Excerpt from 'March or Die' by Tony Geraghty—the only place where I could find his mention:
According to Legion folklore, Legionaire Eliahu Itzkowitz, from Rummania, had volunteered to wear the white kepi blanc for only one reason: he wanted to kill another Legionaire.
Itkowitz was a jew. With the rest of his family he wa sone of thousands rounded up at Christmas in rumania in July 1941 by Nazi extermination squads drawn from Germany and Rumania itself. He was then aged ten.
... he blamed a single Rumanian Nazi guard named stanescu for what happened. Shortly before liberation of the area in 1945, stanescu disappeared. Itzkowitz dedicated himself to finding the man. Within a year he had found not Stanescu, but his quarry's son. No matter: Itzkowitz stabbed him with a butcher's knife and served five years for the attack in a rumanian prison.
On his release the angry young jew, harder than ever, emigrated to Israel, became a soldier and joined the Isrraeli paras.
... From a frenchman he learned that in 1945 an enigmatic rumanian whose description matched that of Stanescu had joined the Foreign legion at Offenburg in the French zone of occupied Germany.
(Itzkowitz transferred to the Israeli navy, and deserted in Genoa, travelled to Marseille and joined the FFL).
In june 1954, on a routine road patrol between Bac-Ninh and seven Pagodas, a patrol of 3 REI came under fire. Itzkowitz took cover and was joined by his corporal. The two men stretched on the ground together, seeking a field of fire. The Jewish legionaire rolled carefully onto one elbpw, scrutinising the corporal.
'Aren't you Stanescu?' he asked softly in Rumanian.
It is not often that a legionaire's non-de-guerre is punctured so blandly, particularly when he is in combat. Disconcerted, the corporal replied, 'Yes ... who are you?'
'Stanescu. I'm one of the jews from Chisinau.'
The safety caych was off his sub-machine gun, the muzzle steady, inches from the corporals shirt.
'This is for the others!'
It was almost the long burst fired ....
... Only after Itzkowitz completed his service, and obtained an honourable discharge, did the French authorities comprehend why the close-quater fire which killed Stanescu was from a french weapon.
Guilmartin said, Itzkovitz apparently confessed, was court-martialed, but it was deemed justifiable homicide.
NOTE: Professor John F. Guilmartin Jr., Lieutenant Colonel, United States Air Force (Ret.) told me this story (well, he told the class, but I felt like he was talking to me personally—he was a top-notch teacher in that way) and, outside of the obligatory mention that I shall retell this story in full as a podcast episode (more often than not soon given the topical series on Twentieth Century Romania), should I get the opportunity to pen this as an actual feature script, you know who gon’ be gettin’ that “For/Special Thanks” credit. He died in 2016 and it makes me sad. He literally wrote-up his own textbook for his class, and we all printed it out for super-cheap — and it was a damn-thorough book, too. I still have it. He flew medivac helicopters in the Vietnam War, you know; saved literally hundreds of lives; earned two Silver Stars and a couple of oak leaf clusters. He taught at Ohio State for some three decades; his course on the Vietnam War was not only effortlessly rehearsed (through years of practice) but dense and insightful, given his masterful knowledge of the conflict and his own personal experiences. And he recommended so many books that are now favorites of mine… He was a great teacher. This note is very long.
Original document created 09/27/2012.
AND, AS A TWO-PAGE FEATURE CONCEPT, FOR MY PITIFUL APPLICATION TO USC:
This is a true story that I am really hoping to someday make into a movie, and I’m a little surprised it hasn’t already become one… The French Foreign Legion has many stories attached to it. This particular one is about a Romanian Jew named Eliahu Itzkowitz…
In 1941, a 10-year-old Eliahu and his family are rounded up in Chisinau, Romania, by a Nazi extermination squad and sent to the concentration camp there. While here, he watches a prison guard named Stănescu murder his parents and three brothers. In 1944, the Soviet Army liberates this concentration camp. Eliahu begins his search around Romania for Stănescu. In a year, he finds Stănescu’s son, and kills him with a butcher’s knife. Eliahu spends five years in a Romanian prison for his crime.
After his release, the Soviets allow Eliahu to emigrate to Israel and, in 1953, he is drafted into the Israeli Army as a paratrooper. While serving, he learns that Stănescu escaped the clutches of the Soviets and fled to the French zone of the newly-partitioned Germany, where he joined the French Foreign Legion.
