Private Dov (Barla) Broder, z"l, who fell in Operation Medina during the War of Independence and whose burial place is unknown, was located after an intensive investigation that lasted more than a decade by the IDF's branch for locating the missing in the IDF's casualty unit. Broder's body has not been located or identified among the dead. He is considered a martyr whose burial place is unknown. This is until the investigation was recently completed.
75 years later: This is how the burial place of Dov Broder z"l was located // Shmuel Buchris
On May 13, 1948, the 33rd Battalion of the Alexandroni Brigade embarked on Operation Medina. The operation was intended to take over Arab Kfar Saba in order to stabilize the border line in the Qalqiliya sector, before the expected invasion of the Arab states with the declaration of statehood. Broder participated in the battle as an armored driver and while being sent to help cover another force, his force came into an encounter, the armored vehicle he was in was hit by shells and he was killed.
After over a decade
Major Yifat Inbar-Abramov, a reserve investigator in the IDF's missing persons branch, tells of locating the grave of Dov Broder, who fell in the War of Independence: "For over a decade we have been trying to locate missing persons in battle for Arab Kfar Saba as part of Operation Medina, which took place the day before the establishment of the state. The findings of the investigation led us to the hypothesis that one of them was buried in an anonymous grave in Segula."
"I am happy to announce that after a decade of intensive investigation, we have succeeded in reaching the conclusion that in this grave lies the late Dov Broder, the armored vehicle driver who was absent from the battle. Yesterday, we told his widow Batya and his nephews that we had located him and brought about an exciting closure after 75 years. It was important to come full circle to the family and the widow, who will turn 96 in December. A noble woman, whom he was the love of her life. She knew him from the age of 14. He was killed when she was 20 and a half years old. It's very exciting that we were able to solve the uncertainty for her, and for the whole family."
Meeting of the head of the Israel Defense Forces with the widow of the late soldier Dov Broder // Credit: IDF Spokesperson
Inbar-Abramov explains how it became known that the tomb belonged to Broder. "We interrogated dozens of fighters from the Alexandroni Brigade, who took part in the battle, officials, family members and other witnesses. We went through thousands of relevant documents from the IDF Archives, Beilinson Hospital Archives, the Petach Tikva Kadisha Society Archives, and also the Segula Archives. We found documents from 1948 and did anthropological and scientific tests. All the findings together enabled us to create an almost complete sequence from his enlistment in the army and Alexandroni, through the course of the battle he was wounded, to the evacuation to Beilinson and burial in Segula. That's how we were able to identify the space as Bear Broder."
Continuing to act on behalf of the missing
A military ceremony will soon be held, in which the inscription will be changed from an unknown soldier to Broder's name and details.
Inbar-Abramov adds: "We will continue to work to return all the captives and missing and to find all the fallen whose burial is unknown from 172 and other years. There are 90 martyrs whose burial place is unknown, 25 of them from the War of Independence. There are about <> unknown graves scattered throughout the country. There are many more martyrs whose burial place is unknown than the graves of unknown persons. Some are on battlefields or in enemy captivity."
The grave of Dov Broder, photo: Gideon Markowitz
Broder was born in 1927 in Vilna, Lithuania, which then belonged to Poland, and immigrated to Israel at the age of seven with his parents. He served in the Palmach and enlisted in the Alexandroni Brigade when the War of Independence broke out. Broder fell in the fighting in the Arab Kfar Saba area, while being sent to lead a squad of scouts.
Head of the IDF's Manpower Division, Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor: "This is closure and a moral and moral debt of the IDF and the State of Israel to Dov, who gave his life for the rebirth of Israel, to his widow and family members who lost what is dearest to them. The IDF, the Manpower Division and the Missing Persons Branch will continue to do everything necessary to determine a gravestone for fallen soldiers whose burial place is unknown."
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