Edmond Wilhelm Brillant

Edmond Wilhelm Brillant the Levi (Hebrew: אדמונד וילהלם ברילנט‎‎; 1916–2004) was a Polish-born Israeli naval architect, Hagana member, among the founding fathers of the Israeli navy and was notable for assisting the Israeli Merchant Marine in several major projects, including the nations' first passenger liner, the SS Shalom through the ZIM Navigation company, now Zim Integrated Shipping Services. He dedicated his greatest efforts to building up the young states' maritime capability, both civil and military. Brillant was born in Jaroslaw Galicia, Poland, and was the youngest of the four sons of the famous pharmacist Wiktor Brillant and his wife Laura Brillant (née Sturmlauf).

Brillant was a flight amateur and joined the gliding club of Jaroslaw at the age of 13. There he studied building gliders, aircraft, gliding and flight.

Brillant graduated from the August Witkowski Gymnasium (high school) in Jaroslaw in 1934, and started his MD studies. However, since he had a strong technical aptitude, Brillant started learning precision mechanics in Lviv. He immigrated to Israel (then Palestine) in 1936 on board of SS Polonia () from Port of Constanţa with a Hebrew Technion Certificate, and resided in Haifa.

Brillant started his mechanical engineering studies in the Hebrew Technion, and in 1937 he joined the Hagana Flight Club in “Kfar Yeladim” at Jezreel Valley as an instructor. The Kfar Yeladim flight club was the early seed of the Hagana for creating an air-arm, later became the Israeli Air-Force, under the guise of a gliding club. In 1938, he volunteered in the Palestine Police Railway Department (PPRD) of the Hagana Ghaffirs of the Jewish Supernumerary Police, and escorted trains from Zemach at the Sea of Galilee to Port Said, Egypt. During service in the PPRD, he was wounded when his train was damaged by a mine placed by terrorists during the Arab rebellion of 1936-1939. He discharged himself from hospital and returned to his company.

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