86 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, May 25, 1984 NEWS Lost honor is finally restored to Kibbutz Nitzanim BY ODED LIPSCHITZ Jerusalem — Kibbutz Nitzanim, situated about 30 miles south of Tel Aviv, fell into Egyptian hands on June 7, 1948. In the weeks preceding the battle, the young kibbutz was hit by in- tensive artillery fire and pounded by non-stop bomb- ing from the air. The battle for Nitzanim lasted 20 hours, from mid- night until the following af- ternoon. Large military forces, backed up by tanks, armored vehicles and artil- lery, fought against 140 de- fenders of the kibbutz, in- cluding 67 men and women settlers. The remainder were members of the Givati Brigade who were mobilized a few months earlier from the villages and towns in the south of Israel. The defenders possessed only light arms, old- fashioned rifles and machine guns quite ineffec- tive in halting tanks. Nevertheless, they put up an obstinate and heroic struggle. When the Egyp- tians broke through to the northern section of the kib- butz, the defenders re- treated from post to post until they were driven back to a single house. They fi- nally surrendered after 33 fighters had been killed and dozens wounded and with the house at the point of col- lapse. It was clear that the battle had become a point- less slaughter. The defenders of Nit- zanim spent some nine months as prisoners of the Egyptians, who tortured and degraded them. Theirs is a story of true heroism, one of many that happened at the time. Three weeks previously, on May 14, 1948, the State of Israel had been established and from that day onwards it fought, with the few arms that it has purchased wherever it could, against the five well- trained and well-equipped Arab armies which invaded the state and threatened to destroy it. Other kibbutzim which fought similar battles be- came a symbol, including such places as Yad Mor- dechai and Kfar Etzion which were forced to sur- render when the fighting was over. To this day, these tales of valor are part of Is- raeli youths' education. Is- raelis and visitors alike make pilgrimages to those heroic battlegrounds so as to learn ofand pay tribute to those who were, as the poet Alterman wrote, "the silver platter upon which the Jewish state was served to you" (based on Chaim Weizmann's statement that "a state is not handed to a people on a silver platter"). In the case of Nitzanim, a tragedy occurred: when the prisoners-of-war returned 4. ; • The house in Kibbutz Nitzanim where the Jewish settlers surrendered to the Egyptians during the War of Independence. Kibbutz Nitzanim today. home they were accused of surrender without justifica- tion and cowardice in battle in the presence of the enemy. On the day that Nitzanim fell, Abba Kovner, a poet who was serving as the cul- tural officer of the Givati Brigade and who had been among the Vilna Ghetto heroes, issued a combat leaflet on behalf of the brigade's command in which he denounced the fall of Nitzanim as a "failure" and a "disgrace." Kovner stated that ". . . one does not defend one's home condi- tionally . . . in order to sur- render. As long as there is life in one's body and a bul- let in one's magazine, it is shameful to do so! To go into enemy captivity is both wicked' and disgraceful." The leaflet was signed by Shimeon Avidan, legendary Palmach leader and com- mander of Givati, who suc- ceeded in halting and turn- ing back the Egyptian army 20 miles from Tel Aviv. After the war, in 1949, a military committee of in- quiry was set up which con- cluded that Nitzanim's members had fought with courage and determination. However, the report was in- adequately publicized and for the next 36 years Nit- zanim's members and even . their children lived in the shadow of the "shame." Last Dec. 15, Shimeon Avidan appeared on a tele- vision program about the re-establishment of the famous Givati Brigade. Over 70 now, the fit and active kibbutznik was shown at work in Ein Hashofet's factory and then came to Nitzanim, intend- ing to use the occasion to correct the injustice that had been done to the fight- ers. But his words were cut short by the editors of the TV program and were un- derstood as a renewed con- demnation of Nitzanim's surrender. The broadcast re-opened the painful wounds of the past and led to a wide public discussion of the subject. On Dec. 28, 1983 Shimeon Avidan appeared at a stormy and dramatic meet- ing with Nitzanim's mem- bers who demanded that he clear their names. Avidan readily agreed and added that if there had indeed been a failure at Nitzanim it was that of the Brigade under his command which was incapable of aiding the local defenders, rather than a failure of the fighters in the besieged kibbutz. In order to understand why Nitzanim was de- nounced and rehabilitated it is necessary to know what had been happening on the southern front at the time. Long before the United Na- tions decided on the estab- lishment of the State of Is- rael, it Was obvious that the state's borders would be de- termined, politically and militarily, by Jewish set- tlement in various regions of the country. In October 1946, 11 kibbutzim were founded in a secret and lightning operation in the Negev, which had few Jewish settlments at the time. The aim was to estab- lish a political fact as well as to prepare a chain of for- tified defensive outposts in view of the