Reuven Dafni

Reuven Dafni ( ; born Ruben Kandt ; Zagreb , 1913 – 2005, Israel ) was Croatian Partisan , Israeli soldier and diplomat, one of founders of kibbutz Ein Gev and longtime assistant director of the Yad Vashem memorial center.¹ Dafni was born on November 11, 1913 in Zagreb to a Croatian Jewish family with two siblings. Dafni studied in Vienna , where his father was a diplomat. He was an active athlete, member of the student union and a Zionist youth movement activist. In 1936, Dafni immigrated to Mandatory Palestine where he became one of the founders of kibbutz Ein Gev . In 1940, he joined the British Army Jewish Brigade , with whom he fought against the Nazis in the North African Campaign and the Battle of Crete , in Greece . In mid-March 1944, with several other paratroopers, Dafni was dropped into the Yugoslav front and from there joined up with the partisans and kept radio contact with the Western Allies . Dafni spent six months in Croatia , and after the war he returned to his kibbutz. In 1946, as a member of the Haganah , Dafni purchased weapons and raised funds for the purpose of defense in the United States . Bugsy Siegel was one of his contributors. In 1948, Dafni returned to the United States to help raise funds for the newly established State of Israel . That year he was appointed as the first Israeli consul in Los Angeles . From 1953 to 1956, he served as consul general of Israel in New York City . Later, he also served as consul general in Bombay , India , and also served as ambassador to Kenya and Thailand . Dafni was married to Rina ( née Grossman) with whom he had two children, a son, Yoram, and a daughter, Avital.²