Zlotnicki, Mordechai

Son of Menachem-Mendel. He was born in 1913 in the town of Salwa near Volkovisk, White Russia. Mordechai’s mother was the daughter of a privileged family and his father was a diligent and talented craftsman who established an exemplary Jewish family. Mordechai went to the town’s elementary school, continued in the Gymnasium in the big city, but a year later returned home to help his father build boilers in his workshop and help support the family. Mordechai joined the “Freiheit” circle in a town that later united with the Po’alei Zion party. Mordechai was active in the party, volunteered as a librarian in the club and was particularly interested in Hanoar Ha’oved. In order to prepare himself for immigration to Palestine, Mordechai joined the He – Chaluts movement branch and went to the hachshara in Prachiv. In 1934 he immigrated to Israel and joined Kibbutz Ramat Rachel. At the end of 1935 he went to work at the Dead Sea Potash Company. At the beginning of 1937 Mordechai married a wife. On 21 Cheshvan, October 26, 1937, Mordechai went to visit her in Jerusalem. He left in a convoy of six cars belonging to the Dead Sea Potash Company. When they arrived in the afternoon near Ma’ale Adummim, in the steepest stretch of the road, an Arab gang suddenly opened fire, ignoring British army vehicles guarding the convoy. Mordechai, who was sitting next to the driver in one of the trucks, was hit by a bullet in his heart and killed. He was brought to rest in the cemetery on the Mount of Olives. Left behind a wife during the last months of her pregnancy.