Abraham Zilberstein, known in his childhood as Abramek, was born in 1914 in the town of Hrubieszow. He was the middle child of Ephraim Fishel and Tauba (née Stich). On his mother’s side, he was the grandson of Menachem Mendel and Pesia Stich, a very wealthy grain exporter and a religious Jew. On his father’s side, he was the grandson of Rivka Zilberstein and Noah, a timber merchant, a modern and secular Jew. Abramek grew up alongside his older brother Moshe (Moniek) and younger brother Chaim (Chaimke).
Abramek spent his childhood in Hrubieszow enjoying nature, roaming the fields and forests, swimming and boating in the nearby Khuchva River, and caring for and riding horses on his grandfather’s farm.
Abramek, noted for his handsome appearance and tall stature, was a gifted youth with a proud and uncompromising character, which often led to conflicts with non-Jewish children in the town. He studied at a gymnasium, which admitted only a few Jewish students, where was harassed by both peers and teachers.
During this period, between the First and Second World Wars, the Jewish community faced hardships and tensions from the Polish population in the town. Most of Hrubieszow’s Jews lived in poverty, plagued by uncertainty for their future and fear of attacks by Cossacks and Bolsheviks.
As antisemitism in Poland worsened, Abraham’s parents urged him to leave the town and immigrate to Israel. Raised in a secular environment, Abraham felt Israel was not the right destination for him and dreamed of studying architecture at the Sorbonne in Paris. His parents, unable to foresee the future, promised him that after living some time in Israel, he could pursue his ambitions.
In 1934, at the age of 20, Abraham left his family and immigrated to Israel. He joined relatives there, including his uncle, Dr. Matityahu Stich, one of the first gynecologists in Israel, and his aunts Clara and Miriam Stich, as well as David and Rosa Zilberstein, who lived in a kibbutz. In Israel, Abraham began working in construction and mechanics. Thanks to his diligence and skills, he was able to send money to support his family in Poland, who had fallen into economic hardship due to the anti-Jewish decrees.
As a young man, Abraham fell in love with the freedom he experienced in Israel, the youthful spirit he had never known, and the Zionist movement.
In late 1937, after the death of his older brother Moniek, a talented mathematician who passed away at the age of 25, Abraham visited his family in Hrubieszów. Unbeknownst to him, this would be the last time he would see his parents. Attempts to bring his parents and younger brother Chaimke to Israel or anywhere else failed due to British immigration restrictions, U.S. immigration limits, and the illness of his grandfather Noah Zilberstein.
In Israel, tensions were also high, with unrest among the Arab population influenced by the Mufti, who allied with Hitler. Abraham joined the Haganah, an organization dedicated to defending the Jewish population.
As part of the efforts to defend the Jewish community in Israel, Abraham joined Orde Wingate’s Night Squads. In September 1939, hearing on the radio about the German invasion of Hrubieszów, Abraham realized that the war in Europe was also the Jewish people’s war and that he needed to join the fight.
Abraham enlisted in the British Army, joining an infantry unit. He became the first Jewish Palestinian soldier to serve in the British military. His unit, stationed in France, was tasked with building railway lines to the front. When the Germans invaded France, the unit retreated and was evacuated to England via the English Channel in ramshackle boats, (In Operation Dynamo, later known as “The Miracle of Dunkirk”).
Afterwards, the unit helped rescue survivors during the German bombings of London (the Blitz).
From England, the unit made a long detour through South Africa before arriving at the Suez Canal and, in December 1940, they arrived at the Genifa military camp in Egypt. In Genifa, Abraham volunteered for a commando unit assigned to dangerous missions behind enemy lines. During combat, the unit captured Italian prisoners who surrendered their weapons. Abraham later secretly transferred these weapons to kibbutz Ruhama, a Jewish settlement, to support their independence struggle.
The commando unit operated behind German lines, inflicting heavy losses. After an antisemitic incident, which Abraham addressed in his characteristically uncompromising way, he was transferred to Sarafand (Tzrifin) camp in Israel, where he served as an instructor in an officer’s training course.
He quickly advanced to attend the British Army’s officer training course himself and joined Unit 178, which was part of the Royal Transport Service, where he managed workshops. The unit’s mission was to support the British Army’s fight against the German forces led by Field Marshal Rommel. During this time, there was widespread fear in Israel that the British Army might be defeated, allowing German forces to invade Israel and proceed to Europe.
Unit 178, along with other Jewish units, supplied ammunition and provisions to the British Army, contributing to the decisive victory at the Battle of El Alamein, led by General Montgomery. As a workshop officer, Abraham was promoted to the rank of Captain on the battlefield due to his success in repairing vehicles and returning them to combat. For his efforts, he received a commendation from General Montgomery.
