Stirlovitz, Israel

Son of Roza and Avraham. He was born on the 20th of Tevet 5713 (December 30, 1912) in Pukshany, Romania, and as a child he was orphaned of his father who fell in World War I. At a young age he was forced to stop his studies in order to support the family and to manage the household. He felt that in the midst of the desolate Jewish town he would not find his satisfaction and continued his journey, and he began searching eagerly for something else, more lofty – a desire for a new life. These searches led him to join the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement and soon became the living spirit of a nest established in the town. In 1931 he went to Eretz Israel, where he joined the “Hamlet” kibbutz in Nes Ziona and worked as a permanent laborer in one of the village’s orchards. On the 15th of Iyar (4.5.1939), After a hard working day in Khamesin, kibbutz members were called upon to stop the spread of fire that Arab rioters set fire in fields adjacent to the kibbutz fields. Israel was among the first to leave. Suddenly a barrage of shots was fired at them from the ambush and Israel was killed immediately. The next day he was laid to rest in the cemetery of his kibbutz, His friends from Kibbutz Sarid published a pamphlet in his memory.