III. Israel’s Memorial Day, 13-14 April 2021 – Yom Ha-Zikaron

HONOURING THE FALLEN

Memorial Day for Israel’s Fallen Soldiers – Yom Ha-Zikaron – is marked each year on the 4th of the Hebrew month of Iyar or in proximity to that date. This year – 2021 – it will be held from the evening of Tuesday 13 April until the evening of Wednesday 14 April. The year before, Memorial Day fell on 27-28 April.

Symbolic designs have been used on Memorial Day stamps, as in 1971 and 1973 shown below, and also, over many years, depictions of specific memorials, a number of which can also be seen below.

The 1971 Memorial Day stamp was designed by Dan Tel Vardi (born 1936). He began his graphic design career after his army service in 1958. He was awarded first prize in a competition for the design of the emblem of the Vegetable Board at the Ministry of Agriculture in 1964, and he designed several other emblems for Israeli agencies and  authorities

 

The 0.78 Israeli Pound stamp (78 Agorot) issued to mark Memorial Day 1971 on 13 April 1971 is illustrated with the insignia of the armed forces of Israel (the IDF, Israel Defence Forces) on a background of a coarse piece of cloth which is unraveling in a corner. On the tab there is the insignia of the armed forces of Israel on a red background, and the inscription ‘Memorial Day for the Fallen of Israel’s Defense Army 5731-1971’.

The 1973 Memorial Day stamp was designed by M. Faraj

 

On 3 May 1973, a 0.65 Israeli Pound stamp (65 Agorot) was issued to mark Memorial Day 1973. The symbolic design features an orange memorial flame rising from a dark blue ground. The tab again bears the insignia of the armed forces of Israel, and the inscription reads, ‘Memorial Day for the Fallen of Israel’s Defense Army 1973’.

The 1975 Memorial Day stamp was designed by Asaf Berg (1937-1997), painter and graphic artist, born in Kibbutz Givat Brenner

 

The Memorial Day 1975 stamp was issued on 10 April 1975, and had a value of 1.45 Israeli Pounds. It was illustrated with the monument located outside the Knesset building – the Israeli parliament – in Jerusalem. On a base of stones there is a wreath, and from it rises a memorial flame. The stones carry the inscription, ‘and with their blood the morning will rise’. Another inscription reads, ‘Monument beside the Knesset’. Thhe tab shows the insignia of the armed forces of Israel and the inscription, ‘Memorial Day for the Fallen of Israel’s Defense Army 1975’.

The 1981 Memorial Day stamp was designed by D. Cohen, and the  monument depicted on it was designed by the sculptor Yigal Tumarkin (born 1933) in Dresden, Germany

 

The monument to soldiers of the IDF who lost their lives in the Jordan Valley is shown on the 1.00 Israeli Shekel stamp issued on 5 May 1981 to mark Memorial Day 1981. The memorial is located a few hundred meters north of the junction leading to Petza’el and Ma’aleh Efrayim – between the northern and southern sectors of an area battles that took place 1967-1970 – and it looks out over the greater part of the valley.

After Arab terrorists had been driven from Judea and Samaria at the end of 1967, the eastern side of the Jordan Valley (in Jordan) became the principal base for attacks on Israel. The Valley Regiment composed of paratroopers, infantry, and a reconnaissance force, was responsible for preventing any infiltration.

The 1983 Memorial Day stamp was designed by D. Pesach and S. Ketter. The memorial was designed by Israel Godowitz (born 1934) and at its centre is an 80-foot high tower constructed of five semi-cylinders topped by a balcony overlooking the countryside. Surrounding the tower are 300 concrete columns, each topped by part of an armoured vehicle or weapon

 

The 3.00 Israeli Shekel stamp issued to mark Memorial Day 1983 on 14 April 1983 is illustrated with the monument erected to honour the fallen of the 84th Division – the ‘Division of Steel’ – which conquered the Rafiah area during the Six-Day War under the command of General Israel Tal (1924-2010), and then advanced through the Sinai peninsula to reach the Suez Canal. The tab shows the insignia of the armed forces of Israel, and the inscription states, ‘Memorial Day for the Fallen in Israel’s Battles 1983’.

The memorial was originally constructed in the town of Yamit – northern Sinai, in the Rafiah Region – in June 1979, at a site intended to serve as its central square, but on the evacuation of Sinai and the dismantling of Yamit in 1982, it was transferred to a new site in the Besor area, close to Sinai.

The 1985 Memorial Day stamp was designed by D. Cohen, and the memorial itself was designed by the architect, sculptor and graphic artist, Yosef Assa (born 1950, in Tel Aviv).

 

The veteran Golani Brigade, as old as the State of Israel itself, has taken part in all of  Israel’s wars and almost every operation and campaign, from the Galilee to the Negev, and from Sinai to the Golan Heights. The 50 Israeli Shekels stamp issued on 2 May 1985 to mark Memorial Day 1985  was illustrated with the memorial dedicated to the Golani Brigade.

After the War of Independence, the officers and men of the Golani Brigade erected a marker at the foot of an Arab position that had controlled the nearby junction. The site in Upper Galilee became known as the ‘Golani Junction’. In 1959, a monument to the Golani Brigade who fell in the 1948 war was dedicated on the site.

