Cigar box

Cigar box
Which was awarded to Reuven Dafni by the United Jewish Appeal

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Reuven Dafni was born in 1913 in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, in the name of Ruben Kandt. When he was 14, the family moved to Vienna, Austria, where he was first exposed to anti-Semitism and his connection to Zionism grew stronger. He began studying in a Jewish school and studied Hebrew in order to immigrate to Israel and settle there. In 1936 he immigrated to Israel alone and was one of the founders of Kibbutz Ein Gev.

He joined the British Army in 1940 and served in the Royal Air Force Intelligence Service. On 15 March 1944 he was parachuted into northern Yugoslavia as part of a first group of four Hebrew paratroopers: Reuven Dafni, Hannah Szenes, Yona Rosen and Abba Berdichev. A month later Yoel Palgi and Peretz Goldstein joined them. The delegation was ordered to organize the transfer of emissaries to Romania and Hungary and to Reuven Dafni "to remain in Yugoslavia and to serve as a point of contact between the members going to those countries and the headquarters in Bari and Cairo, and to work in Yugoslav territory." Shortly before her departure across the Hungarian border, Hannah gave Reuben the song Happy Match, with a request that if she did not return he would give the song to friends in Sdot Yam. [1] On New Year's eve 1944, September 17, Reuven Dafni sank for the second time to Yugoslavia and on October 13 left Yugoslavia completely. In March 1945 Daphne was released from his military service.

In the spring of 1946, after returning to the kibbutz, Reuben went on another mission, this time for the purpose of purchasing weapons in the United States for the Haganah. In 1948, with the establishment of the Foreign Ministry, he set out to raise money for the young state in New York. He was chosen to be among the first diplomats of the State of Israel, and was the first Consul in Los Angeles. Between 1956 and 1953, he served as the information consul in New York. In 1960, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion called upon him to establish and manage the Ministry of Education's Sports and Physical Education Authority. After completing his position at the Sports Authority, Reuven left for Bombay and served as consul general in India, and in the early 1970s served as ambassador to Kenya. He was the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, and since 1975 - ambassador to Thailand.

In 1982 he retired from the Foreign Ministry and served as Deputy Chairman of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum for 13 years. .

Reuven Dafni was awarded the honorary honor of "Yakir Yerushalayim" for his activities in education, international relations, commemoration and the development of physical education.

On the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, he was one of the torchbearers at the official ceremony on Holocaust Remembrance Day at Yad Vashem.

Total weight: 400 grams

Length: 16 cm

Width: 8.50 centimeters

Height: 4 cm

In perfect condition