Tuesday 28 April 2020

In Memory of Esther, Margalit and Tzafuna


Today, April 28, 2020 is Yom HaZikaron (lit. 'Memorial Day'), or Yom HaZikaron LeHalalei Ma'arakhot Yisrael ul'Nifge'ei Pe'ulot HaEivah, (lit. 'Memorial Day for the Fallen Soldiers of Israel and Victims of Terrorism').

Each year, Memorial Day is marked each year on the 4th of the Hebrew month of Iyar, always one day before Independence Day, emphasizing and symbolizing the connection between the fallen and their devotion, and with the establishment of the State of Israel. On this day, deceased fallen soldiers, members of the Israeli Police, the General Security Service, the Mossad and victims of terror are honored. Since 1860 (when Jews first began to live outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City) until today, 23,786 civilians and soldiers have perished.


When I came across the website: https://honorisraelsfallen.com I searched for someone who had fallen in 1948. Coming across the name of a young woman who had been massacred during the Hadassah Mt. Scopus convoy, I remembered a chapter in the book, Broken Silence, which I had published for two sisters: Betty Bausch and Liesje Auerbach.
Liesje was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands. From the Nazi Westerbork camp she was deported to Bergen-Belsen. In July 1944 she was part of the Bergen-Belsen transport that came to British Mandate Palestine in exchange for German Templar women. In September 1944, even though she hardly spoke Hebrew, Liesje continued her nurses training in Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus hospital. This is what she wrote to her sister in the Netherlands, who survived the war in hiding:

On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was born and on the same day the neighbouring Arab nations declared war.  All hell broke loose. The ten-minute drive to the hospital on Mt. Scopus passed through the Arab quarter of Sheikh Jarrah.  Cars travelling to the hospital were often attacked by the inhabitants of the village, while the British authorities stood idly by.  After several such incidents it was decided to only travel to and from the hospital in armoured vehicles.  The arrangement made with medical personnel, which was accepted unanimously, was that each member of staff would work in the hospital for three weeks straight, and then spend a week in Jerusalem.  We continued this way for several months. 
At the end of my week off duty I tidied and cleaned my rented room and returned to the hospital for my next three-week shift. 
On Monday, 12 April 1948, it was once again time to return to Mt. Scopus.  At the pick-up point I was told that the day before mines were discovered along the route.  This had prevented the convoy from leaving Jerusalem.  As the earlier convoy was to be taken up Mt. Scopus first, we were told to come back the next day.
My friend Cyota, who recently confided to me that she was expecting a baby, was overjoyed at the chance of spending another day at home with her husband.  But I had nothing to do in my empty room, with nothing left to eat. 
I remained with those who were waiting.  One of the drivers, who knew me well (I looked after his wife when she delivered their third child) promised that if there was room in the convoy, he would make sure I got in. 
At the last moment he pushed me into a corner in the back of his truck.  It was a short ride to the top, only a few kilometers. I breathed a sigh of relief when I found myself once again safe and sound on the grounds of the hospital compound.


The next day, Tuesday April 13th, at nine in the morning, the personnel expectantly waited to be released from duty by the new shift.  But no cars arrived.  Hearing the salvo of machine guns and explosions we ran to the balconies.  The road was deserted, and columns of smoke rose in the distance.  While the convoy was attacked there was nothing we could do but pray that the British would come to their aid.  All the vehicles were burned.  Most of the people in the convoy perished - professors, doctors, nurses and many others – 78 in all.


Among the dead were three girls from my class -
 Esther, Tzafuna and Margalit. 

To this day I mourn for my friends and all the others murdered in this convoy.  May their memory be eternally blessed.

