Unstein, Michael

Michael, son of Miriam and Avraham Unstein, was born in Konigsberg, East Prussia, Germany, and immigrated to Israel in 1934 with his parents. They settled in Kfar Bialik in the Zevulun Valley. Despite his young age, he soon became capable of independent work, which made up a considerable part of the family’s income, and when he completed his studies, he devoted himself to working on his parents’ farm, and the work of the land became the content of his life. He was loyal, devoted and responsible. He joined the Gadna and from there moved to a unit of infantry. Because of the enemy’s threats to the homeland, Michael felt he had been given a higher duty and volunteered to defend her at the beginning of December 1947, without waiting for a draft order. With a heavy Lev he left the farm and his parents’ home, which was in great need of his help. He served in the Carmeli Brigade around Haifa. On 16 Adar 2, March 27, 1948, at noon, a convoy of seven vehicles and 90 people left Nahariya to deliver supplies, fortifications and reinforcements to Yechiam. Near Kabri, the convoy encountered an Arab ambush. The first armored vehicle managed to break into Yechiam, but the rest of the vehicles were ambushed. The convoy members fought until the evening and under cover of darkness some of them managed to escape, but about half the fighters fell in battle, Michael among them. He was laid to rest in the military cemetery in Nahariya.