Zilony, Zev

He was born in 1916 in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. In 1923, at age seven he came to Israel and immigrated with his parents and brother. A few years later, the family returned to Poland, where he graduated from a high school and professional in mechanics. He engaged in sports, cycling and skiing. In 1936, during the bloody riots, his uncle, who lived in Jerusalem, succeeded in obtaining a visa from the “Agency” after his difficulties, and Ze’ev returned to Israel and joined the Haganah and the Special Police in Jerusalem. In 1940 he moved to Haifa where he received a job at the Nur factory in Acre. Since 1941 he was active in the city’s fire brigade. His parents who remained in Poland perished in the Holocaust and his brother fell in the war while serving in the Polish army. With the outbreak of the War of Independence he served in a sniper unit defending Haifa. On the 22nd of Nisan 5708 (April 22, 1948) – the day of the liberation of Haifa – he was in a front position in the industrial building, was hit by a shell fired from a British tank. He was laid to rest in the military cemetery in Haifa.