Józef Bau was born in Krakow in 1920 in a Jewish family. In 1943 he was sent to a camp in Płaszów. He was secretly married to Rebeka Tannenbaum. Their wedding was commemorated in the film “Schindler's list” by Steven Spielberg. After the war, Bau emigrated to Israel.
– Józef was a counterfeiter of Mossad. These were pre -Complex times. It was tedious and difficult work that required extraordinary talent and patience – argues Renata Baume in an interview with TVN24+.
Bau was involved in another loud story – an Israeli spy in Damascus Ele Cohen.
– When Cohen was exposed in 1965 – and he fell due to the lack of caution when broadcasting messages by radio – Józef was terrified. He was afraid that the fault was on his side, that it happened because of the not entirely prepared documents – explains Renata Baume.
Jacek Tacik: If Józef Bau lived …
Renata Baume: TOh would be shocked by what happened in Israel on October 7, 2023. For him, each subsequent war or a terrorist act aimed at Israel was to some extent a reference to the past, to the Holocaust. At the end of his life, he wrote to Józef Hen: “Here, in the Middle East, life is more and more complicated, and who has good memory sometimes comes to unpleasant conclusions, and who wrote the book 'Time of desecration' is better so that he does not prophesy
Would he be disappointed with Israel? He would criticize the government Benjamina Netanyahu?
Józef Bau was an Israeli patriot, who from the first half of the 1950s cooperated closely with the government and special services. At that time, the left was ruled by Israel. The state was created and formed by socialists. Today Israel is dominated by the right. This is a completely different country. Just as the world in which we live has changed.