Boer, Ezra (Karl)

Son of Hedwig and Luther. He was born on February 16, 1922 in Vienna, the capital of Austria, where he spent his childhood. When he was about ten and a half, he immigrated with his family to Eretz Israel. The family settled in Haifa and Ezra began studying at the Reali School in the city. In light of the difficult economic situation of that period, Ezra was forced to stop his studies in the ninth grade and began to work in various construction works in Haifa. While working, he continued to study by correspondence and received a matriculation certificate. From his childhood he was attracted to the sea, and joined the “Zevulun” seafarers’ association in Haifa. In 1939, at the age of 17, he first boarded a merchant ship that hoisted the Danish flag. With the outbreak of the Second World War, when Denmark was occupied by the Germans, Ezra boarded ships flying the flags of Canada and Britain, traversing the Atlantic Ocean and taking part in supplying military equipment to Britain and the Soviet Union. During the exhausting and perilous journeys, he had the chance to attend naval officers’ schools in Canada and the United States and reached the rank of first officer. On the 28th of Iyar, 5702 (14.5.1942), while serving as the first officer on the British naval vessel “Butbun”, he fell in “Battle of the Atlantic” against German submarines. He left parents, brother and sister. His burial place is unknown.