In 1943, Abraham’s unit moved to Malta to strengthen the island’s resistance against the Germans and Italians. During an aerial reconnaissance flight in which Abraham participated, the plane crashed. Miraculously, he survived but suffered severe injuries. Abraham was hospitalized for several months in a military hospital in Malta due to severe burns.
As the front shifted to Italy, Abraham relocated there, assuming responsibility for maintaining vehicles that supplied the front lines.
End of the War, Reuniting with Brother Chaimke, and the Fate of the Family
In 1945, at the end of the war, rumors circulated about displaced Jewish survivors near various forced labor camps. Abraham was determined to investigate his family’s fate. His primary goal was to find his younger brother, Chaimke. Armed with a leave pass, military uniform, boots, and a British Army notebook, he and his driver set out, following maps marking 36 displaced persons’ camps.
In each camp, Abraham encountered emaciated and sick individuals. He inquired about the fate of Hrubieszow’s Jews and his family, as his father, a delegate to the Jewish National Fund, was well-known in the community. In one camp, Abraham met Hela First, a young woman from Hrubieszow, whom he initially failed to recognize due to her physical condition.
Hela recounted the extermination of Hrubieszow’s Jews and the murder of Abraham’s parents. She told him that his father, Ephraim Zilberstein, a community leader and head of the local Jewish orphanage, was ordered by the Germans, along with her father, to compile lists of the town’s Jews. When they refused, both were publicly executed in the town square, marking the first known Jewish killings in Hrubieszow. Ephraim’s funeral was attended by the town’s Jews, who accompanied him to his final resting place.
Hela also revealed that his mother, Tauba, had hidden with a neighbor after Ephraim’s murder. However, she was betrayed to the Germans, and both Tauba and the neighbor who sheltered her were killed. Abraham also learned of the role some Poles played in the murder of Jews in the town.
Hela mentioned that Chaimke had been taken to a concentration camp but had no further information. This news gave Abraham hope, propelling him to continue his search for his younger brother.
Eventually, Abraham found Chaimke in Eggenfelden, a refugee camp, following a lead about someone who had seen him. Chaimke, in poor health, was smuggled into a hospital for British officers by Abraham, disguised in a British officer’s uniform. After recovering, Chaimke boarded a ship in Marseille and arrived in Israel via Egypt.
The bond between Abraham and Chaimke was extraordinary, earning them the affectionate nickname “Zilbershtayim” (a play on their last name meaning-2 zilbersteins). They cultivated strong connections between their families, with their children, Efram and Ira (Chaimke and Ida’s children) and Yonit (Abraham and Sarah’s daughter), continuing the legacy.
Abraham was promoted to the rank of Major, the highest rank achieved by a Jewish officer in the British Army. After the war, he assumed a central role in organizing the transfer of Jewish refugees to Israel. Using his position as a transportation officer, he orchestrated daring operations to smuggle refugees. Disguised as soldiers, the refugees were transported and boarded ships bound for Israel.
In May 1946, as his unit prepared to return to Israel, Abraham was arrested by the British police and sent to an officers’ detention camp. He was accused of using British military vehicles to transport Jewish refugees, actions considered illegal by British authorities. While in detention, Abraham received a letter of commendation for his exceptional service from Field Marshal Montgomery, the commander of the British forces. Shortly afterward, he was released due to insufficient evidence. As compensation, he was granted a two-week vacation in London at the expense of His Majesty’s government.
Upon his return to Israel, Abraham resumed his service in the Haganah. He played a significant role during the Siege of Jerusalem, helping open the Burma Road, which became a critical supply route to the city. Later, he contributed to Israel’s defense and security in various capacities.
In Israel, Abraham married Sarah, also a native of Poland. The couple had a daughter, Yonit, named in honor of his mother, Tauba (Yonit meaning “little dove” in Hebrew).
Abraham felt a profound responsibility to memorialize the silenced voices of the Holocaust victims and to educate future generations about the horrors of the Holocaust and the role of the Poles in implementing the Nazi plan.
He designed and erected monuments to honor the Jewish community of Hrubieszow, both in Tel Aviv’s Nahalat Yitzchak cemetery and in the Jewish cemetery in Hrubieszow.
The monument in Nahalat Yitzchak contains a scroll listing the names of the Jewish community members who were murdered. In 1997, Abraham planned and built another memorial on the grounds of the Jewish cemetery in Hrubieszow, at the site where the town’s Jews were brutally killed by the Germans and their Polish collaborators and buried in a mass grave. The memorial incorporates remnants of gravestones that were recovered and salvaged from the town’s streets.
Abraham (Avram) Zilberstein was a man of action, vision, courage, and dedication. His life story is intertwined with the history of the Jewish people during one of the darkest periods in its history. His legacy is preserved in books and in the hearts of those who had the privilege of knowing him.
May his memory be a blessed.