Steiner, Nechemiah Kurt

Nechemiah Kurt, the eldest son of Mary and Rudolf Steiner, was born in 1913 in Vienna, Austria. In 1936, he immigrated to Israel and joined the “Betlem” kibbutz, which later founded Ein Gev. In 1942 he was appointed commander of the region and a year later joined the Palmach, where he took a naval training course, held command and training positions, and was an information officer. During the period of the struggle against the British, he served as a security officer in the Palmach Brigade, and was arrested and imprisoned for several weeks in Rafah, and after four years of service in the Palmach he returned to Ein Gev. With the outbreak of the War of Independence, he received an order to reappear for Palmach service, and Nechemiah fell on his way from front to front, passing Rishon LeTzion on 26 Iyar, June 4, 1948 when he was hit by a bomb thrown from an enemy plane. He was buried in Rishon LeTzion and later transferred to the Ein Gev cemetery. Nechemiah left behind a wife and child.