Friedlander, Sarah

Sarah, daughter of Hermina and David Friedlander, was born in 1914 in Budapest, Hungary. She spent her youth in the city of Patsch-PinkfarSon of in southern Hungary, which had no Jewish life. She was educated in a gymnasium whose teachers were monks and nuns, but she found a way to the Zionist movement. Sarah studied at the University of Budapest, in the Faculty of Philosophy and Philology, and was awarded a doctorate. At the same time, she was active in the “Maccabiah” Zionist Students’ Association and was a member of the National Executive of Hanoar Hatzioni in Hungary. In 1939 she began working for the Keren Hayesod in Budapest. She published a comprehensive article on Henrietta Szold, a study of Bialik (1935), a translation of Weizmann’s speeches (1943), a study of Herzl (1944), Henrietta Szold (Geneva 1945) and many articles in Zionist newspapers. During the Second World War, Sarah was arrested and transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and after her liberation she left for Geneva, Switzerland, and from there immigrated to Israel at the beginning of 1946. She was active in the Maccabiah Veterans Circle in Jerusalem, a member of the National Council of Youth Zionist Organization and the Association of Hungarian Immigrants. As soon as she arrived in Israel, she joined the Haganah. She was a strong personality and a champion of pure Zionism. At the outbreak of the War of Independence she served in the Haganah in Jerusalem. She was active in the medical service as a paramedic. On the 20th of Iyar 5708 (29.5.1948), on her way to the first aid station, she was hit by an enemy shell and fell. She was buried in Sheikh Bader A. In 1950, she was transferred to the military cemetery in Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.