Berkovits, Menashe
Son of Feiga and Abraham, was born on 28.11.1926 in Bucharest, the capital of Romania. When his father was arrested during the Second World War by the pro-Nazi regime, because his printing press contained material for the Communist underground and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, Menasseh left school and went with his brother to work in metalwork, to study a profession and to support the family . After the liberation of Romania, he joined his brother in the training of Hashomer Hatzair in Bacau. Menashe would say little and would do much to help the comrades. Because of the need for his help he gave up boarding his comrades and remained in Baku to help in another round of training. In the fall of 1946 he went with a small group to Yugoslavia, spent two months in Zagreb and completed his studies in the Hebrew language and then emigrated to Israel. In spite of the shock in his right hand, he participated in all the difficult tasks and even in the struggle with the British soldiers at the Haifa port when they dragged the immigrants to Cyprus for deportation. During his stay in a camp in Cyprus, he served as a storekeeper for his company. Menashe managed to sneak out in disguise as a Greek and arrive at the collection of legal immigrants on the beach, but was caught, brutally beaten and returned to the camp. In September 1947 he immigrated to Israel with a permit and after his stay in transit camps in Atlit and Kiryat Shmuel, he went with his comrades to the “Zikim” pioneering training commune in Ruhama. In the meantime, the Arab attacks began and after his many entreaties he managed to enlist. He trained in Negba and took part in the work of the farm despite the shock he had. At the beginning of 1948, he moved to the Palmach, participated in the battles of Safed and Jerusalem in the Harel Brigade, and continued his battles in the Latrun area on the night of June 8-9, 1948, The enemy was fierce and the wounded had no power to complete the conquest of the outpost and was instructed to withdraw, carrying an injured member on the back during the withdrawal He was taken to a place where the wounded were concentrated and there he died of his wounds on the 2nd of Sivan 5708 (June 9, 1948) and was buried in Sheikh Bader Aleph. On the 28th of Elul 5710 (10.9.1950) he was put to rest at the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem
