Gastfreund, Alter

Son of Hinda and Jacob-Ze’ev. He was born on February 1, 1916 in Sosnowiec, Poland. The father, fearing God, supported his wife and nine children with great difficulty. The hard work that was bad for him, and with his death, the burden fell on the mother’s shoulders, which too had not been able to cope for a long time. At the age of thirteen, Alter was an orphan from father and mother, seeking the support of his younger brothers. In spite of his problems and suffering, he joined the Betar movement, where he found great activity and also found solace in his soul, and the national Zionist education he absorbed in the youth movement reinforced his recognition that he had to abandon the Diaspora and immigrate to Eretz Israel. In 1938 he immigrated to Israel as an immigrant and moved to a kibbutz, and later moved to Ramat Gan and joined the Irgun. Despite his physical weakness, he bore the burden of all the tasks he was assigned, on a working day for a living and nights devoted to working underground. In 1944, during a comprehensive search in Ramat Gan, he was arrested and transferred to the Latrun detention camp. On the day of the expulsion, the deportees were examined by a medical officer. The examination revealed that Alter had contracted tuberculosis, a disease that had entrenched him for 18 months but found strength and a desire to fight it. The conditions of his detention aggravated his illness and he died on November 22, 1944 and was buried on the Mount of Olives.