Markel, Yosef
Son of Regina and Aryeh. He was born in 1913 in Lvov, Poland. In his city he attended a Hebrew school and absorbed a warm Zionist atmosphere. He belonged to the He – Chaluts movement in Poland. In 1934 he immigrated to Palestine with his wife and daughter and settled in Jerusalem. Yosef quickly learned the profession of stone cutting, was one of the Jewish stone pioneers and much active in the chipping association. He joined the Poalei Zion Left party and was active in its ranks. At the outbreak of the bloody riots of 1936-1939, Yosef responded to the call of the national institutions and enlisted in the Nutrim corps. He volunteered to serve in the most dangerous places, including maintaining the water pump on the way to Jerusalem. Yosef managed to strengthen the ties between the Jewish and Arab guardians. He was an active member of the National Committee of Notaries and secretary of the Jerusalem Police Association. Joseph often read Hebrew and Jewish literature, especially the writings of Shalom Aleichem. He listened to classical music, liked to sculpt in stone, but his main hobby was the cultivation of ornamental fish and songbirds. During his service in Jerusalem he traveled extensively with his family around the city. After a while he joined the Tel Aviv police and was promoted to corporal. On 2 Tamuz, June 19, 1947, Corporal Yosef fell on guard duty in pursuit of an escaped Arab criminal, who was brought to rest in the Nahalat Yitzhak cemetery, leaving a wife, daughter and son in Israel and a family abroad who perished in the Holocaust.
