Drezner, Yechiel Dov (Rosenbaum, Dov)
Son of Yaffa-Shaindel and Efraim-Zalman. He was born on October 13, 1922 in Lvov, Poland. In 1934 he immigrated with his parents to Palestine and the entire family settled in Jerusalem. He filled various positions in the Etzel branch in Hadera, where he first used the pseudonym “Dov Rosenbaum”. He worked under the pseudonym of guarding Zichron Yaakov and carpentry in Hadera, and was active in the field of propaganda and in “Delek” (Modi’in) was the commander of the Gonda. On the 3rd of Tevet 5707 (29.12.1946) Yechiel headed a unit of five underground members to catch British soldiers and officers for beating them as punishment for lashes imposed by the British court over a young Irgun member who encountered a military checkpoint of a British Paratroopers unit from the Sixth Airborne Flight, one of whose members – Avraham Mizrahi, who was slightly wounded by the soldiers’ gunfire – was later murdered by them. One of the defendants, Haim Gilad, was sentenced to life imprisonment, while his three comrades, Yechiel, Mordechai Elkhy and Eliezer Kasha, were sentenced to death. Yechiel gave his name and his subordinates a statement, and the four were transferred to Jerusalem Prison and despite various pleading they refused to sign a pardon request. They were disbanded when they were transferred to the Akko Prison, where they were taken to the gallows on April 16, 1947, as they marched to their deaths and sang Hatikvah on their lips and were buried in the ancient cemetery in Safed. His real name was known only after the establishment of the State of Israel. Streets were named after him in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Petach Tikva and Beer Sheva.
