Strauss, Shmuel (Friedl)

Shmuel, son of Batya (Emma) and Gabriel (Gustav) Strauss, was born in Galahim (Pfalz), Germany in 1914. He spent his youth with his father, who was the principal of the school in St.-Ingbert in the Saar region. During his high school years he was an enthusiastic Zionist and was a member of Hehalutz in Saarbricken. In 1935, while in France with his family who had emigrated from Germany, Shmuel prepared himself for immigration to Israel. After completing his training, on April 27, 1937, he arrived at Kibbutz Kinneret, and at the outbreak of the Second World War was one of the first recruits, intending to avenge the blood of his parents. He spent five and a half years in the British army from Benghazi to Italy, Austria and the Netherlands, where he spent his life fighting with the Jewish Brigade and where he found his parents alive. In 1946, when he was discharged from the army, Shmuel returned to his group. “Golani.” He went through the battles of Gesher, Sejera and the conquest of Tzemach and Tiberias during the enemy attacks on the Kinneret and was one of its defenders, and from time to time returned to his work as a shepherd. After an operation in Tabaha, he was called to Mishmar HaYarden and fell there on the 5th of Sivan 5708 (12.6.1948), a day after the truce, and was brought to rest in the cemetery near the Kinneret. He left behind his wife and daughter.