Yehiel Dresner

Yehiel Dresner
Born	October 13, 1922 Poland
Died	April 16, 1947 Acre, Mandatory Palestine

Yehiel Dov Dresner (Hebrew: יחיאל דב דרזנר‎‎; October 13, 1922 – April 16, 1947) was an Irgun member in pre-state Mandatory Palestine and one of 12 Olei Hagardom.

Dresner was born in Poland to a Jewish family, one of four sons; his mother was from a distinguished rabbinical family. In his youth, he participated in Zionist activities, and when he was 11, his family moved to Palestine and settled in Jerusalem, where he joined the Betar youth movement. Dresner was 15 when Shlomo Ben-Yosef was hanged: the incident had a powerful effect and instilled in him an urge for vengeance against the British.

Due to his family's difficult financial situation, Dresner dropped out of high school and began working. At age 18, he left the family home and moved to Netanya and worked in the diamond industry.

In Netanya, Dresner joined the Irgun underground movement. His three brothers also joined. and volunteered as a guide for the Betar youth squads. In 1942, he moved to Tel Aviv, where he worked in a factory and joined a group of Jewish nationalists who aimed to combat the use of foreign languages by trying to stop kiosks from selling non-Hebrew newspapers. At one point, he was arrested by the British authorities, but was acquitted at his trial after the Irgun pressured witnesses against testifying. Soon afterwards, Dresner began working extensively with the Irgun, and the Irgun declared an insurrection against British rule.

Initially, Dresner worked in the Irgun's propaganda department, but after a period of time, he was transferred to its intelligence service. In 1944, his brother Tzvi, a senior commander in the Irgun, was arrested five days after his wedding and interned in Africa, and, along with most of the other Jewish underground internees in African detention camps, would only be released in June 1948. After learning that the police planned to arrest him too, Dresner left his home and job and adopted the false identity of Dov Rosenbaum. He initially went into hiding in Tel Aviv before moving to Zikhron Ya'akov and finding work as a guard in the vineyards and eventually came to command a military training course at a secret Irgun training camp between Zikhron Ya'akov and Binyamina. He then moved to Hadera and was placed in charge of the local Irgun branch while hiding from the British and the Haganah, which was then carrying out the Hunting Season. After escaping a Haganah abduction attempt, he returned to Tel Aviv, where he served in command positions.

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