Yechiel Zoberman

Yechiel Zoberman ISRAEL - Yechiel Zoberman, a Holocaust survivor, was born in Zamosc, Poland, in 1920, and died on Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel on Dec. 4, 2009. He was a direct descendant of the Menzis family, which was expelled with fellow Spanish Jews in 1492. During the 1939 German invasion of Poland, he was studying in Warsaw. At his urging, he was joined by his parents, Zvi and Rachel, and his younger brothers, Noah, Emanuel, and Abraham, in escaping to the Soviet Union. They were exiled to Siberia's Tundra, and Yechiel was drafted into the Russian army for five years. He was in officers school when the Germans attacked Russia. Participating in many battles, including at the gates of Moscow and Leningrad, he miraculously survived. At the Starra Russa forest his unit engaged German paratroopers in a night-long fight, resorting at dawn to a brutal bayonet struggle. He was recognized by the State of Israel for participating in the war against the Nazis. Yechiel served on the residents committee of the Wetzlar Displaced Persons Camp in Germany, 1947 to 1949. Immigrating to Israel in 1949, he rose to be a member of the board of directors of Sollel Boneh, Israel's largest construction company where he served as an accountant and a devoted union leader. He is survived by his loving wife of 65 years, Chasia, whom he married in Siberia; son, Rabbi Israel Zoberman and wife Jennifer of Virginia Beach; daughter, Esther Golan and husband Zev of Israel; daughter, Emma Rimon and husband Menachem of Israel; brother, Arthur Zoberman and wife Zipora of Chicago; grandchildren, Harel Zoberman, Rachel Zoberman Azoff, Netta Moshe, Adi Sanovsky, Etai Rimon, Sharon Rimon; and great-grandchildren, Tamir and Yoav.