Ast, Eliyahu

Son of Leoni and Israel, was born on March 1, 1926, in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. In 1941 he completed his high school in his hometown. About two months before the German invasion of Yugoslavia he immigrated to Israel as part of the Youth Aliyah and arrived at Kibbutz Sha’ar Ha’amakim. Due to his concern for his mother and sister who remained in occupied Yugoslavia, he enlisted in the British army in the hope of reaching Europe and saving him. For most of his time in the British Army he served in Italy, in the Hebrew Transport Unit, 462. He could not find his mother and sister, but he became addicted to saving the survivors. Even when he was discharged from the army, he did not lift the burden of service, but immediately began to work in the Haganah in Haifa. He hoped to build a house and raise a family, but the blood-tidal wave that swept through the country swept over him and destroyed all his hopes. Elijah fell on the 16th of Adar I 5708 (February 16, 1948) from the shooting of soldiers of the Arab Legion, when he drove in a car on behalf of the Haganah, on the way from the Hirava estate, and was put to rest at the military cemetery in Haifa.