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Thus, last night (at the start of Memorial Day, we remembered these three women: 



The following information is from the website: www.honorisraelsfallen.com

Esther (Cyota) Appelbaum
Daughter of Tova and Yosef, was born on June 25, 1922 in the city of Khotin, in the region of Bessarabia, Romania. In her parents’ home, she was educated in a Zionist spirit and from her childhood she longed for the country. After graduating from the General Gymnasium in the city of Czernowitz, she made every effort to immigrate to Israel, and in March 1944 she left her city of residence and immigrated to Eretz Israel. She spent six months studying absorption and settlement difficulties, and finally decided to start studying at the Hadassah nursing school on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem. She loved the profession she chose and after graduating she continued to work as a registered nurse at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. Even after her marriage she continued to work there. With great love she offered her help to the sick, and in this work, she saw a duty of respect for herself. The road to Mount Scopus passed through the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and upon the outbreak of the war the movement was allowed to mount convoys secured by the British army. 

On the morning of April 13, 1948, a convoy left for Mount Scopus, after the British promised that the road was open and safe The convoy encountered an Arab ambush in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and hundreds of Arabs hurled heavy gunfire at it. Some of the vehicles managed to get out and return, but two buses, an ambulance and an escort vehicle were ambushed. For many hours the convoy members fought and tried to prevent the Arabs from approaching the vehicles. Fire from our positions in the city and Mount Scopus, as well as armored vehicles sent to the area, failed to help the convoy. 
British military forces in the area did not intervene and did nothing to help, despite appeals to them. 
In the afternoon, the Arabs managed to set fire to two buses on their passengers, and only late in the evening did the British intervene and rescue the survivors from the trapped vehicles( 78 of the 112 passengers were killed and 24 injured). 
Esther was brought to rest in a mass grave in the Sanhedria cemetery in Jerusalem. 

Many of the victims had been either stripped naked, mutilated and beheaded by the Arab mobs or were too badly burned to be identified. 

Margalit Ben Shalom, the first Yemenite nurse in Hadassah, was born on June 23, 1926 in Jerusalem to Sarah and David. The father was blind, and the mother had poor eyesight.  Her parents had studied in the famous Blind Institute, where her father later taught.  They had a shop on Ben Yehuda Street where they sold handmade items made by students in the Institute.  Margalit was beautiful, full of the joy of life, and very much loved. 
Margalit attended the Hebrew Gymnasium Rehavia in Jerusalem and after finishing the seventh grade she moved to the Hadassah nursing school. In her youth she belonged to the Scouts and was a member of the Haganah. She loved the art of ballet and playing the violin.
In September 1947 Margalit began working as a registered nurse the Hadassah Hospital on Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem. Her patients admired her for her devoted care and her big smile that always hung on her lips as she entered the hospital rooms. When the War of Independence began, she tirelessly worked in the hospital, even gave up her vacation days for taking care of the wounded.
Margalit was murdered on April 13, 1948 in the same convoy as Esther Appelbaum. She was laid to rest in the cemetery in Sanhedria in Jerusalem.

Tzafuna (Tzipa) Ashbel
Daughter of Hannah and Dov (a professor at the Hebrew University), was born on the last day of Passover in Poland (during her mother’s visit to her parents’ home). When she was 18 months old she returned with her mother to Eretz Israel and grew up in Jerusalem. After completing her studies at Ein-Hahoresh and Ma’aleh Hahamisha, she returned to Jerusalem and entered the Hadassah Nursing School on Mount Scopus.
Tzafuna continued to work with heart and soul at the hospital as a registered nurse.

Ben Yehuda Street bombing Febr. 22, 1948 
On February 22, 1948, three British Army trucks led by an armoured car driven by Arab irregulars and British deserters exploded on Ben Yehuda Street, killing from 49 to 58 civilians and injuring from 140 to 200 people.
The building in which Tzafuna rented a room was badly damaged, but she managed to get out unhurt and began treating the wounded.

Less than two months later, Tzafuna was murdered in the Hadassah Convoy on April 13 and laid to rest in a mass grave in the Sanhedria cemetery.
  
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Further reading:







YouTube video about the Hadassah Convoy massacre (the upbeat music they used for this documentary is inappropriate – I think).