Givat Brenner (), is a

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

in the Central District of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Located around south of

Rehovot Rehovot (, / ) is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of . Etymology Israel Belkind, founder of the Bilu (movement), Bilu movement, proposed the name "Rehovot ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Brenner Regional Council Brenner Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Azorit Brenner''; ), is a regional council in the Central District of Israel. It is located in the westernmost portion of the Shephelah, in the vicinity of Rehovot and Yavne. The council is named after wri ...

. Founded in 1928, it is named after writer Yosef Haim Brenner, who was killed in the Jaffa riots of 1921. In it had a population of . It is the largest

History

Givat Brenner was founded in 1928 by Enzo Sereni and a group of immigrants from

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. That same year, pioneers had settled on some 200 dunams (49.4 acres) of land that had been purchased by Moshe Smilansky from the Arab landholders of Aqir and

Zarnuqa Zarnuqa (), also Zarnuga,Reuter, 2004, pp956 was a Palestinian people, Palestinian Arab village in the Ramle Subdistrict, Mandatory Palestine, Ramle Subdistrict. It was depopulated on 27–28 May 1948 during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Location ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Givat Brenner supplied products such as jam to the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, which laid the foundation for its export business. File:קיבוץ גבעת-ברנר בראשיתו-JNF022265.jpeg, Givat Brenner 1928 File:Flickr - Government Press Office (GPO) - Kibbutz Givat Brener.jpg, Kibbutz Givat Brenner, 1935 File:Givat Brenner factory.jpg, Food canning factory, Givat Brenner, 1939 File:El Ramle 1945.jpg, Givat Brenner 1945 1:250,000 File:Rehovot 1948.jpg, Givat Brenner 1:20,000 File:Giv'at Brenner.jpg, Members of Company H,

Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Phalanges/Companies") was the elite combined strike forces and sayeret unit of the Haganah, the paramilitary organization of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of th ...

, in Giv'at Brenner, 1945 The establishment of an irrigation equipment factory led to the creation of a

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

. The foundry evolved into a specialized aluminum die-casting company, which has produced, among other things, the housings for emergency phones along the

New Jersey Turnpike The New Jersey Turnpike (NJTP) is a system of controlled-access highway, controlled-access toll roads in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The turnpike is maintained by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA).The Garden State Parkway, although ma ...

. In 1938, it opened the first kibbutz sanatorium in the country.

Demographics

According to a

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

conducted in 1931 by the British Mandate authorities, Givat Brenner had a population of 155 inhabitants and a total of 5 residential houses.Mills, 1932, p
20
/ref> In 1970 the population was 480.

Education

Givat Brenner Regional School serves the communities of the Brenner Regional Council. The offices of the Regional Council are also located in the Kibbutz.

Economy

Givat Brenner's plant nursery supplies turf for lawns and parks. The kibbutz grows cotton, avocado, wheat and corn. Industrial ventures include a furniture factory, metalwork factory, canned foods plant and an irrigation equipment factory, which gradually shut down for financial reasons. The 'House of Dreams' amusement park was established to offset waning income from the orchards, plant nurseries and factories, but was eventually closed.

Landmarks

The Treasure Museum, in the heart of the kibbutz, opened on the Givat Brenner's seventieth anniversary. It houses a collection of artifacts and photographs that tell the story of the kibbutz pioneers.

Notable people

* Achi Brandt, mathematician noted for pioneering contributions to multigrid methods * Aharon Megged, author * Dorothy Bar-Adon, an American-born journalist, lived in the kibbutz from 1936-1938 * Yitzhak Sadeh, writer and

Haganah Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist political violence, Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the reg ...

officer *

Jessie Sampter Jessie Sampter (March 22, 1883 – 1938) was a Jewish educator, poet, and Zionist pioneer. She was born in New York City and immigrated to Palestine in 1919. Biography Jessie Ethel Sampter was born in New York City to Rudolph Sampter, a New ...

, poet, close friend of Hadassah founder Henrietta Szold, established a vegetarian convalescent home on the kibbutz in 1938 * Isaac Frenkel Frenel, Ecole de Paris artist, lived in the kibbutz with his family (1941-1942), taught art in a nearby school. * Hemi Rudner rock musician, songwriter, ember of Eifo Ha Yeled

References

External links

Official website

From Socialist Dream to Capitalist Reality
New York Times, April 1998
http://www.givat-brenner.co.il Givat Brenner website
{{Authority control German-Jewish culture in Israel Kibbutzim Kibbutz Movement Populated places established in 1928 Populated places in Central District (Israel) Polish-Jewish culture in Israel Lithuanian-Jewish culture in Israel 1928 establishments in Mandatory Palestine