Sterlinger, Avraham

Avraham, son of Natty and Bernard Sterlinger, was born in 1902, in Lubahova, Slovakia (which was then part of Hungary). In the summer of 1940, he sailed with his wife on the illegal immigration ship “Pancho” on the Danube, and on the ship he negotiated between the desperate crowd of refugees and the captain and sailors. An Italian ship transferred them to Rhodes and from there to a detention camp in the Pyrmonti forest in Italy. When he immigrated to Israel in 1945, he settled in Kfar Giladi. He was an excellent shooter with a rifle and machine gun and took an active part in defending the village. At the beginning of June 1948, as part of the battalion’s reinforcements force, the 102nd Battalion went to the Mishmar Hayarden settlement in an effort to prevent the Syrians from advancing towards Rosh Pina. In this battle, Avraham fell, on 4 Sivan, June 11, 1948. After the battle, the three soldiers that fell were buried in a mass grave in Rosh Pina. On 16.01.2013, three tombstones with their names were placed on the mass grave and a ceremony was held with their families’ participation.