(1933)

In January 1933, Fira Melamedzon, persuaded by her Mom, went with Maks Brandt to her first ball, which resulted in making her leave Jewish scouting, Hashomer Hatzair. She was „judged” by the head of Poznan Hashomer, Izi Sonnabend and accused of behaving unworthy of a shomer, as they called the members of the Zionist youth organization. The shomers were not allowed to take part in ballroom dancing nor in dancing spots. They were to focus on preparing to leave for Palestine and build the Jewish State there.

Izi, as they called Izaak Sonnabend, was a son of the Poznan synagogue’s cantor and a student of medicine at Poznan University. He appears in many memories of those members of Hashomer Hatzair, mostly children at that time, who managed to survive the war. Though, his photographs haven’t been known so far. Now, we place them together with selected pages of his „Identity books”. They were found among Sonnabend’s student documents stored in the Archives of Poznan University of Medical Sciences. They complete and confirm Fira’s account, according to which Izi Sonnabend gave up studying at Poznan University one year after „judging” her (the details of the „judgment” are described in the book „Fira…”). He was to continue his education at the University of Vienna, where he had moved.