Zeev Liron

Zeev Liron was born in 1922 in Będzin

Liron was born Jomek Zeev-Binyamin Londner in Będzin, Poland, one of 5 children in a family of clothing merchants. He was a Zionist activist and a member of the Jewish fighting organization in the Będzin ghetto. In 1943 he was sent to Auschwitz, where he tried to escape, was sentenced to hanging, and was later released and sent to forced labor in a mine.

After the labor camp was evacuated, he escaped by jumping from a train with his brother. He returned to Będzin, where the Soviets arrested him for Zionist activity. In January 1946 he moved to Italy and worked with the Bricha movement and the Mossad LeAliyah Bet.

He joined the IDF in Italy in May 1948 and finished Flight Course No. 1 in August 1950. He commanded Squadron 140, founded the air force aerobatic team in 1954, and led the air force intelligence branch from 1958 to 1965. From 1966 to 1973 he served on a security mission in Europe and helped arrange the defection of an Iraqi MiG 21 pilot in Operation Diamond.

From 1975 to 1979 he headed the new cooperation unit between air and ground forces. He served as military attaché in Chile and Ecuador from 1980 to 1983 and left the service in 1984, later working in defense exports. In 2013 he was named Yakir Ramat Gan, and he died in 2014.