AN EDUCATIONAL AND EXCITING ENCOUNTER BETWEEN ISRAELI AND CZECH STUDENTS
The Joe Alon Connection Program was established in 2019 for Israeli and Czech high-school students. It includes preparatory offline study sessions in the homeclasses, online sessions with both classes, and mutual delegations. During the program, students are exposed to questions of personal-communal-political identity, learn about the shared history of both nations, the loss of the Jewish community during the Holocaust, the current way of life in both countries, geography, culture, sports, art and more. The tour of delegations from the Czech Republic includes visits to heritage and historical sites in Israel, museums and natural sites throughout the country, as well as family, community and Israeli recreation. The tour to the Czech Republic includes visits to sites of Jewish and historical significance, excursions in diverse landscapes and participation in various cultural events.
The goals of the program:
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To deepen familiarity with the culture, society and history of Israel and the Czech Republic, to create a direct and personal encounter between youth through shared learning, and to establish true friendship between young people from both countries.
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To impart humanistic values that will lead the world to a better future, while exposing the face of a beautiful, innovative, progressive and ethical Israel.
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To perpetuate the memory of the late Colonel Joe Alon, a descendant of a Czech father who trained as a pilot in Czechoslovakia before the establishment of the state of Israel. Joe was one of the founders of the Israeli Air Force, among others. A fighter pilot, commander of Hatzerim air base and an air attaché in Washington.
Pedagogical management:
Tomer Baratz is the program's pedagogical adviser since it was established. A first-rate educator developer and director of a variety of channels and fields. He holds a bachelor's degree with honors in political science and public communication, a master's degree in organization and management of educational systems, an educational innovation coach and a graduate of the "Chotam" program, a graduate of the MindCET fellowship program from CET, and a remarkable man.
My Vision
I believe that human beings have much more in common over what is different.
The life of my father, Joe Alon (formerly Placzek), a Jew, was saved thanks to the willingness of my German grandmother and Czech grandfather to put their trust in Nicholas Winton, a British citizen. During World War II, he worked to remove children from Czechoslovakia to families in England. My father was adopted by a childless Christian couple, who saved his life. Unfortunately, my grandparents perished in Auschwitz in 1945. Joe trained as a pilot in Olomouc, immigrated to Israel in 1949, served as a fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force, and helped establish a home for the Jewish people in the State of Israel. He married my mother, Dvora, a Yemen-born woman, had three daughters and was murdered when I was five and a half years old, while an air attaché in Washington, D.C., on July 1, 1973.
I established The Joe Alon Connection Program in my father's name, in order to prove that personal acquaintance, embracing humanistic values, and studying chapters of history in which citizens and leaders came to the rescue to do good, are a guarantee of a life full of meaning and hope.
"Love thy neighbor as thyself" (Leviticus 19, 17-18)
Rachel Alon-Margalit, Founder and Director, daughter of Dvora and Joe, RIP
Joe Alon (Josef Placzek)
Joe Alon was born on July 25, 1929 on Kibbutz Ein Harod. His parents, Tekla and Vítězslav/Friedl (in Czech/German) Placzek, had made aliya to Palestine as pioneers in 1922. For various reasons the parents decided to return to Europe in 1930. When World War II broke out, Joe, who was 10 years old at the time, and his 14-year-old brother, David, were sent to England on a Kinder transport organized by Nicholas Winton. There, Joe was fostered by Jenny and George Davidson, who were childless Christians. At the end of the war, Joe returned to Czechoslovakia in search of his parents, only to discover that they had been and murdered in Auschwitz, after both imprisoned in the Theresienstadt Ghetto.
Joe moved to the city of Brno with his uncle Oskar, a Holocaust survivor himself, and began studying goldsmithing. At the end of his studies, at the outbreak of the War of Liberation, he joined a pilot course that opened in Czechoslovakia on behalf of the "Haganah", and in 1948 he began the first pilot course of the Air Force in the city of Olomouc. A year later he returned to Israel, enlisted in the Air Force and was trained as a fighter pilot.
Joe successfully held various positions in the Air Force and was one of its founders. He was one of the first Israeli pilots to fly jet planes, he taught flying at the school and commanded three fighter squadrons of Uragan, Mister and Mirage planes. Joe was one of the founders of Hatzerim Air Force Base and its first commander. In 1970, Colonel Joe Alon was appointed Air Attaché at the Israel Embassy in Washington DC. On July 1st, 1973, about a month before the end of his term in the United States, Colonel Joe was shot dead in front of his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The motive for the murder and the identities of its perpetrators remain unclear to this day.
He left a wife, Dvora, and three daughters - Dalia, Yael and Rachel. His widow died in 1995.
In his memory, the Joe Alon Center and the Museum of Bedouin Culture were established, a forest was planted near Kibbutz Lahav in the Negev, and the Joe Alon Road leading from Be'er Sheva to Hatzerim Air Force Base was named the "Joe Alon Road".
Thanks
To the educators from the Branco Weiss network who opened the door, and helped a small seed to grow, and to all the principals of the schools participating in the program, for their trust and support.
To Avraham Harshalom z"l, a friend of Joe's, who was the president of the Israel-Czech Friendship Association, the first home of the program.
To the Czech government for its financial support since the program was founded, and to the culture attaché in the Czech Embassy in Tel Aviv.
To Tomer Baratz, the pedagogical director of the program since its inception, an educator of the highest order.
To the curious and involved students, who are willing to open a conceptual and a practical door, and host the members of the delegations in their home, as well as for parents and families who are a significant part of the experience of visiting Israel.
To Beit Terezin, which is an educational and practical home for this program. To the CEO Tami Kinberg, to the director of the educational center Noa David, and to the treasurer Liora Cohen.
To the team of the World Zionist Organization and the Herzl Center: Dror Morag, Dor Zvikelsky and Orit Helfgot, who revealed in a professional, educational and enriching way the Zionist idea from the dream to its realization. Thank you for your generosity.
To the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MASHAV (Israel's National Aid Agency), for exposing the beautiful face of Israel and its important work in various countries around the world.
To the staff of the Joe Alon Center, the Rimon Institute and the Bnei Shimon Regional Council, for establishing a commemorative study center of the Negev region for all its residents. Special thanks to the first manager, Mr. Uzi Halamish.
To the Air Force Museum and curator Avi Moshe Segal, for teaching the history of the Air Force in general and of Joe in particular.
To the Anu Museum and its former CEO, Dan Tadmor, for the warm hospitality and the fascinating lessons of who we are.
To many Hatzerim air base commanders, for the warm hospitality, fascinating lectures and meetings with fighter pilots.
To Shimon Kremer, the CEO of Graphosprint, for a generous donation of branded printed matter such as notebooks, cards and certificates.
To Yael Alon-Rosenshain, graphic designer, for branding the program, designing the logo, building and updating the website, preparing graduation certificates and much more.
To Kobi Genatt, CEO of Alkoprint, for printing certificates for the students and staff, free of charge and with exceptional speed.
