Ruth “Aliav” Kluger

(1914 - 1980)

Ruth Kluger received the nickname Aliav — an anagram of Aliyah Bet — for her role in smuggling Jews out of Europe during the Holocaust. Born in Kiev, she settled in Israel in 1934 and helped establish the Mosad le-Aliyah Bet. In 1947, General Charles De Gaulle awarded Kluger the Croix de la Lorraine and the Legion d’Honneur for her activities during WWII and her close working relationship with the Dutch and French resistance. Kluger, the only female in the Mosad-le-Aliyah Bet, wrote The Last Escape, a book describing her underground smuggling activities in Rumania during World War II.

Sources: Mitchell G. Bard and Moshe Schwartz. . NJ: Jason Aronson, 2004.