Joseph Trumpeldor
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Joseph Trumpeldor (1880 – March 1 1920, ru: Иосиф Трумпельдор) was an early Zionist activist, notable for helping organize the Zion Mule Corps and bringing Jewish immigrants to Palestine.
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Early life
Joseph Trumpeldor was born in Pyatigorsk, Russia. His father, Wulf Trumpeldor, served as a cantonist in the Caucasus War and, as a useful Jew, was allowed to settle outside the Pale of Settlement. Originally in training as a dentist, Joseph Trumpeldor volunteered for the Russian army in 1902. During the Russo-Japanese War he participated in the siege of Port Arthur, where he lost his left arm and was captured, subsequently receiving four decorations for bravery, which made him the most decorated Jewish soldier in Russia. In 1906 he became the first Jew in the army to receive an officer's commission.
World War One
In 1911 he emigrated to Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire, living for a time at Kibbutz Degania. When World War I broke out, he went to Egypt, where together with Vladimir Jabotinsky he developed the idea of the Jewish legion to fight with the British against common enemies and as a result, the Zion Mule Corps was formed in 1917, considered to be the first all-Jewish military unit organized in close to two thousand years, and the ideological beginning of the Israel Defense Forces. He saw action in Gallipoli, where he was wounded in the shoulder.
Political activist
Upon his return to Russia in 1918, he established the He-Halutz, a youth organization that prepared immigrants for aliyah (moving to Palestine), and returned to Palestine himself, then under the British Mandate. He was one of the founders of the Zionist Socialist movement in pre-state Israel.
Death and remembrance
In 1920, Hashomer Hatzair asked Trumpeldor tor organize the defence of its settlements in the Upper Galilee. Trumpeldor agreed and quickly took command of Tel Hai where he was killed during a battle with Arabs. After his death Trumpeldor became the symbol of Jewish self-defence, and his memorial day on the 11th day of Adar is officially noted in Israel every year. Supposedly, his last words were, "Never mind, it is good to die for our country". There is no proof whether this is true. He is regarded as a hero by both right wing and left wing Zionists. The Revisionist Zionist movement named its youth movement, Betar after him while the left wing Hashomer Hatzair remembers Trumpledor as the defender of its kibbutzim and has established memorials in his honour. The town of Kiryat Shmona ("City of Eight") is named after Trumpledor and the seven others who died defending Tel Hai.