VICTOR MESHULAM - BUSTRIK


Victor Meshulam was born in Bitola in 1918. He comes from a poor Jewish family of Bencion and Sarah Meshulam. Due to the difficult financial situation, he had to work with the difficult coal craft in order to make a living for himself and his family. Shortly before the start of World War II, he joined the Communist Youth Movement (SKOJ), and with the beginning of the War Victor Meshulam was one of the first Jewish youth from Bitola to join the partisan resistance movement. As early as July 1942, he joined the Bitola-Prespa detachment "Damjan Gruev", where he was appointed commander of a dozen. In the detachment, Victor also received the partisan name Bustrik. Shortly after the formation, on 2 August 1942 the detachment entered the village of Smilevo, Bitola, where a rally was held, at which it was stated that the partisan movement was continuing the ideals of the Ilinden Uprising. The detachment continued its activity in the Resen area, near the village of Bolno, from where they headed to the Bigla mountain, and other partisans joined there, including Mordechai Nahmias. During this period, the detachment carried out its the first guerrilla action by attacking the police station in the village of Kazhani. After this action, the detachment moved to the border with Albania, near the village of Konjsko, where it merged with the detachment "Jane Sandanski" and a new detachment with the same name "Damjan Gruev" was formed. Such large detachment, which had about 45 partisans, continued its activities in the Aegean part of Macedonia on the move between Florina and Kastoria, where several successful actions were carried out. On 20 May 1943, the “Damjan Gruev” detachment split and the “Goce Delchev” detachment was founded. So, from the young Jewish partisans from Bitola, in the detachment "Damjan Gruev" remained only Salomon Sadikario - Mo, Mordechai Nahmial - Lazo, Zhamila Kolonomos - Cveta, Beno Ruso - Koki, Victor Meshulam - Bustrik and Nissim Alba – Miki; and the newly formed detachment "Goce Delchev" was joined by Ishah Mentesh - Kiro, Estela Levy - Lena, Albert Russo - Kote, Samuel Sadikario - Sami, Alberto Casorla - Berto, Estreja Ovadia - Mara and Adela Faraji - Kata. However, the two detachments often met and acted together and had joint actions. On 6 May 1944, Viktor Meshulam took part in a military operation near Kichevo to attack a train carrying German and Albanian soldiers and equipment. The action was completed successfully, and Victor Meshulam stood out with his courage. The same year, on 8 June, the First Macedonian Brigade was formed in the village of Lokov, in which, among other young Jews, Victor Meshulam-Bustrik was also deployed. All units of the resistance movement were engaged in liberation of the cities, and during the military operations Victor Meshulam Bustrik was appointed commander of the battalion. After the war, 12 Jewish veterans in the National Liberation War received the highest honors for military service, 1941-1945, including Victor Meshulam-Bustrik. After the establishment of the State of Israel, Victor Meshulam, like many other Jews, emigrated there where he started a family and died in the later years.


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