אוסף קיבוץ חולדה

According to the decision of the Zionist Federation the land of Hulda was bought from Arabs in 1905. In 1909 an agricultural “hachshara”= training farm was established for new immigrants. The farm was built as a closed courtyard similar to that of the farm at Kinneret. In the middle was an elegant home for the director of the farm. The first olive forest was planted. Later the Jewish National Fund added more trees and the forest was now called the “Herzl Forest”. Till 1929 many of the pioneers were trained at Hulda and then went on to found their own settlements. During the uprisings of 5689=August 1929, the Hulda hachshara was attacked and the settlers together with reinforcements from the “Haganna” fought vigorously against the Arab attackers. During the battle Efrain Chichick was injured and died and is buried in the Hulda Forest. After a few hours the British police intervened and evacuated the Jewish settlers. The settlement was looted and burnt and remained abandoned for over a year. At the end of the year 1929, new immigrants arrived in Palestine from Poland, Galicia and Latvia and settled in Hadera. This was the first group of the youth movement “Gordonia” waiting to found a new settlement and they were sent to Hulda in order to rebuild the settlement. A group of 12 young men and women came, settled and worked for over a year. In 1931 the Zionist Congress decided on the formal re-establishment of Hulda and the group in Hadera now numbered 40 young members who came to found Gordonia Alef. In 1934 the first child in Hulda was born and that was the impetus for the others to bear children. In 1935 typhus broke out and many members were ill and four of them died. With the outbreak of the Arab hostilities in 1936 the security situation worsened and was very insecure. With the first attack the small children were evacuated to Kibbutz Naan out of worry about an additional attack on the settlement which was in the midst of a forest and surrounded by Arab settlements. In 1937 Hulda was recognized as a legitimate Jewish settlement and the cornerstone of the new Hulda was made (22.06.1937), one kilometer west of the forest. The new kibbutz had family homes, public buildings and the agricultural structures including a water line that brought water to and from the houses from the water tower. In 1938, the members began to move from the forest to the new settlement, Hulda as we know it, a move that took three years to complete. The security situation did not change and Hulda continued to be surrounded by hostile Arab villages till the establishment of the State of Israel. Four members of the kibbutz were murdered by local Arabs when travelling to and from the kibbutz. In October 1943, the day after Rosh Hashanna 5704 (03.10.1943), Hulda was surrounded by hundreds of British soldiers and policemen who searched for weapons which was punishable by death. During the search there was a clash against the British with participation of both the male and female members of the kibbutz. Weapons were found and as a result seven members of the Kibbutz were imprisoned. They were brought to trial in Jerusalem which was widely publicized and the kibbutz members were given sentences from two years to six years of imprisonment. They were released only after World War II. In the War of Independence, during the year 1948 Hulda was the place where the military forces grouped and where the convoys to Jerusalem convened. In May, 1948 the Egyptian Air Force bombed the kibbutz for 12 days. Two members of the kibbutz were killed, the nursery of the babies was destroyed so all the children and women were sent away to Tel Aviv which lasted for four months until new buildings were put up or the old ones renovated for use and only then could they return to their homes in the kibbutz. After the war the kibbutz flourished both financially and socially. During that period there was a big push in the development of new ventures, mainly agricultural, as well as educational, social and cultural activity. A swimming pool was erected, a new building for cultural activities named “Beit Herzl” and the building of 56 apartments for the veteran members of the kibbutz were all built. Economically, Hulda develops its orchards as well as a vineyard for grapes to make wine, one of the biggest in the country as well as olives for olive oil and pomegranates. The photo album reflects the life of Kibbutz Hulda from its inception. A large amount of the photos were taken by the member of kibbutz, Tala Birenbaum nee Zilberberg who was born on 29.05.1911 (4 Av 5671) in the city of Lodz, Poland. She was active in the Zionist youth movement, “Gordonia”. She served as a general “madricha”=leader and a sports instructor. Three years after she finished high school in her city, she participated in the Jewish sports competition “Macabia”, which enabled her and her friend, Dala to make Aliya to Eretz Yisrael .In 1932 she reached Hulda together with her friend. She worked in the citrus groves, in the manufacturing of goat’s cheese, in the kitchen, in the clothing warehouse. In 1935 she got sick with typhus during the big outbreak of the disease and needed a few months of rest till she recovered. She married Yisrael Birenbaum who was later arrested by the British and imprisoned in Jerusalem since weapons were found in his possession. They had a son and daughter. The son Moshele died as a small child. Tala passed away on 16 April, 1993 (23 Adar 5753) when she was 82 years old. The Hulda Archives were named after Pinhas Lavon. The archives were founded in 1962 by Aryeh (Lunk) Avnon who directed it for till the mid 1990’s. For many years the archives were housed on the ground floor of “Beit Herzl” and then for a number of years at “Beit Haminhalot” which was at first the central archive for all the kibbutz movement, “Takam” in Hulda. There are over 400 folders of documentation, thousands of photos which have been cataloged and are in the process of being scanned, hundreds of voice recordings including interview s with the veteran members of Hulda, hundreds of videos which document the daily life of the kibbutz, holidays, events, general meetings of the kibbutz as well as personal files of kibbutz members, photos and books by kibbutz members and books about the kibbutz. Information: Amotz Peleg-Kibbutz Hulda. April, 2015 اقرأ أكثر