The stamp depicts the Golani Brigade Commemoration Site and Museum at the Golani Junction (Interchange) – east of Haifa, and west of Tiberias – and the tab features the armed forces insignia and the inscription, ‘Memorial Day for the Fallen in Israel’s battles 1985’.

The 1991 Memorial Day stamp designed by Ad Vanooijen showing the IICC. The tab features the armed forces insignia and the inscription, ‘Memorial Day for the Fallen in Israel’s battles 1991’.

 

The 0.65 NIS stamp issued to mark Memorial Day 1991 on 9 April 1991 is illustrated with the monument to the Intelligence Community – Israel’s Military Intelligence Corps, its Secret Intelligence Service (Mossad), and the General Security Service. Members of the Intelligence Community, together with the bereaved families, established a memorial site at at Glilot north of Tel-Aviv, near the Glilot-Mizrah Interchange. The memorial site – the Israel Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Centre (IICC) – includes a shrine (the Ohel-Shem) which houses the personal dossiers of the fallen, containing their biographies and the story of their deeds. There is also a synagogue, conference rooms, auditorium, and an the Israeli Intelligence Community exhibition.

The 1995 Memorial Day stamp designed by O. Meirav honours the memorial to the fallen of the Ordnance Corps, the architect of which was Zalman & Ruth Enav. Again the tab bears the inscription, ‘Memorial Day for the Fallen in Israel’s battles 1995’.

 

On 25 April 1995, a 1.00 NIS stamp was issued to mark Memorial Day 1995 and to honour the fallen of the Ordnance Corps.

The Ordnance Corps was founded in 1941 as the ordnance department of the Haganah, and was tasked with acquiring weapons and ammunition. It is the largest corps in the land forces of Israel and is responsible for the maintenance and development of military equipment. The Ordnance Corps is responsible for a wide range of weapons – from the soldier’s rifle, to the Merkava Tank.

The Monument to the fallen of the Ordnance Corps is in Netanya, close to the Beit Yad Lebanim memorial. It comprises a commemorative wall, in which are engraved the names of the fallen, a monument in the form of a gun-mounting made from gun barrels, a memorial candle made from a tank turret and cannon parts, and sculpture in different colours made from parts of tanks, cannons and other equipment. The whole area is enclosed by steel sheeting in which there are reliefs of different types of weaponry.

The 2005 Memorial Day stamp was the work of Haime Kivkovitz (H. Kivkovich). The memorial shown on the stamp was designed by Micha Ullman (born 1939)

 

The memorial to Holocaust survivors who were killed during army service in Israel’s wars – the Memorial to the Last of Kin – is shown on the 1.50 NIS stamp issued on 3 May 2005 to mark Memorial Day 2005. The memorial is located at the end of a trail that connects Yad Vashem and Mount Herzl, overlooking the Yad Vashem site in Jerusalem.

The monument, made from Jerusalem stone, consists of an uprooted ‘house’, a wall of names, and a symbolic boat shape. The vessel symbolizes the ships carrying clandestine immigrants from Europe to Jerusalem.

The 2007 Memorial Day stamp was designed by Miri Nistor. The design features the Tegart Fort, and the monument with brigade badges, while the tab shows names of the fallen and the inscription, ‘Memorial Day for the Fallen in Israel’s battles 2007’

 

The 1.50 NIS stamp issued to mark Memorial Day 2007 on 17 April 2007 is illustrated with the monument dedicated to the Givati Brigade. The Brigade – named after its first commander, Shimon Avidan, codenamed Givati – was formed in November 1947 in the dying months of the British Mandate. During the War of Independence, the Givati Brigade had been tasked with fighting back the Egyptian forces, and it succeeded in pushing them back to the Gaza Strip.

The main Givati Brigade memorial was established in 1990 in a British Tegart-type police station (fortresses named after Charles Tegart, 1881-1946) that had served as an Egyptian fortification in 1948. Known as the Beit Hativat Givati Museum, the memorial is located by Sde Yo’av between Ashkelon and Kiryat Gat, in western Israel.

 

The 2015 Memorial Day stamp was designed by Rinat Gilboa. Part of the poem by Dorit Tzameret which the illustration on the stamp represents – the growing wheat – tells of the ‘eagle soaring skyward’

 

On 14 April 2015, a 2.20 NIS stamp was issued to mark Memorial Day 2015 and to honour the  tradition established in 1952 – a few years after the War of Independence – whereby personal letters were sent by Israeli presidents, prime ministers and ministers of defence to bereaved families. The stamp was illustrated with growing wheat, reflecting an extract from a poem, and Memorial Day song – ‘The wheat grows again’ – by Dorit Tzameret from Kibbutz Beit Hashita which had lost eleven members during the Yom Kippur War, 1973. The poem appears on the tab along with the insignia of the armed forces of Israel.

 

In the construction of this month’s post, the resources within the website of the Israel Philatelic Federation were utilized.

If you have enjoyed reading the post this month, two others in the series, I. Israel’s Memorial Day, 7-8 May 2019 – Yom Ha-Zikaron, and II. Israel’s Memorial Day, 27-28 April 2020 – Yom Ha-Zikaron, were posted in May 2019 and in April 2020. A fourth post in the series – IV. Israel’s Memorial Day, 3-4 May 2022 – Yom Ha-Zikaron – will be posted in May 2022.