Schopek, Mendel

Son of Luba and Azriel, was born in 1919 in the city of Poltosk, Poland. He completed elementary school and worked as a carpenter until the conquest of Poland. In 1942 he joined the partisans in Minsk, and for two and a half years he fought as a partisan. At the end of the war he immigrated to Israel with the help of soldiers of the Jewish Brigade; He received the certificates of a Hebrew soldier and immigrated to Israel in 1945. He immediately joined the Haganah and was active in it. On the day after the UN General Assembly decided on 29 November 1947 to divide the country, he was among the first to be drafted into the Givati ​​Brigade, where he was a corporal and took part in all the battalion’s operations. To the coastal road to block the movement of the Egyptians in it The hill was captured on June 8, 1948. On June 10, 1948, the Egyptians landed heavy bombardment on the outpost, and then infantry forces attacked it with the aid of armored vehicles. The enemy fire caused the casualties, the collapse of the positions and the damage to the weapons. Under pressure from the enemy, the force retreated from the outpost, and in retaliation in the open area, additional fighters were injured. In this battle fell. According to the story of one of the survivors, Mendel was among those who remained in the place despite the general retreat. “I did not get an order to retreat,” he said. On the 18th of Elul 5710 (31.8.1950) he was laid to rest in the military cemetery at Nahalat Yitzhak.