Lichter, Mordechai

Son of Hannah and Shimshon, was born on May 4, 1917 in the city of Chemnitz, Germany. He was educated in a pious Jewish home, from Poland. His life in the German school he had studied left a deep impression on him. Anti-Semitism was rampant in the street and at school, and Mordecai retired from the German youth movement, where he joined Maccabi Hatzair. Afterward, he joined the hachshara in Degania Aleph and a year later moved to Beit Alpha. In 1937, he joined Kibbutz Mesilot, which was then in Nes Tziona until he settled in the Beit She’an Valley. Since then he has been an active, devoted and responsible member of Haganah. As a railway company member, he was active in the Notrim army, a sergeant sergeant in a training camp in a children’s village. During his free time, he organized sports games and devoted himself to the physical education of the youth. He was one of the first recruits to battle during the War of Independence and served in the Golani Brigade. His friend tells of meeting him after winning the battle over Tirat Zvi, being full of satisfaction and pride. He was then in charge of a 35-man division. “They received a good lesson in Tirat Zvi,” he said. “They will be absorbed even more in the upcoming campaign.” Embraced his wife and daughter, and went back to battle. He stood in battles on the Emek HaEmek and fought in hard sectors: Zar’in, Mazar, Zandala. On his vacation, when he and his family were in his farm, shortly before he left for the front, he was injured when the plane was bombed by an enemy plane on the 27th of Iyar 5708 (June 5, 1948). Until the last moments of his life he was fully conscious, trying to calm everyone down, and quietly saying goodbye to the friends who led him to the hospital, from which he never returned. He was laid to rest in the cemetery in the railroad tracks. His kibbutz issued a pamphlet in his memory.