Yad Mordechai (Hebrew: יַד מָרְדְּכַי, lit. Memorial of Mordechai) is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located 10 km south of Ashkelon, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 710.
History [edit]
The community was founded in the 1930s by Hashomer Hatzair members from Poland and initially organized themselves in a kibbutz called Mitzpe Yam close to Netanya, which was founded in 1936. However, the 14 dunams allocated to the kibbutz was too little, and insufficient to develop the kibbutz.
As a result, the community moved to an area near Ashkelon in December 1943 and with the new settlement named in honor of Mordechai Anielewicz, who died fighting the Nazis while being the commander of the Jewish Fighting Organization in the Warsaw Ghetto. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the kibbutz was attacked by Egypt, in the Battle of Yad Mordechai.
The kibbutz hosts a statue of Anilewicz by Nathan Rapoport[1] clutching a grenade, set on a hilltop next to the kibbutz's water tower which was preserved after being destroyed by the Egyptians.[2] The kibbutz also has a museum devoted to Anielewicz and his fighting in the Ghetto, as well as the Battle of Yad Mordechai, one of only two Holocaust museums located on a kibbutz (the other being at Lohamey HaGeta'ot).
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