Wysbrod, Rivka (Riva)
Daughter of Eidel (Adina) and Yona, was born on May 20, 1924 in Plenitz, Poland. From her childhood she was a member of the Gordonia youth movement. When the Nazis invaded Poland, she was imprisoned with her family in the Lodz ghetto, where she continued to work in the movement. In 1944 she was transferred to a labor camp in Germany. After the liberation she arrived in Italy and headed for Eretz Israel. In Israel, she found her only surviving sister from the entire family. After the outbreak of the War of Independence, she was posted to one of the Oded regiments. In the brigade she underwent a paramedics course and was sent to Mahanayim and Safed. In Safed she was the company medic. In her role as a paramedic, she did much to ease the suffering of the wounded, encouraged their spirits, and gave them light and warmth. Rivka worked at Hadassah Hospital in Safed. But she did not stop there, and after her work at the hospital she went out to guard the posts, as she told her sister, “We will not allow here to have a second ghetto …” On the night of the Arab conquest of Zeitoun, a bullet penetrated the position, Rivka was hit in the face and fell – a few days before the city’s liberation – on the 22nd of Nisan 5708 (1.5.1948). Rivka was laid to rest in the military cemetery in Safed.
