The House where Brenner was Murdered
Yitzkar house was built in the 19th century in the orchards area near Abu Kabir. The Yitzkar family, after whom it is named, bought it in 1918 and operated a dairy there. The house was painted red and was therefore called "The Red House" or "Katzer al-Ahmar" in Arabic. The Yitzkar family rented part of the house's rooms to sub-tenants, including the writer Yosef Haim Brenner.
Brenner was one of the most important modern Hebrew writers and a public figure at the beginning of the 20th century. His contribution to the resurgent Hebrew literature, his ascetic lifestyle and especially his tragic death created an aura of a mythical figure in the history of the Jewish community in Israel.
On May 1, 1921, riots broke out in Jaffa, and spread from there to other settlements. Arab rioters besieged the Yitzkar house, but its residents managed to drive them away. On the morning of May 2, the besiegers decided to leave the house towards the direction of Tel Aviv, but near the Sheikh Murad cemetery came across a funeral procession of an Arab boy who was killed the day before in riots in Jaffa. The mob pounced on the retreating Jews and attacked them. Brenner was among the murdered, along with five others. The victims were buried the day after the murder in the Trumpeldor cemetery in Tel Aviv.
Brenner's murder was a traumatic event that shocked the Jewish community, and many mourned his loss and paid tribute to him. As one of the symbols of the Jewish labor movement, Brenner was honored postmortem and commemorated in various ways, such as Kibbutz Givat Brenner that was named after him, as well as neighborhoods and streets in many cities throughout the country.
After the occupation of the village of Abu Kabir in the War of Independence, Beit Yitzkar stood abandoned until it crumbled and demolished in the 1960s. In 1968, a new building known as "Mishkan Brenner and his friends" was built there, which now houses the center of the “Working and Learning Youth” movement. Inside the building there is a memorial room for the residents of the house who were murdered, as well as an exhibition about Brenner's life and work.
(Anecdote authored by: עמיר)
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