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Ruben Altberger

Rubin Altberger

Rubin Altberger

Ruben Altberger, who fought with the Jewish Brigade and successfully brought 300 European Jewish orphans to Palestine in 1944, passed away Aug. 19, 2016, in Denver. He was 94. Rabbi Richard Rheins officiated at the private graveside service at Emanuel Cemetery on Aug. 22.

“He was such a fighter all his life,” his wife Dasa said, “but at the end he was tired of fighting.”

Mr. Altberger’s extraordinary life was profiled in the IJN’s Israel 59 special supplement on April 27, 2007.

He was born Nov. 18, 1919, the youngest of nine children, in Koln, Germany. The family, of Czech origin, lived in Eschweiler, Germany.

Ruben and his sister Hannah joined the Werkleute, a Jewish Zionist youth organization active in Germany, and set their hearts on Palestine.

After completing school, Mr. Altberger went to a farm in eastern Germany to learn how to develop farming skills for Palestine.

On Kristallnacht, Nov. 9, 1938, the Nazis arrived at the farm, woke everyone up, clubbed and beat them.

Polish boys and girls were deported to Poland. Because he had a Czech passport, Mr. Altberger was imprisoned. He was released when a woman from Berlin brought money and new passports.

Sent to a pioneer farm in Holland, he escaped on his bicycle, rode all the way to Amsterdam, found the ship Dora bound for Palestine and boarded it illegally.

Mr. Altberger arrived in 1939 (“we had mazel”) and settled in Galed, a Zionist stronghold for German Jews. He joined the Haganah in 1939.

In 1944, four men from each kibbutz put their names in a hat for selection into the Jewish Brigade. Mr. Altberger was chosen and served in Tiberias and Egypt, where he rekindled a friendship with Giora Yoseftal, later Israel’s minister of labor.

Mr. Altberger was sent on a mission to Europe between 1944-1945 to rescue Jewish orphans who survived the Holocaust in hiding. Once he placed them on a ship to Palestine, he searched for his family members after the Holocaust.

Two sisters and two brothers survived.

A member of Israel’s fledging army in the War of Independence, Mr. Altberger battled the Syrians and then fought in Taba, Egypt, in 1948.

He married his wife Dasa in 1988. They moved to Denver in 2000.

“I wanted to end my life here, in a quieter place,” he told the IJN.

Mr. Altberger is survived by his wife Dasa Altberger; children Amos Altberger and Nitza Magen; stepchildren Leo Drechsel and Karine Drechsel; seven grandchildren; and 15 great-grandchildren.

Contributions may be made to Denver Jewish Day School.

Copyright © 2016 by the Intermountain Jewish News




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