expected Arab invasion. Immediately following the United Nations resolu- tion on partition which ap- proved the establishment of a Jewish state in part of Palestine, fight- ing began over the south and the Negev. Avidan's Givati Brigade fought on the outskirts of Tel Aviv and later participated in the attempts to break through the road to besieged Jerusalem. On the eve of the procla- mation of the state's inde- pendence on May 14, 1948, the Givati Brigade moved south in order to block the expected Egyptian inva- sion. The situation was des- perate. The few settlements there — including Nirim, Kfar Darom, Yad Mor- dechai and Negba — fought courageously at great cost in human life in an attempt to halt the invaders. Never- theless, the Egyptian forces continued to advance northwards. Elderly settlers dug posts and fortified positions at night and their sons fought in them during the day. The only hope of success was the modern weaponry about to arrive from Czechoslovakia. The question was whether they would manage to get it to the front before the Egyp- tians conquered Tel Aviv. Blocking the latter's ad- vance meant one thing only: every soldier and settler had to fight in his post to the last bullet. However, alongside the revelations of bravery there were signs of panic and despair too. This critical stage saw the fall of Nitzanim, the most northerly settlement on the strategic coastal road which had been overrun by the Egyptians. The Egyptians had learned the lessons of the previous battles in the other settlements and con- centrated against Nitzanim unprecedented forces which enabled them to overcome it in one day's combat. The Givati command, which did not even have radio contact with the encircled settle- ment, could not follow the course of the battle and thought that its fighters would last until midnight, when they planned to send reinforcements udner cover of darkness. The news of the fall of Nitzanim was received with dismay and sorrow. The reaction was the publica- tion of the leaflet which was actually intended to encourage the fighters in the other settlements and fortified posts, rather than condemn Nitzanim. Now that the stigma of shame has been removed from them, Nitzanim's settlers can once again hold their heads high in pride. It has taken a long time, but now the record has been set straight and Kibbutz Nit- zanim has won its right' place in the history of rael's War of Independence. World Zionist Press Service OBITUARIES Ann Feldman Dr. Goldberg Ann Feldman, active in Jewish women's organiza- tions, died May 18 at age 63. She was a member of Cong. B'nai Moshe. Hadas- sah, Women's American ORT, City of Hope and the National Council of Jewish Women. She leaves her husband, William; a son, Dr. Lawr- ence of Chicago, Ill.; two daughters, Mrs. Jan (Nancy) Rozen of Swampscott, Mass. and Mrs. Zev (Ronna) Garoon of Buffalo Grove, Ill.; three sisters, Mrs. Irving (Hen- rietta) Kasper of Tujunga, Calif.; Mrs. Robert (Bunnie) Leach and Mrs. Harold (Marlene) Phillips; and three grandchildren. Dr. Arthur Goldberg, a Detroit-area physician, died May 19. Sol l. Stein Sol I. Stein, a certified public accountant who was self-employed in the Detroit area for more than 50 years, died May 21. Born in Chicago, Mr. Stein, 72, was a past president and founding member of Temple Israel, its men's club and Boy Scout troop. He was a past board member of Metropolitan Hospital, a past president of the Probus Club and he was a Shriner. He leaves a son, Robert; two daughters, Mrs. Arnold (Marjorie) Fuller and Gari Stein-Glaser; and ten grandchildren. Helen Fuller Helen Fuller, active in Jewish organizations, died May 23. Mrs. Fuller, 78, was born in Poland. She was a member of Cong. Shaarey Zedek and its sisterhood, HadasSah and Women's American ORT. • She leaves three sons, Arnold, Sheldon, and Irving of Beverly Hills, Calif.; two daughters, Mrs. Hugh (Lil- lian) Kopel and Mrs. Robert (May Ruth) Wexler; a sister, Mrs. Mary Nagan; and 15 grandchildren. Services on Sunday at Ira Kaufman Chapel. , 14.'1. Dr. 'Goldberg was a graduate of the University of Michigan and earned his M.D. degree in 1935 from the Wayne State University School of Medicine. He was a founder and former chief of staff of North Detroit General Hospital and served on its board of trus- tees until his retirement three years ago. Dr. Goldberg, 74, was a member of the Wayne County and American med- ical associations, and served in the Army Medical Corps during World War II. He was a former officer of Per- fection Lodge of the Masons, was a member of Temple Is- rael and was active in the Allied Jewish Campaign. He leaves his wife, Onnie; a son, Dr. Edward; a daugh- ter, Susan Layne; a brother, Charles Gilson; a sister, Mrs. Louis (Mae) Marko of Laguna Hills, Calif.; and five grandsons. . Henry Rosin Henry Rosin, 81, a retired Detroit attorney, died May 18. A native of New York, Mr.. Rosin graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1926. A spe- cialist in corporate law, he was a member of the M . gan Bar Association an Crisis Club. He was an accomplished Violinist. He leaves two sons, Merle and Dr. Glenn; a daughter, Mrs. Fred (Audry) Kapitansky of Columbus, Ohio; two brothers, Dr. George, and 'Gabriel of Hartsdale, N.Y.; a sis- ter, Mrs. Irving (Annette) Levine of W. Hartford, Conn.; 12 grandchildren and three great- .grandchildren.... • - .