Eliezer Rogovin
By the Volozhyn Yizkor Book Editorial team
Translated by M. Porat
From the Volozhyn Yizkor Book (Hebrew page 666)
Eliezer Rogovin was born on May 6th, 1922 to his parents Toybe and Tzvi Rogovin. They were a modest working class family. However they were concerned with knowledge and decided to give their most talented son a strong Hebrew education.
In 1941, immediately after entering Volozhyn, the Gestapo enclosed the entire family with all the towns’ Jews in a tiny Jewish ghetto. On the day of the Ghetto liquidation Eliezer Rogovin was able to escape to the Nalibok-Stolbts vicinity. He found his way to the resistance and joined in the partisans’ ranks. He was together with Bernsteyn, in the Tshkalov partisan unit. Eliezer excelled in fighting the Germans. He was awarded many medals, and he was even awarded the most prestigious decoration, the golden star, as Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1943 he was designated to be a Lieutenant and as a sapper unit commander. His main duty was to wreck the railways and to damage the military German trains.
In one of his encounters with the Germans, the enemy was much stronger. Eliezer decided not to retreat and to fight them until the final bullet. The battle lasted for a long hour. Eliezer Rogovin was wounded but he continued fighting. When some German soldiers draw near him he tossed a hand grenade and killed two of them.
Eliezer was later hospitalized for two months. When he was healed he returned to the battlefield. In the Nalibok forest he isolated, surrounded and defeated a German unit.
After the liberation of Volozhyn, Eliezer was appointed as the head of the secret service in the area. He executed a German corroborator that was responsible for his family extermination. Later Eliezer joined the Soviet army and fought in their ranks all the way to Berlin. When the war ended he left the Soviet Union for Poland. He was able to accomplish it as a former Polish citizen. In Lodz’ he joined the Gordonia Zionist movement and took the "Habriha" — escaping way. He was active in the Jewish refugee camps, in Salzburg, Vienna and Italy as instructor and Hebrew teacher at the illegal, Aliya Bet, Organization. In Italy he joined the Irgun Tsvayi Leumi (EZEL). He made Aliya, was caught by the British and expelled to Cyprus. He tried twice to run away but he was caught at each attempt. After spending an entire year in Cyprus he was permitted to enter Israel. Eliezer joined the Israel Army, as a mining officer. He excelled in his duties.
Near the end of the Independence war battles, Eliezer Rogovin volunteered to dismantle mine fields in the Negev. He was killed at a mine explosion in Beer Sheba vicinity in December 26th 1948. Eliezer Rogovin was buried in Rehovot.
To Leyzer Rogovin’s Memory
By Yafa Abramovitsh (Sheyna Lidski from Horodok)
Translated by M. Porat
From Volozhyn Izkor Book (Hebrew page 667)
I recall
Leyzer Rogovin
The rebellious hero
The partisan from Volozhyn
Gun in hand
I‘ve seen you in the wood
Your blond forelock flask in the wind,
Young and alert,
To the brutal battle.
Your words: "Revenge! Vengeance!
For our holy martyrs,
For Volozhyn
For my burnt Jewish Home"
"Deep in my body and soul
Is an open ugly wound
But my suffers will heal
When on the battle field
I will fight, win and fall."
Camp Krasno You fled,
With enemy weapons abounding,
At the darkness of night
Deep in forest you ran.
Many times I have seen you
On the guard,
You told me
With a smile on the face:
"Today, rails will blow up"
To the bandits it will be shown
They must die and see,
Their own mortality
Through their blind eyes!
Yes, You have gone
On your fighting battle way
With the Horodok hero-Partisans
Nazi trains to blow away.
Returned back into the woods
Happy and joyful
The command was fulfilled
Efficiently, clean and fast.
I’ll remember forever
Your winner’s mood,
Your young and smiling face.
After the war we met again,
In the Austrian Alps
You had a sermon
Revealing a victory saga.
You joined the Beytar rank
To lead to your land
To preserve there
The remnants left after Hitler’s hell
Breathing, suffering souls,
You transformed your battle
Versus the closing gates
You, Leyser the partisan
You could not
Let go of your gun
Our triumph you did not see
That victory you so sought to live
You fell in battle
Hero among heroes
Your Death in the Combat
Was for the liberty,
Of our own land.