Ronia-Mazia, Eliahu (Rene)

Son of Eugenie and Dr. Aharon-Meir Mazya. Was born on March 21, 1896. His father, Dr. Mazia, was one of the founders of the “Language Committee”, the first in Petach Tikvah and founded the Pardes association. His son’s double name was in memory of his father (Eliyahu-Isser) and of the transplants from the days of the Talmud (“Ronya Shtla Drabina, Bava Metzia 59). In his youth, he attended high school in Geneva, Switzerland, and then studied agriculture in Montpellier and Nancy, France, and received a master’s degree in natural sciences from Nancy University. After the outbreak of the First World War he returned to Eretz Israel and expanded his theoretical and practical knowledge in his father’s orchard in Petach Tikva. When he enlisted he received the role of agricultural adviser to Turkish headquarters on the Suez Canal. He also served as a censor and handled secret documents relating to the situation on the front. In the course of his work he contacted Aaron Aaronsohn of the Nili group and became one of its members, and after the arrest of Na’aman Belkind and Yosef Lishansky of the Nili members, the Turks also followed Eliyahu. He was arrested at his father’s house in Jerusalem and brought bound in chains to Damascus, where he was imprisoned in a prison. In the trial, he was sentenced to fifteen years in prison, which were later replaced by three years. A year after his imprisonment, when the British approached the Damascus border and the Turks decided to withdraw to their country and take with them the prisoners, Eliyahu was also taken. When they reached the area between Syria and Anatolia they were bombarded by English planes, and then a riot broke out and a group of prisoners, including Eliyahu, fled to the mountains. There robbers attacked them and robbed them of everything they had. When the escapees reached the rumor that the Land of Israel had been conquered by the English, they tried to reach it. On one of the winter nights they were almost caught on their way by a company of Turkish soldiers, but they managed to jump into the Litani River and hid nearby all night long. That night Eliyahu fell ill but continued on his way with the group of escapees, arrived in Beirut and from there sailed by boat to Jaffa. He arrived in Israel at the beginning of 1918 when he was in critical condition. His father’s efforts to heal him and restore him to his health were unsuccessful, and on 24 Tishrei, October 18, 1919, he died of his illness. He was brought to eternal rest on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.