Dr. David Meier Beker was born April 25, 1913 in Poland. He was the son of Samuel and Reisie Beker. I happen to have some documents pertaining to him, because he was a first cousin of my maternal grandmother Sara Cohen Minkowitz. Grandmother Sara’s mother and Dr. Beker’s mother were sisters. I do not know the date of his death because he was lost at sea while serving on a British ship off the coast of Malta sometime in 1945. The ship sank and all on board died. His body was never recovered.
To the family, Dr. Beker was known as Meier (מאיר). His hair was black, as were his brows and his eyes were black as well. That’s what the documents say. His eyes were not brown. They were black! This reminds me of a Russian song.
Dr. Beker served in the Polish military in 1938 and 1939, as seen in his military service booklet.
He was 165 centimeters in height, his nose was straight, his lips were thin, his beard was…? I think he was clean shaven, and he had no special identifying marks. His face was oval in shape.
In 1936 he received his certification as a Doctor of Medicine, after getting his diploma in medicine in 1934 in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
In his civilian life, practiced medicine, as a general practioner. In the army, he was a corporal in the Cadet Reserve. His specialty in the army was medicine.
This booklet is from 1938. Poland fell in 1939 when it was invaded by Germany and Russia (September 1 to October 6). On page 8 of the booklet there is something from August 10, 1939.
The next thing that happened, based on the documents I have, was that Dr. Beker arrived in Romania as a Polish refugee.
In Romania, he stayed at the YMCA.
Dr. Beker eventually arrived in Palestine and began to serve the Hebrew Settlement as a doctor. He lived in Tel Aviv, where he had an uncle (J. Beker) who was already well established.
The above document is the minutes of the Medical Committee from the 13th of November, 1940. While Dr. Beker may not have been there, he must have been informed of its deliberations , as he had a copy of it in his pocket medical book. Present were members of the Medicine Committee, the Doctors Carmen, Gelbitz, Hichman, Heller, Lebkowitz, Meier, Finksohn, Feichel, Kott and Rosenkrantz. For the center, Soroka, Perelson and Kanivski. And Dr. Lebowitz was invited as speaker.
Here is a list of the topics covered:
A. Supervision of Medical Substances
B. The Dietery Department
C. The Obligation of the Doctor to Know the Hebrew Language and to Use It
D. The Injection of a Serum Against Tetanus
Eventually, Dr. Beker heard that his family back in Poland had been killed by the Germans. He decided to enlist in the British armed forces in order to contribute to the war effort. Below is the notice he received when he was awarded a commission.
Dr. Beker voluntarily enlisted to serve in the British military. He did not have to do this, and my grandmother urged him not to. But he wanted to be of service. The following medical documents from his work life remain.
This prescription is transcribed by handwriting expert Kate Gladstone so we can actually see what is written.
Dr. Beker was lost at sea when the British ship he was on sank in the Agean Sea on the 24th of October 1943. His body was never recovered. He never married or had children, but he was mourned by all who knew him. There is a memorial stone that mentions him at the Athens Memorial in Greece.
Many years ago, my grandmother Sara gave me a book Dr. Beker used to own, when she learned I was studying German. The book was titled “Schnirer Medizinal Index”. Inside I found all the slips of paper shared here, and a few more. This is how I happened to find that I had quite a few documents from this remarkable life cut short.
