We didn’t think of happiness but Zionism
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Dov Eisdorfer was born on June 21, 1920, in the town of Sevlyush in the then Carpathian Ruthenia (today Vinogradiv, Ukraine). He comes from a religious Jewish family of six children. His parents, who were farmers, moved to Michalovce because of work. Dov studied at the Hebrew grammar school in Mukachevo, where he graduated in 1939. Since fifteen he was active in the Zionist movement HaShomer HaZair. After graduation he was dispatched by the movement to Hungary, where his task was to organise illegally departure of young Zionists to Palestine. In September 1939 he was arrested for three weeks but on his release he returned to Budapest again. From early 1940 to May 1941 he worked for the movement in Transylvania and there he illegally organised preparation of movement members for the departure to Palestine. In 1941 he left with his sister as a HaShomer HaZair group leader to Palestine. On departure he was shortly kept in the Altlit camp. He settled down in a kibbutz, where he stayed for five year, later he worked in military focused machinery industry in Tel Aviv. In 1947 he received Hagana training and took part in the fight for independence of the State of Israel. He studied at Technion in Haifa, later lectured at the Faculty of Mechanics. In 1949 he married and had a family. Dov Eisdorfer lives in Haifa.
