Peles, Hanan (Heinzi)

Son of Frieda, nee Mindus and Felix, was born on May 5, 1919 in the city of Emden in western Germany to a traditional-observant family, who studied for four years in the community elementary school and five years in a high school. He was forced to stop his studies at the Gymnasium and was sent to a Jewish teachers’ seminary in the city of Burgurpach, Bavaria, where the Nazis liquidated the institution and continued to study at a yeshiva in Frankfurt am Main and later in the Talmud Torah school in Hamburg. With the rise of Nazism he gave up his future in spiritual work and began studying fine frames and mechanics at the ORT vocational school in Berlin. Meanwhile his father perished in a concentration camp. After the November 1938 pogroms (Kristallnacht) he fled to the Netherlands. On April 13, 1939, he immigrated to Israel aboard the Dora ship. He joined Kibbutz Givat Brenner and worked in various branches. During the Second World War he enlisted in the British Army and arrived with the Jewish Brigade to the Lev of Europe. There he learned of the death of his mother and brother by the Germans. On his return to Givat Brenner, he found warmth in his family’s home, the Van der Berg family, from friends of his parents’ home. The kibbutz members also became friendly with him because of his natural kindness, good character and talents. He successfully participated in amateur shows performed on the stage and excelled in sports, especially in running (he also won prizes in the brigade for sports). Even in his way of life stood the good qualities of an athlete. On his return from Europe he found it difficult to re-enter the work route, but eventually found his place and satisfaction in carpentry. Hanan participated in bringing the Shabtai Lozinski immigrants to Nitzanim Beach and managed to get out of the encirclement ring of the British army and bring with him to Giv’at Brenner one of the immigrants who was saved from deportation to Cyprus. In the War of Independence, he fulfilled faith in his duty to guard, defend and fight, as well as training youth training and gymnastics. On March 30, 1948, he left with a platoon of Giv’at Brenner members to take action to remove the possessions of gangs and fell in battle near the village of Bashit. He was laid to rest at the cemetery in Givat Brenner.