Gitlin, Naftali
Son of Linda and Anshel. Born in 1904 in Riga, Latvia, he was one of the first Betar members in Latvia immediately after its founding in 1923. He immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1929 after completing a training period in Latvia and joining the “Menorah” group in Givat Ada. Here he contracted severe fever and had to go abroad for healing. For three years he saved his napkin for the expenses of the journey back and in 1934 he emigrated to Israel again. In Israel he wandered from moshavah to moshava in an attempt to find suitable work, but due to his physical weakness, the result of his illness and the conditions of his life, he could not withstand hard work. During the 1936 riots he was sent by the Irgun Zvai Leumi (National Military Organization) to Tiberias and defended his Jewish residents with a leg injury, and then he was transferred to the Upper Galilee for safekeeping, and during his illness he contracted typhoid fever. After his illness, he was transferred to the hospital in Safed and died on September 8, 1936. He was laid to rest in the Mishmar Hayarden cemetery, where he was eulogized by a Betar member, Ayelet Hashachar, and a farmer from the settlement. His memory was immortalized in the books: “The events of 1936,” “Their memory is eternal,” and “The Book of Betar.” The newspapers Davar and Haaretz published lists in his memory.
