Identifer: CJF-RFC2015061

Medium
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Description
This medallion, struck in brass, is 35 mm in diameter and has its original loop. 

The monument depicted on the medallion sits on the grounds of Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, which is located south of Ashkelon and is named after Mordechai Anielewicz.  The Kibbutz was the scene of fierce fighting during Israel’s War of Independence in 1948.  After several days of fighting the vastly larger Egyptian Army, the defenders of the Kibbutz were forced to withdraw from the Kibbutz.  The Egyptians destroyed the Kibbutz, which was re-captured by the Israelis six months later and rebuilt.
 
The monument is a sculpture of Anielewicz designed by Natan Rappaport.  It was placed in a grove of trees on a hill in the center of the kibbutz in 1951.  It shows a strong young man, dressed like a kibbutz member, with a look of determination on his face and a grenade in his hand. On a stone plaque beneath the sculpture are Anielewicz’s words: My last aspiration in life has been fulfilled, the self-defense turned into a fact... I am content and glad that I was among the first of the Jewish Fighters in the Ghetto. April 23, 1943.  The monument of Anielewicz sits in front of the Kibbutz's old water tower that was shelled by the Egyptians during the 1948 War.