Rittigstein, Yosef (Yosel)

Son of-Liba and Zecharia-Michael, was born on December 24, 1924, in Bukovina, which was then part of Romania. As a young boy he was forced to stop his studies for lack of means and began working in a weaving workshop. When the Russians entered northern Bukovina, he was drafted to work and sent to Russia. He could not bear the famine regime in the labor camp, but escaped but was caught and sent to Siberia. There he was met by his uncle, who as an Austrian soldier who had been captured in World War I settled in Siberia. When the Germans attacked Russia, Joseph chose to join the Red Army in order to free himself from exile in Siberia. He enlisted in a special company for very dangerous positions and took part in the defense of Stalingrad. He was wounded in the battle and after he recovered he was released due to illness. He then joined the partisans, passing through Ukraine and Transnistria until he reached his hometown. When he found no trace of his large family and only a few remnants of the large Jewish settlement in the front, he moved to Bucharest and from there he took the “Bericha route” through Yugoslavia to Italy. He joined a pioneering nucleus from Romania and after training and training he boarded the ship “Enzo Sereni”. He arrived in Israel on 18.1.1946 and joined the nucleus for further training in Kiryat Anavim, where he worked in the cowshed. Joseph suffered mental suffering because of his lack of education due to the conditions of his life and gathered in work and rest. But the music, and especially the Russian poetry, melted the impotence of his soul and accompanied her with his bass voice and even the mandolin in his heavy hands. When the nucleus moved to settle in the valley, he remained in Kiryat Anavim and took part in work and defense. During the War of Independence he served in the Jerusalem Brigade, was one of the defenders of the Radar camp and stood with his comrades in an attack by the Arab Legion forces, who conquered the area after a fierce battle. This battle fell on the 17th of Iyar 5708 (May 26, 1948). He was laid to rest at the military cemetery in Kiryat Anavim.