Silber, Naftali (Tully)

Naftali (Tully), son of Esther and Leib Silber, was born in 1927 in Buczman, Romania. When he was three years old, he was orphaned from his mother and grew up with his little sister in their mother’s brother’s family. After finishing four high school classes he was deported with his family to Transnistria. After the occupation of these territories by the Red Army they were liberated from the camp and returned to Romania. From there, he and his sister immigrated to Israel as part of Youth Aliyah in 1944. He joined the youth group at Kibbutz Heftziba. His absorption was not difficult and immediately Naftali became known as a beloved person and as a responsible employee. Together with a group of young people from Eretz Yisrael, he went on a training program for the Nachsholim group. He specialized as a tractor operator. After the outbreak of the War of Independence, he volunteered and served in the Carmeli Brigade, and fell in battle in Birwa in the Upper Galilee on 17 Sivan, 24 June 1948. Naftali was brought to rest in the military cemetery in Nahariya.