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About Chaim Geyari / Heinz Löwenthal
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Chaim was born on November 1st 1920 in Nuremberg, Germany.
The family was affluent and belonged to the middle class. Chaim’s father was a doctor and his mother came from a family of bankers. They had a big house which was located on one of the main streets of Nuremberg. German culture, literature and classical music were an integral part of the parents’ home.
Chaim went to an ordinary school, and his connection to Judaism and Zionism was very loose. When the Nazis took power in Germany it all changed. The marches and rallies of the Nazi party took place primarily in Nuremberg. During that time the Nuremberg Laws were legislated. The family’s house had a big balcony in the direction of the main street. Chaim used to tell the story of how he saw Hitler and all the Nazi leaders up close while they were joyfully wandering around and dining in the various hotels that were scattered throughout the street.
The event that caused him to emigrate to Eretz-Yisrael took place in 1936. During a paper inspection at a railway station the police found in his wallet a photograph of a blond girl who was his girlfriend. Jews were not allowed to consort with non-Jewish girls at the time, and he was suspected of breaching the Nuremberg laws. He spent numerous days being interrogated by the Gestapo in Dortmund, until they found that the blond girl was actually Jewish.
Following the incident, his parents decided to send him out of Germany. They were not Zionists, and wanted to send him to America. However, they could only get a certificate to Eretz-Yisrael. He got to there by boat in 1936 at 16 years old and was soon accepted to the agricultural school “Mikve Israel”, which was a melting pot of immigrant and native children. He never talked much about any of the adaptation difficulties he experienced there, and when he was asked about it years later he preferred not to go into details, but one can only imagine what he had to go through in order to become integrated in the new society.
About two years later, a few months before the 2nd World War broke, his parents invited him to visit them in Europe. He flew to meet them in Czechoslovakia, and after that they separated again. A few months later, his parents managed to leave on the last boat carrying refugees from Germany to England. There, they joined his younger sister Lisa who had earlier left Germany on a Kindertransport. In 1940, the three of them left for the United States, where they settled and spent the rest of their lives. Chaim returned to Eretz-Yisrael and graduated from Mikve Israel. Due to his excellence he was asked by the Principal to stay and serve as a young teacher. During this period he created contact with a group of “Yekkes” (Jews of German origins) who settled in Ben-Shemen. He formed friendships and found a common language, and when the members of the group left for training in En-Harod in 1939 he joined them, and this is how he ended up in the place which he would call home ever since.
Following his first year in En-Harod, the British Army began recruiting Jews from Eretz-Yisrael for the war on Germany. Chaim was among those who volunteered – and was sent to the Royal Air Force, where he specialized as an engineer and as an ordnance soldier. During the war he participated in battles in Greece and North Africa, and landed in Sicily during the first invasion in Europe.
After the war he returned to En-Harod where he met Tchia. They married in February 1948 and soon afterwards he was recruited again, this time to the IDF and its newly established Air Force. He was the only one who specialized in three areas: salvaging planes that were brought down or performed emergency landings; arming bombers; and a unique expertise in synchronization of machine guns in fighter aircrafts that shoot through their propeller blades. Such expertise demanded, for obvious reasons, precise correspondence between the firing rate and the engine RPM. During the battle period, he visited British airport terminals in his home country and abroad; bought and collected plane related items; found, improvised and fitted spares and ammunition. In such modest fashion, without the glory of a pilot, he was one of the participants in the operations of the new Air Force during the 1948 War. He liked to tell the story of how they delivered B-17 bombers from Czechoslovakia. After they were fitted with explosive devices at the En-Harod welding workshop, they were sent to attack in Cairo. After the 1948 War he continued working at the standing army and the Ministry of Defense, and for many years served in procurement and ordnance positions in the Air Force.
Following his service, he returned to En-Harod and participated in the establishment of Palbam and Ricor factories. His work in Palbam occupied the majority of his life, and that is where he left his mark and sacrificed power, time and health. He saw En-Harod as his home. Although he was not born there, and despite cultural and mental difference being a never ending challenge, he socialized, created a large family and was an essential part of the kibbutz for the good and for the bad. With his vigilance and unique sense of humor, he was constantly involved in the cultural and social activities. His gardening and stamp collecting hobbies were also a significant part of his life.
Chaim was not an easy person. He imposed the same standards on his surroundings as he did on himself: order and organization, honesty and wisdom, professionalism and accountability. He would not accept anything that was not up to par with these principles. Everyone around him – workmates, family members and companions - was guaranteed to get a taste of his unique personality.
Chaim and Tchia’s house was a center of attraction for children and grandchildren as well as the family’s main meeting place. Festive gatherings and family dinners were a routine that provided a warm and protective environment.
In 1998 he was rushed to the hospital following a heart failure, and was never fully recovered. Tchia’s passing in 1999 was a hard blow for him. He spent his last years in En-Harod’s nursing home and passed away on April 2002.
Regarding his first name in Germany: His birth certificate and other early documents show his first name as "Heinz." Two separate stammbaums, a Kohn family stammbaum from ~1935 and the Tuchmann Stammbaum und Chronik (1928) show his first name as "Heinrich." Correspondence and other documents show his nickname was "Heiner."
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Chaim Geyari / Heinz Löwenthal's Timeline
| 1920 |
November 1, 1920
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Nuremberg, Middle Franconia, Bavaria, Germany
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| 2002 |
April 3, 2002
Age 81
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Israel
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April 4, 2002
Age 81
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Ein Harod, Galilee, Northern District, Israel
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