Mendeslavsky, Mordechai

The only son of Shoshana and Yosef was born on the 6th of Iyar 5626 (6/25/1925) in the village of Rostocka, Lublin district, Poland, to a family of farmers and all his childhood, until the outbreak of World War II. As the Soviet army entered Eastern Poland, Mordechai, like all other Jewish youth, moved to Soviet territory and spent the entire war in the Soviet Union. Mordechai served as a gunner in the Red Army. His parents and all the family members who remained in the village were imprisoned by the Germans and exterminated in a concentration camp. After the war, when he was released from the army, Mordechai returned to Poland and found no trace of his family. He joined the Dror movement, wandered through Austria and arrived in Italy, where he underwent military training prior to his immigration. On 30.5.1948 he arrived in Israel on the “Kedma” ship, was sent immediately to the Record (absorption base) and attached to the Artillery Corps. Mordechai was killed on the 10th of Tishrei, 5709 (October 22, 1948) in the “Yoav” operation, in the battles for the breakthrough to the Negev, and was brought to eternal rest in the military cemetery in the village of Warburg.