Schiffer, Bernhard

Son of Ita and Eliahu, was born on May 16, 1917 in Berlin, the capital of Germany. He belonged to the younger group of the Ha – Shomer ha – Tsa’ir youth movement in Germany and was an active member of it. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, Bernhard was deprived of the right to live in Germany and he was forced to leave his native country and move to England. In this country he immediately began intensive movement activities which ceased when the Second World War broke out and he was “German” was not desirable in England, and with many German refugees was sent to a prison camp in Canada. At the end of World War he returned to England and joined the “Hachshara Kibbutz” and, of course, decided in July 1945 to immigrate to Palestine with his wife Rita and his three-year-old son. When he came to Israel, he joined Kibbutz Hazorea in the Jezreel Valley and within a short time he adapted to kibbutz life. Even before he learned the language well, he was instructed to guide Hungarian youth, and he fulfilled this role with good will and success, and especially with great love. It was this nucleus that later established Kibbutz Givat Oz. Bernhard was well versed in the theory of self-defense and first aid, and served as an adviser to the regional commander on these issues. Bernhard worked as a baker at the Mishmar Ha’emek bakery, and despite the grave situation on the country’s roads, he went out to work with his friend Gavriel Lai every day. On the 11th of Adar I 5708 (March 11, 1948), when the two of them made their way home at the end of a working day, about a dozen Arabs attacked them, trying to defend themselves as best they could, and testified that their pistol was empty of ammunition. And two years later their bodies were found and they were brought to eternal rest in the cemetery of their kibbutz – the Zor’a, the memory of Bernhard was immortalized in the Yizkor book published by the kibbutz and the friends’ dances.