Discs of three Holocaust survivors who fought in the War of Liberation and were killed in the line of duty were handed over to Yad Vashem yesterday (Wednesday).
The disks will be displayed for the first time in the permanent exhibition of the Holocaust History Museum.
The disks belonged to Shmuel (Shimilo) Pollak, born in 1929 in Romania who was the last scion of his family, to Chaim Heinz Fromman, born in 1919 in Germany and to Uri Husserl born in 1919 in Austria.
They fell in the war of liberation in 1948.
Elisheva Nehushtan, whose father Issachar Lux fought alongside those three fighters, came to Yad Vashem yesterday and donated the disks that had been kept for decades by her father. At Yad Vashem it was decided that the disks will be placed in the gallery dedicated to the return to life of the Jews and the establishment of the state, and also includes Photographs of Holocaust survivors upon their immigration to Israel.
The discs next to the decorations from the War of Liberation,
Chairman of Yad Vashem, Danny Dayan: "We must not forget those heroes - survivors who immigrated to Israel and joined the war for the existence of the State of Israel, while many of them were the last offspring of their family, and did not return from the war. The names and stories of these fighters should be a candle At our feet there is no greater devotion than this."
With the discovery of the discs, the Carmeli Brigade Association turned its resources to the "Let Face to the Fallen" association for assistance in locating family members of the fallen, some of whom came to the event of handing over the discs.
Dorit Perry, the founder of the association: "Our volunteers immediately mobilized for the task and for six months worked to locate the families. We see the commemoration of the martyrs of Israel's systems as a great privilege."
stories of heroism
According to the website "Yizkor" and the investigation of the association "Let's Face the Fallen", Shmuel (Shmilo) Polak lived in the Transylvania region of Romania.
His parents were murdered in Auschwitz, probably in 1943, and he was saved after being adopted by his uncles - Adelaide and Menno Polk.
Immediately after the war he asked to immigrate to Israel.
He qualified in 1946 on a ship but was caught by the British and sent to a detention camp in Cyprus, where he stayed for about a year and a half.
On January 15, 1948 Polk, who was the last descendant, the only survivor of his nuclear family, managed to settle in Zichron Ya'akov.
At that time the War of Independence was in full swing and he enlisted in the 24th Battalion in the Carmeli Brigade - Brigade No. 2 in the Hagana.
Pollak participated in many battles, but in the battle in Sheikh Abed on October 22, 1948, the armored car he was traveling in hit a mine.
He jumped out of the vehicle, but was shot from an ambush and killed. He was 19 years old.
In "Yad Vashem" there is a documentation of the list of prisoners in Auschwitz, which includes Polk's name and prisoner number.
Ammo is over
Haim Heinz Fromman, son of Rebecca and Isaac, was born in Bochum, Germany.
Before the outbreak of the war, he fled to the Netherlands and arrived in Israel on the Ma'afilim ship in 1939, when he joined the Kibbutz Mishmar Hayam.
In 1940 he enlisted in the British Army and served in the Corps of Engineers in Israel and Egypt.
In 1947 he moved to Haifa and worked as a carpenter.
In March 1948 he enlisted and was attached to the Carmeli Brigade.
Froman participated in battles, went through a military training course at Atlit and rose to the rank of sergeant.
He was the first armored commander in a force that moved to conquer the Sheik Abed control.
The armored personnel carrier stepped on a mine and was not injured, but enemy soldiers surrounded him, and when the ammunition ran out, the armored personnel carrier was shot and killed, including Froman, who went into action just two days before his wedding.
Uri Husserl, son of Bertha and Felix, born in Vienna, immigrated to Israel in June 1939 aboard the ship "Colorado".
Upon his arrival in Israel, he joined Kibbutz Shaar Negev of the United Kibbutz.
With the outbreak of World War II, he volunteered for the British Army and served until the end of the war.
Husserl was active in the Communist Party.
In the War of Independence, he enlisted in the army and served in the Carmeli Brigade.
On October 22, 1948, he served as a liaison officer on the front of the Eastern Upper Galilee.
The armored car he was traveling in hit a mine and then an ambush began, leading to his death.
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