Apfeldorfer, Alexander

Son of Tova and Zvi, was born on January 25, 1926, in Czechoslovakia. He attended an elementary school and came to Israel in 1945 as part of the “Youth Aliya” with the children of Buchenwald. In Israel he was a mechanic of vehicles. Since 1946 he was a member of the Haganah and at the beginning of the War of Independence he wanted to enlist in full mobilization, since he could not live a civilian life quietly with the enemy’s attack growing around him. In a letter to his sister, he stressed that he was not deterred by the danger of war: “Today fate strikes me and tomorrow the other, but I am Simcha to fight for the independence of the people, because there is no point in life without freedom.” After serving in the Alexandroni Brigade, he underwent training and in March-April 1948 he worked with his department in Jerusalem, Hartuv and Neve Yaakov, and on his return from Jerusalem participated in the conquest of Tel Litvinsky. On May 12, 1948 he visited the home of his brother and was about to leave for a course in Netanya, but his departure was postponed and on the following day, on 4 May 1948, he fell in battle in the Arab village of Kfar Saba and was brought to rest in the Nachlat Yitzhak military cemetery.