„I fought against Czech weapons at Tobruk and in the Six-Day War. A tank made in Škoda is still at the war monument at Golan Heights.”
Eliahu Brodavka was born in Moravská Ostrava as Erich Brodavka into a mixed Czech-German Jewish family. His mother was of Austrian origin; his father's mother tongue was Czech. Erich Brodavka was fluent in both languages and since 1936 he attended Czech schools in Ostrava. His parents as well as young Erich had a very liberal attitude towards the Jewish religion, his friends were Czechs - Christians, after the War he married a Christian. In September 1940 he left to Palestine on the Melk ship in one of the last official German transports. In Romania he changed to an overseas ship Milos and in Haifa, the refugees were moved by the British to the Patria ship. Eliahu Brodavka witnessed the sinking of Patria by the Israeli Hagana, which resulted in more than 260 casualties. In 1942 he joined the Czechoslovak troops in Jerusalem. He served as a driver at Tobruk, in England and at Dunkerque. After the war he worked as a bus driver in West Bohemia. In 1948 he was contacted by Israeli agents and he entered the Czechoslovak Armed Forces in Israel. He managed to leave with his wife and a little daughter. Since 1949 he lives in Israel, in the 50s he moved to a village called Moshaf Arbel near Tiberias. In Israel, he worked as a bus driver and a mechanic in the local agricultural center.
