Bracha Fuld, also known as Barbara Fuld was a Jewish resistance fighter who died in an attempt to help Jewish Holocaust refugees enter Palestine. She was the first female Jewish soldier killed during the pre-state conflict with the British.
Early life
Fuld was born Barbara Fuld in 1926 in Germany. Her father had served in the German army during WWI, and he took his own life after the events of Kristallnacht in 1938, unable to reconcile his Jewish and German identities. Fuld's older sister Petra had been sent to the United States to escape antisemitism. In 1939, Fuld left Germany and immigrated with her mother to Palestine, where Fuld became known as Bracha instead of Barbara. Fuld's mother, Lotte, opened a candy store.
Military career
Upon graduating high school in 1944, Fuld joined the Palmach, an elite Jewish military force that was working with the British. She was named an outstanding cadet, and was one of the few women who trained to become a squad commander. She was made an officer at the age of eighteen. Fuld first instructed women soldiers, and was later put in charge of several platoons and military detachments. Fuld became romantically involved with fellow Palmach member Gideon Peli. At the end of WWII, the British attempted to stop Jewish Holocaust refugees from coming to Palestine, and the Palmach fighters revolted. They began to sabotage and assault the British military, while helping to smuggle Jewish immigrants into Palestine.
Death and legacy
In March 1946, a ship of illegal Jewish immigrants from Italy was set to arrive in Palestine. Fuld and her squad were sent to protect a stretch of road that would be used to help the immigrants reach safety. The ship was captured and diverted by the British before arriving, but the message to abort the mission did not reach Fuld and her squad in time, and they soon encountered a British tank unit. After an exchange of fire, Fuld was badly wounded. Instead of receiving medical treatment, she was taken to a police station to be interrogated, and she died of her injuries shortly afterwards. Fuld was the first female Jewish fighter killed resisting the British during the pre-state conflict. Six months after her death, a ship for transporting illegal Jewish immigrants was named the S. S. Bracha Fuld, which the British soon seized. The song “Banu Heinah” was written to memorialize her. In the city of Tel Aviv, Bracha Fuld Street is named in her honour.
