I was born in 1937 in Givat Michael (near Ness Ziona) and arrived in Dafna in 1940. The women stayed in Givat Michael for a year until conditions in Dafna became reasonable.
I enlisted in the Paratroopers, participated throughout my service in retaliation operations, parachuted in the Mitla Pass, and later led my battalion to Sharm el-Sheikh. Several close friends were killed in those operations.
I did not attend officers’ training because I felt a deep commitment to the kibbutz.
I am desperate to return home. I want to die at home.
At the hotel, there are only a few members from Dafna, so I befriended people from other kibbutzim. My youngest son is a member of the local emergency squad; he remains in the kibbutz, guarding the house.
Our kibbutz has been evacuated three times:
The first time was in 1942, when the Vichy government was established in Syria and there was a danger of war. Women and children were evacuated to Givat Haim.
The second time was during the War of Independence, when only mothers and children were evacuated to Haifa, to the German Colony.
Now, this is the third evacuation—and this time the entire population has left.
I met Penina toward the end of my service. She is a Holocaust survivor, born in 1938 in Yugoslavia. She spent the early years of her life in the Bergen-Belsen camp and later studied in a convent in Haifa.
A Kibbutz Dafna member, the late Menachem Katz, searched convents for Jewish children. She was brought to Dafna, and that is how we met.
70, born in Casablanca, Morocco.
Her home is in Shlomi. Evacuated to the Dan Mount Scopus Hotel, Jerusalem.
Interviewer: Nava Tal
69, born in Morocco.
Her home is in Shlomi. Evacuated to the Dan Mount Scopus Hotel, Jerusalem.
Interviewer: Nava Tal
83, born in India.
Immigrated to Israel in 1966.
Her home is in Shlomi. Evacuated to the Dan Mount Scopus Hotel, Jerusalem.
Interviewer: Nava Tal
69.
Immigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union in 1990.
Her home is in Shlomi. Evacuated to the Dan Mount Scopus Hotel, Jerusalem.
Interviewer: Nava Tal
76, born in Tunisia.
Her home is in Shlomi. Evacuated to the Dan Mount Scopus Hotel, Jerusalem.
Interviewer: Nava Tal
70, born in Israel (Safed).
Her home is in Shlomi. Evacuated to the Dan Mount Scopus Hotel, Jerusalem.
Interviewer: Nava Tal
Age: 84
Born: Iran
Immigrated to Israel: 1951
Home: Kiryat Shmona
Evacuated to: An apartment in Migdal
Interviewer: Bracha Tor
Interview location: Oncology Day Clinic, Ziv Medical Center
90, born in Yemen.
Her home is in Shlomi. Evacuated to the Dan Mount Scopus Hotel, Jerusalem.
Interviewer: Nava Tal
69, born in Israel (Tiberias).
Her home is in Shlomi. Evacuated to the Dan Mount Scopus Hotel.
Interviewer: Nava Tal
70, born in Israel.
Her home is in Shlomi. Evacuated to the Dan Mount Scopus Hotel, Jerusalem.
Interviewer: Nava Tal
87, born in Libya.
Immigrated from Morocco in 1949.
Her home is in Shlomi. Evacuated to the Dan Mount Scopus Hotel, Jerusalem.
Interviewer: Nava Tal