Amcho or amcha, also transliterated as amkho or amkha (Hebrew: עמכו, romanized: ʾamkho, lit. 'one's people', plural: עמכות ʾamkhot; Yiddish: אמכא, romanized: amkha, lit. 'common people'), is an idiomatic term that refers to the common people, especially Jews, as opposed to the elite.[1] It was commonly used among Jews in Europe, especially during the Holocaust, as a means of identification.[2][3]
During World War II, when Jewish refugees were seeking family and friends during genocide, the term amcho served as a shibboleth to identify fellow Jews.[4] In modern times, various survivors recall using it to determine if strangers were Jewish and potentially find allies or assistance.[5][6]
The term originates from Hebrew עמך (amkhá) meaning "one's nation" or "people",[7] through Yiddish עמך (ámkho) meaning "common people," essentially "Jews".[1][2]
Personal anecdotes edit
Polish Holocaust survivor Jacob Szapszewicz recounted an incident during the war where he used the term amcho to identify a fellow Jew. While searching for a friend named Moshe, Szapszewicz encountered him crossing a valley. He shouted in Hebrew.[8]
… I saw [a shadow] — because he was a night man too — and he could walk quietly. [When I saw him,] I said, "That must be Moshe," and I started yelling … I was scared to yell Yiddish or Polish. I yelled, "Amcho!" Amcho in Hebrew [was like saying] "Jew." We used to communicate in this way, and nobody could know what amcho [meant]. I yelled, "Amcho, amcho!" He didn’t stop. So, I ran after him and he ran too and I felt he was scared of me, sure. He didn’t know who [I was]. I felt that I'm not going to catch him and I started yelling, "Moshe, Moshe!" and he stopped.
In 1944, Shayke Avni, a Jewish soldier in the Red Army during World War II, recalled using the term to identify a fellow Jewish officer. By asking, he confirmed the officer's Jewish identity and facilitated a warm encounter.[9]
… An officer with the rank of lieutenant, accompanied by about twenty privates, approached my tank. The men were muddy, wet, dirty, and frozen. I don't know how this occurred to me, but I believed that I was seeing a Jewish officer. In those days, I knew already the code accepted among Jews, my word was: Amkho?, and the reply was "Kmokho – amkho." I resorted to this code and, thus, I learned that the officer was indeed Jewish, and that he had been drafted into the Red Army in 1940... Kaplan, that Jewish officer who rode on my tank in 1944, [later] also moved to Israel and, in the late 1960s, we met when both of us were officers of the Israeli Defense Forces. …
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b "Amcha". Jewish Languages. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ a b "Amkho?": The Secret Code of Jewish Refugees. Retrieved 2024-04-24 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ Witnesses to the Holocaust: Stories of Minnesota Holocaust Survivors and Liberators (PDF). Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ "Jacob Szapszewicz". St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum.
- ^ Slucki, David; Patt, Avinoam; Finder, Gabriel N. (2020-04-07). Laughter After: Humor and the Holocaust. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8143-4479-8.
- ^ "חיילים יהודים בצבא האדום מתוודעים לשואה | הפודקאסט של יד ושם". www.yadvashem.org (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2024-04-24. [He turns to me and says one word — "Amkho?" [I replied,] "Amkho," "your people," a word we know, which apparently became a code by which Jewish Soviet soldiers tried to identify the Jews among the population.]
- ^ "מה זה עמכו - מילון עברי עברי - מילוג". milog.co.il (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2024-04-24.
- ^ "Oral History - Jacob Szapszewicz". St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ "Jews in the Red Army, 1941–1945 - Shayke (Yeshayahu) Avni". Yad Vashem. Retrieved 2024-04-23.