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Tuvya Smolensk, son of Chaya and Yehoshua, was born in 1916 in Tartan, Estonia. His mother, Chaya, was a seamstress. His brothers: Reuven, Ami and Meishe were killed in Estonia during the battles of WWII, while serving in the Red Army. His brother Boriya, the youngest son in the family, who was almost 20 years younger than Tuvya, survived. He moved to America in the 1970's. When Tuvya was fourteen, (1930) he joined the Beitar Youth Movement which is how he became involved in seamanship. In 1935 Beitar purchased a sailboat, with three masts, called "Theodore Herzl". In September of that year 42 youngsters, 20 of whom had been trained to sail, boarded the sailboat. As part of their training, they set sail in the Baltic Sea and transported goods from place to place. When WWII broke out these voyages came to a halt. Tuvya joined the British Navy as a crew member and assisted the Allied forces in the war against Germany. He came to Israel in 1940. Between the years 1940-1944 Tuvya worked for the "Heatid" Shipping Company and in 1948 he joined Zim. He worked there until his retirement in 1981. In 1949 Tuvya received a certificate of ordination as a naval captain for long voyages. He served on the ship "Galila" which transported illegal immigrants from the detention camps in Cypress to the Haifa port. This photographic collection includes pictures on passengers on the "Galila" and "Dromit" ships on their journey from Famagusta, Cypress until they disembarked in the Haifa port. Tuvya married Miriam-Rachel Hilb (1925) on April 8, 1949. She was a graduate of the Teacher's Seminary and ran a kindergarten in her parent's yard on #6 Horev Street in Haifa for 20 years. After their marriage, they sailed on their honeymoon on the ship 'Eilat'. During the years 1950-1951 Tuvya sailed on ships from the "Meir Dizengoff" Company and "Zim-Hadar" company. In 1951 he was ordained as a Captain. In 1954 until 1960 he commanded the ships; "Eilat", "Dego", "Kedma" and "Petrihi". These ships transported agricultural and naval equipment and goods from throughout the world, including Japan and Scandinavia. In 1960 he became the Captain of the passenger ship "Jerusalem". On one of the voyages of the ship, he met members of his family, his mother and his younger brother Boriya. Between the years 1967-1981 Tuvya sailed in the ships; 'Zim', 'Ein Gedi', 'Ceasaria' (later 'Dado') and 'Kinneret'. He retired in 1981. Tuvya and Miriam had three children: Tamar (1954) later Vermut (she passed away in 1993 from cancer), Michal (1957) later Trotsky and Reuven (1961) later Sa'ar. Reuven was also a 'man of the sea'. He studied at the naval officer's school in Acre, served as an officer in the Navy and was a commander of a Dabur ship. He fell in the line of duty in 1984 when he was 23 years old. Tuvya Smolensk passed away in 1993 at the age of 77. He was buried in the Sde Yehoshua Cemetary in Haifa. His wife Miriam Rachel passed away in 2007 and is buried at his side, as is their daughter Tamar who also passed away in 1993. The photographs in this collection were brought to the Yad Ben-Zvi Archives by Michal Trotsky, the daughter of Tuvya and Miria Smolensk. The pictures gives us a peek into the work of Tuvya (Tefi) Smolensk as a Captain on various ships before the establishment of the State of Israel and afterwards, as well as personal pictures of the family. Tefi filmed his journeys and family celebrations on an 8mm camera from the mid 1950's until his death.
Language:
שפה נוכחית
