Appelbaum, Esther (Cyota)

Daughter of Tova and Yosef, was born on June 25, 1922 in the city of Khotin, in the region of Bessarabia, Romania. In her parents’ home, she was educated in a Zionist spirit and from her childhood she longed for the country. After graduating from the General Gymnasium in the city of Czernowitz, she made every effort to immigrate to Israel, and in March 1944 she left her city of residence and immigrated to Eretz Israel. She spent six months studying absorption and settlement difficulties, and finally decided to start studying at the Hadassah nursing school on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem. She loved the profession she chose and after graduating she continued to work as a registered nurse at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. Even after her marriage she continued to work there. With great love she offered her help to the sick, and in this work she saw a duty of respect for herself. The road to Mount Scopus passed through the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and upon the outbreak of the war the movement was allowed to mount convoys secured by the British army. On the morning of April 13, 1948, a convoy left for Mount Scopus, after the British promised that the road was open and safe. The convoy encountered an Arab ambush in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and hundreds of Arabs hurled heavy gunfire at it. Some of the vehicles managed to get out and return, but two buses, an ambulance and a escort vehicle were ambushed. For many hours the convoy members fought and tried to prevent the Arabs from approaching the vehicles. Fire from our positions in the city and Mount Scopus, as well as armored vehicles sent to the area, failed to help the convoy. British military forces in the area did not intervene and did nothing to help, despite appeals to them. In the afternoon, the Arabs managed to set fire to two buses on their passengers, and only late in the evening did the British intervene and rescue the survivors from the trapped vehicles, out of the 112 passengers who were killed and 24 injured in the caravan on April 13, 1948). She was brought to rest in a mass grave in the Sanhedria cemetery in Jerusalem.