STURMAN, ḤAYYIM

STURMAN, ḤAYYIM (1891–1938), *Haganah leader in Ereẓ Israel. Born in the Kiev district, Ukraine, Sturman settled in Ereẓ Israel with his parents in 1906. He then became an agricultural worker at Sejara. He joined the founders of *Ha-Shomer and participated in the establishment of *Merḥavyah and afterward of the Ha-Shomer settlement of *Tel Adashim. During World War i Sturman participated in the secret activities to provide the yishuv with arms. He was discovered and arrested by the Ottoman authorities, and he returned to Tel Adashim after his release. Following the war he moved to Kevuẓat *Kinneret and was one of the organizers of the *Gedud ha-Avodah (Labor Legion) settlement activities in the Harod area. In 1921 he participated in the founding of *En-Harod, of which he was a member until his death.

Sturman was among those primarily responsible for the defense of the Harod bloc and an active member of the national center of the Haganah. He traveled as a political and agricultural emissary to neighboring countries, aided by his fundamental knowledge of Arabic and the Arab way of thinking. During the Arab riots of 1936–38 he was constantly in responsible positions for the defense of his area. At the same period he was one of Orde *Wingate's advisers and friends. When he was returning from a visit to the *stockade and tower settlement of *Tirat Ẓevi together with two friends, all three were killed when their car went over a road mine near the Arab village of Samaria. The school shared by En-Harod and Tel Yosef, and the nearby Bet Sturman, which serves as a museum institute for research of the eastern Jezreel Valley, were established in his memory and kibbutz Ma'oz Ḥayyim was named after him.

His son, moshe, fell in the Israel War of Independence and Moshe's son, Ḥayyim, was killed in 1969 in the Israel Defense Forces' commando action on Green Island at the mouth of the Suez Canal.

bibliography:

Bet Ḥayyim Sturman, Ḥayyim Sturman, Aharon Etkin, D. Mossinsohn … (1968); Moshe Sturman, le-Zikhro (1965).