Eliahu immediately applies for transfer to the Israeli Navy. He is posted on a squadron of destroyers and corvettes. While at port in Genoa, Italy, Eliahu deserts, crosses into France, and goes to Marseille to enlist in the French Foreign Legion. He takes basic training in Algeria. After some investigative work, he discovers that Stănescu is in French Indochina serving with the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment. Eliahu immediately requests to be transferred into that regiment. Eliahu ends up in Stănescu’s unit; Stănescu is a Corporal, and leads the group. Stănescu is using a pseudonym to hide his former identity. Stănescu does not recognize Eliahu, but Eliahu recognizes Stănescu; he could never forget that face. Eliahu keeps a close eye on Stănescu, waiting for the moment to reap his revenge.
In June of 1954, near Bac-Ninh, Vietnam, Eliahu is on a routine road patrol when his squad comes under fire. They all take cover. Eliahu gets behind a fallen tree, and Corporal Stănescu dives down next to him. Stănescu checks their surroundings, and then rolls onto his back. Eliahu props himself up on his shoulder and looks at Stănescu, then asks him, in Romanian, “Aren’t you Stănescu?” Stănescu is surprised that his identity has been exposed, especially in the heat of battle. He replies, “Yes—who are you?”
“Stănescu,” Eliahu says, “I’m one of the Jews from Chisinau.” Stănescu looks down at Eliahu’s sub-machine gun, which is slightly lifted off of the ground, with the muzzle just inches from his chest. “This is for the others!” Eliahu shouts as he unloads his clip into Stănescu, finally achieving the revenge he was entitled to.
Stănescu’s death is a mystery to the French authorities; they are baffled as to how he was killed in close-quarter combat by a French weapon. (“Did a Viet Cong pick it up and use it against him? But how could he have gotten the drop on someone so experienced with combat?”) Eliahu finishes the remainder of his service and is honorably discharged from the French Foreign Legion in 1958. He goes back to Israel to make-up for his desertion. Due to his unusual but justifiable reasoning (given that they’re Jewish, too, so they “get it”) Eliahu only serves a year in prison for going AWOL. After that, he is brought into French custody and tried for murder, but it is labeled again as ‘justifiable homicide,’ and Eliahu walks free. The film ends either with Eliahu at his family’s memorial gravesite or with Eliahu chucking Stănescu’s stolen dog-tags into the sea while he’s fishing in the Mediterranean. Perhaps he uses the dog-tags as bait for his lure, if that could be tied back to Eliahu fishing with his father in the beginning of the film.
This is one of the greatest revenge stories I’ve ever heard. Granted, a few lines can be touched up to make it more dramatic; for instance, yelling “this is for the others!” can be changed to “this is for my family!” as to make it more personal. The murder scene in the concentration camp would be set-up to be tear-jerking and make the audience root for Eliahu; perhaps show his parents ripped from his arms, and they are talking to him as they are killed. His brothers were all shot first, so the parents would have been emotionally shattered by the time Stănescu got around to killing them. Also, for note, Stănescu singled out Eliahu, making sure the youngest child of each family he murdered was left alive, to live with trauma. This was standard for Stănescu; he saw the opportunity to instill permanent pain in a child, and he did. At the time, Stănescu was a Nazi and had all of the power and evil motivations to do so. He had no idea he was planting the seeds of his own destruction.
A surprising amount of former-SS escaped to France and joined the Foreign Legion to go fight in Vietnam; it was a way both to get out of a vengeance-seeking Europe and to be able to stay an elite soldier on the battlefield. Stănescu thought he was in the clear, safe under his assumed name, until the very moment Eliahu revealed himself by speaking Romanian and using Stănescu’s old name.
All of Eliahu’s actions are justified, even the killing of Stănescu’s son, who Stănescu didn’t care enough about to go back to Romania for. Stănescu was legitimately evil and his son was a menace aspiring to be more like daddy. Granted, Eliahu did kill him, but he served a mere five years for it (because not-punishing him would have sent a terrible message). He was a vigilante. He sought justice as if it were the only thing that mattered; he did not stop until Stănescu was dead.
In this film, there would be a minor character every step of the way; short-time friends, like in Chisinau and among the Israeli paratroopers, and the people who help him along the way. The film, I’d say, would not use narration, but it totally could if need be. It would be a historical drama with a few comedic lines that Eliahu would share with a friend while serving among the Israelis (in the middle of the film). It would be a period-piece; there is no way it is being modified to be modern or futuristic. I want to do the original story, the real story. Perhaps it’s titled the Legionnaire (which entails the question “does the title refer to Eliahu or Stănescu?”), or the Story of Eliahu, or perhaps the Legend of Eliahu if I wanted to be dramatic, maybe Stănescu just to set up that the story isn’t so much about Eliahu but his revenge, or Seeking Stănescu if I wanted to be up-front about it. I’m leaning towards either the Legionnaire or Stănescu.
Original document created 10/03/2012.