Shaiovitz, Yosef (Shio)

The son of the daughter Esther and Jacob-Zvi was born on 25.1.1930 in the city of Rata, Czechoslovakia. During the Second World War, the family moved with the first wave of refugees to Budapest, the capital of Hungary. When the Germans entered Budapest, 15 year old Yosef joined his father and brothers in the Hungarian underground. After his family was caught and taken to a concentration camp, Yosef remained alone for about a year. After a while he met with his brother and sister, who managed to escape from the concentration camp and joined a settlement group (which later joined Massuot Yitzhak). On his way to Israel, Joseph crossed the Austrian, German and Italian camps, and in December 1947 he saw the shores of the country on the deck of the illegal immigrant ship Chaim Arlosoroff. As soon as he arrived in Israel he joined the army and was a good soldier, but he was arrested and withdrawn. The bad news of the fall of Gush Etzion (his brother and sister, the members of Masuot Yitzhak, were captured) filled him with a strong desire for revenge. Joseph participated as a machine gunner in all battles of his regiment in the Alexandroni Brigade, and with him went south. During Operation Horev, a “liquidation” operation was carried out against the “Faluja pocket,” in which an Egyptian brigade was besieged. The attack took place on the eastern flank of the “pocket” in the area of ​​Iraq al-Manshiyya. The Alexandroni forces broke into the village from the south and took over part of it, but their assault on the hill north of the village was repulsed. Meanwhile, the Egyptians recovered and attacked and forced our forces to withdraw. Part of the force was trapped inside the village. As his platoon retreated from the field, he remained with his machine gun and spanned the retreat until the last moments of his life. Yosef fell on the 28th of Kislev 5709 (December 28, 1948). He was buried in Faluja. After a while he was put to rest at the Nahalat Yitzhak Military Cemetery.