Conin, Shmuel (Shmulka)
Son of Sheindel and Michael, was born in 1921 in the Ukraine. He knew several languages, including Hebrew. During the Second World War, he fled to the Soviet Union, served in the Red Army. and reached the rank of officer receiving several medals of distinction. When he returned with the Russian army to Poland, he learned that his parents and the whole family had been exterminated, and decided to immigrate to Israel. He deserted from the Russian army, by way of the “escape route” to Italy and served as a military instructor for the Haganah in the Italian camps. When his turn came to make Aliyah, he was caught and sent to Cyprus, where he continued to train the Haganah. In the summer of 1948 he escaped from the camp with 12 other members in a boat sent by the Hagana, and arrived in Israel on July 17, 1948 and joined the IDF. As a sabotage officer, he participated in the “Yoav” operation to break the road to the Negev and fell in battle on Julikat on the 18th of Tishrei 5709 (October 18, 1948). He was buried in Dorot. In the 17th of Iyar 5709 (4.5.1950), he was laid to rest at the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.