Zarchi, Meir

Son of Esther Libi and Mordechai Stern. Born on 17 April 1899 in the village of Romanovka, from the Jewish settlements in southern Russia. He was a member of an extensive Jewish family of farmers, who absorbed the values ​​of tradition and other values ​​that characterized the family. In 1919 he was one of the founders of the Hehalutz movement in southern Russia, and a year later he joined the Mishmar HaVolga group, which with its members left for Eretz Israel in early 1922. On their way to Eretz Israel they spent a period of time in Constantinople, A new railway “that was a transit station for immigrants, and in August of that year Meir finally arrived in Israel and shortly afterwards joined his comrades. He was also one of the founders of the “Gimiger” group, and in the course of his life he was a member of Ahdut Ha’avoda and later of the “The Labor Party of Eretz Yisrael.” In all the frameworks he operated, he was known to be temperamental, but also kind, popular, ready and ready for every action required, but he was physically robust, broad-bodied and solid, quick and confident. He stood as a guard in dangerous positions and in those years also spent a period of time in Galicia, Poland, as emissary of the Histadrut and member of the groups, among the pioneering youth. In the years after the Second World War, he served on his mission in Italy as a center for young She’erit Hapleitah organized in Hehalutz in the south of the country. On 5 Nisan, April 6, 1946, he was killed in a car accident on his way from the city of Be’eri to the “Gordonia” training group, first buried in Italy and then transferred to Eretz Israel for eternal rest in his kibbutz Ginegar. Kibbutz Ginegar has published a book called “Meir Zarchi” about his life, character and activity, and was immortalized in the booklet “Center for the Diaspora in Italy”.