Raphael Fritz Klebe, who defended a religious kibbutz eventually destroyed by Egyptian shelling during Israels War of Independence, passed away May 4, 2012, in Denver.
Rabbi Isaac Wasserman and Cantor Joel Lichterman officiated at the May 6 graveside service at Mt. Nebo Cemetery. Feldman Mortuary made the arrangements.
Mr. Klebe, who was born in 1921 in Rhina, Germany, shared his harrowing life story with the IJN on May 9, 2008.
Raised in an observant household, he endured Hitlers nefarious rise to power and watched his synagogue burn to the ground on Kristallnacht.
The Nazis later murdered Mr. Klebes mother and five of his siblings.
Assigned to a group of German religious Zionists endorsed by Adolf Eichmann to rid Germany of its Jews, Mr. Klebe was put in charge of 90 halutzim, or pioneers.
He received permission to travel to Palestine in 1940. Upon reaching Haifa, the ships passengers were forced to board the Patria, which the British planned to divert to Mauritus.
The Haganah placed a small charge on the Patria that was intended to wreck the motor and detain the ship in Haifa Bay.
The resulting explosion killed 250 Jews. Mr. Klebe, who could not swim, managed to survive.
After living on various kibbutzim, he joined Kibbutz Beerot Yitzchak in 1943.
Following the declaration of Israels independence on May 14, 1948, the Egyptians began shelling Beerot Yitzchak and did not let up until the kibbutz was completely destroyed.
Mr. Klebe helped rebuild the kibbutz after the war, became a foreman in Jerusalem and then joined one of his surviving sisters in Denver in 1954.
His wife Lottie, whom he married in 1963, passed away in 2006.
Mr. Klebe is survived by his nephews Dr. Howard Siegel and Michael Siegel, and his niece Jeanne Schwartz.
Copyright © 2012 by the Intermountain Jewish News
