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Gurfinkel, Dr. Shlomo

Gurfinkel, Dr. Shlomo


Shlomo, the son of Paulina and Yirmiyahu, was born on August 30, 1914 in Russia, in the city of Elizabetgrad (today – Kirovograd, Ukraine), and was educated on the influence of Russian and Polish, which was also the language of his studies. He was a student and took part in the struggle of Jewish students for their rights and honor, and he stood out for his integrity, courage and relentless energy. Vilna was known as the “Jerusalem of Lithuania” and was the center of Poe However, between the two world wars the Polish city was dominated by the Jewish community, and the Jewish community numbered over 55,000. Shortly after the outbreak of World War II, on 19 September 1939, the Red Army entered Vilna and handed over to the Lithuanians Some 15,000 Jewish refugees arrived in the city from the occupied territories of Poland, and in July 1940 Lithuania was annexed to the Soviet Union and became a Soviet republic, where economic, public and educational activities were forbidden to the Jews, and thousands of them left the country. On June 24, 1941, the Germans occupied Vilna. The Jews were required to wear a yellow badge and all their basic rights were taken from them. In August-September 1941 Aktionen were carried out, and some 8,000 Jews were murdered at the Ponary extermination site. When the ghetto was declared in Vilna in September 1941, he was one of the organizers of the medical work at the Jewish hospital, which continued to operate despite the difficult conditions. His mother died suddenly and her death depressed him greatly. A young doctor was newly ordained and the work was great: in the ghetto 40,000 Jews were crammed into the ghetto, and soon diseases and epidemics broke out. In 1942, the Jewish Fighting Organization was organized in the Vilna Ghetto by the United Partisan Organization, one of the first to join the underground, and in September 1943 thousands of children, women and elderly were sent to the death camp in Sobibor. Hundreds of members of the underground managed to go out to the surrounding forests where they were organized in partisan battalions to continue the fighting against the Germans, and Shlomo went along this path when he and his wife and the last partisan group went out through the sewage pipes for a year and a half. Vilna, under terrible conditions in the forests, with little water The young doctor with high boots at his feet, a pistol in one pocket and a medical backpack on his shoulder, was well known not only among the Jewish, Russian and Lithuanian partisan battalions, but also among the rural population of the entire region. His talent, dedication, and willingness to help were seen not only by his partisan comrades, who were fondly rewarded with affection and affection, but also by the Supreme Russian Headquarters, who decided to send him a letter of thanks And awarded him a medal of excellence. After the liberation of Vilna, Shlomo began to work in the Health Department. Thanks to his organizational talents, he soon became the political director of the medical department of the Anti-Air Defense Corps in Lithuania, but his career career did not fascinate him, because he wanted Eretz Yisrael to leave the job, and at the beginning of 1945 he was with his wife in the group The first pioneer to leave Vilna after the war, with Abba Kovner, one of the greatest Jewish artists, on their long journey full of adventureHe was constantly active in organizing groups of immigrants. In Bucharest, Romania, where he spent several months, he appeared as director of the health committee for immigrants from Poland and organized the medical service in the refugee kibbutzim. When they received the immigration permit in October 1945, Shlomo and his wife boarded the ship “Transylvania”. When he arrived in Israel, Shlomo was awarded a scholarship and spent two years studying at the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. He was thirsty to complete his knowledge and practical expertise in the profession he loved so much and was cut off against his will by the war. He was determined to catch up and gain the precious time he had lost. Indeed, Shlomo had sharp senses and quick absorption. He studied Hebrew fluently and industriously. At night, after ten or twelve hours of work, he would continue to memorize, and he would not give up his English language studies. His doctors friends testify that he was a clear conversationalist who tended to share his many experiences with others. At the end of 1947, Shlomo was accepted as an expert at the X-ray Institute of Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. In the winter of 1948, at the beginning of the War of Independence, he devoted much of his time to medical service for Haganah victims, and his wife participated in the defense of the city. He helped with the organization of the medical service in Jerusalem and held positions in Montefiore, Talpiot, Beit Tzafafa, etc. For several weeks he served with the defenders of the Old City, and on June 1, 1948, And was forced to leave the Hadassah X-ray institute completely, and was placed as a doctor in Badr The Deputy Battalion 64 of Brigade “Etzioni” (Brigade “Jerusalem) – Division 6 Haganah” – and in a short time earned him the respect of his fellow fighters and commanders. In July 1948, Shlomo was sent to reorganize medical aid for one of the Palmach battalions that was stationed in the Shaar Hagai region. On one of the waves of heavy bombardments that hit Jerusalem, on July 11, 1948, he made his way to receive instructions regarding his new job. Near the Cafe “Imperial” in Jerusalem hit by an enemy shell. Shlomo was killed on the spot. With him fell the medic who accompanied him. Shlomo was thirty-four years old in his fall. Was buried in Sheikh Bader A, and on the 28th of Elul 5710 (10.9.1950) was transferred to eternal rest in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. Survived by Raya – a widow. This hero is a “last scion”. The survivors of the Holocaust are survivors of the Holocaust who survived the last remnant of their nuclear family (parents, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters) who experienced the Holocaust in the ghettos and / or concentration camps and / or in hiding and hiding in territories occupied by the Nazis and / Or in combat alongside members of the underground movements or partisans in the Nazi-occupied territories who immigrated to Israel during or after World War II, wore uniforms and fell in the Israeli army.

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