levy associated with the Wendig group or these historical contexts.
The search results did not yield any information linking these names to the Wendig group or events in Meran, Hungary, and Tel Aviv during World War II. If more specific details or alternative spellings are available, they could potentially shed light on this enigma.
However, it is known that in 1937, Julian Levy abandoned his jewelry business in Breslau and moved to Berlin. Later, during the final days of the war, he appeared at the Bozen camp in South Tyrol, posing as a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). From the Hotel Stefanie in Meran, he attempted to save Jewish inmates from being transported to German concentration camps.
The Wendig group, which included four former "Jewish agents", including Van Harten (also known as Yaacov, Jaques-Jules, or Julian Levy), was active in Meran during the war. They used secretly produced money, possibly from the forged British pound note operation known as the "Bernhard Enterprise" from Sachsenhausen concentration camp, to acquire valuable and artistic items from Jewish refugees.
In Hungary, Van Harten allegedly helped thousands of Jews escape. He made contact with Bricha members in Austria and Hungary in early 1945 and provided them with forged pound notes. However, his true identity remains controversial, and there is no corroborating information in the search results to support these claims.
After his expulsion from Germany, Van Harten allegedly dedicated himself to rescuing thousands of Jews from Germany. He obtained a certificate from the "American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee" stating he was arrested in 1935 for participating in the "Röhm Putsch" and expelled from the NSDAP in 1938.
The Gestapo ordered Van Harten and his second wife, Elfriede Viola Boehm, to leave the country. He bought the passport of the Dutch Jew Jaac van Harten and left Germany for Switzerland. After the war, he lived undisturbed in Tel Aviv under the protection of Prime Minister Golda Meir.
Despite the lack of widely recognized documentation, Jaac van Harten's story remains a fascinating chapter in the annals of World War II, a testament to the resilience and resourcefulness of those who dared to challenge the darkness of the times.
The mysterious figure named Jaac van Harten, also known as Julian Levy, appears to have been involved with the Wendig group during World War II, with activities in Meran and South Tyrol, despite the lack of widely recognized documentation. In addition, he allegedly helped thousands of Jews in Hungary escape by making contact with Bricha members and providing them with forged British pound notes. However, his true identity remains controversial, with no corroborating information supporting these claims in the general news, politics, war-and-conflicts, or crime-and-justice sectors.
