Bitton, Isaac, 1926-

Isaac Bitton is a Portuguese Jew and a refugee of the Holocaust. Bitton presently resides in Woodstock, Illinois.

From the description of Isaac Bitton papers Photographs, clippings, and other materials relating to Aristides de Sousa Mendes photographs clippings scrapbook articles letters. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). WorldCat record id: 86118762

From the description of Isaac Bitton papers Scrapbook, photographs, and other materials relating to the Nahariya memorial and the illegal immigration of Jews aboard the "Aliya" at Nahariya in 1943 scrapbook. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). WorldCat record id: 122600185

From the description of Isaac Bitton papers Photographs of the prisoners exchange of Lybian and Tunisian Jews for German POWs in 1944 photographs. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). WorldCat record id: 86118759

From the description of Isaac Bitton papers Articles, letters, and other materials relating to Jewish refugees, the Jewish community or Lisbon, and the emigration attempts of the sisters of Dr. Maximiliano Azancot articles letters. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). WorldCat record id: 122291843

From the description of Isaac Bitton papers Photographs of Jewish refugees in Lisbon, Portugal photographs. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). WorldCat record id: 122515912

From the description of Isaac Bitton papers letters articles photographs scrapbook brochures. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). WorldCat record id: 122355197

From the description of Isaac Bitton papers Photographs of arrivals of Jewish refugees in Lisbon, Portugal, and their departures to various destinations, 1941-1943 photographs. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). WorldCat record id: 122397199

Isaac Bitton was born on March 31, 1926 to Isaac and Simy (Shocrun) in Lisbon, Portugal. In 1943 or 1944, he and his brother, Joseph, immigrated to Palestine where he joined the ranks of the Palestine Police Railroad Division followed by the Jewish Brigade of the British Army where he served in Belgium. At the end of the war, Bitton returned to Palestine where he worked as an undercover agent for the Haganah before joining the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) from 1947 to 1951 as a Sergeant Major. He rejoined the army in 1956 during the Suez Crisis. In 1959, he immigrated to the United States, with his wife, Miriam, and three children, Tamar, Daniel, and Michael, eventually settling down in Woodstock, Illinois. Here he became a successful executive and business community leader. He died on July 14, 2006.

As a young man, Isaac worked in the Lisbon “soup kitchen” to feed the Jewish refugees prior to WWII. While there, he met the disgraced Portuguese diplomat Aristides de Sousa Mendes. Mendes had been dismissed from his post in Bordeaux, France for disobeying orders by granting visas to thousands of Jews fleeing Nazi oppression. Bitton was active in getting "Righteous Among the Nations" recognition for Mendes.

Bitton, upon returning to Portugal in the 1980s visited the city of Faro to find the Jewish cemetery there in a state of disrepair. He established the Faro Cemetery Restoration Fund with the goal of restoring the cemetery and making it a cultural resource for Portuguese Jews.

List of Works:

From the guide to the Guide to the Isaac Bitton (1926- ) Papers, undated, 1986-1997, (American Sephardi Federation at the Center for Jewish History)