Feist, Richard M. (Richard Michael), 1923-
Biography
Richard M. Feist was born in 1923. During World War II, he served in the British Army's East Surrey Regiment, Service Number 14458550 and was a member in the Jewish Brigade. After the War, probably in September 1945, he was appointed to the Search Division of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) and stationed in Göttingen, Germany. He worked at 55 Search Bureau, which was responsible for helping mainly Jewish survivors find their relatives and handling administration related to displaced persons and prisoners-of-war. During the period he worked at the Search Bureau, he was in contact with his former fellow combatants in the Jewish Brigade, friends from Kibbutz Buckingham, and his family in England. In addition, he corresponded with many familiar and unknown persons regarding searching for relatives, forwarding packages to displaced person camps and to Palestine, and more. Serving in the Jewish Brigade, Feist likely visited Palestine, or had at least been in contact with Tkuma, the organization helping soldiers to settle in Palestine. He was an Orthodox Jew who had contact with religious organizations in Palestine, too. According to his correspondence, he also developed personal relationships with residents of the Palestinian Jewish settlement.