I’m an Israeli, not an emigrant
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Zeev Ron was born in 1924 in Vienna as Wolfgang Reinhold, into a Jewish family with an older brother. He grew up in Brno, where his mother Gina Reinhold moved after divorcing his father; his mother then married a second time, to Josef Lamm. Her mother and stepfather were Zionists, and they were both in Maccabi Hatzair. Wolfgang attended a Jewish grammar school in Brno for four years. In September 1938 he departed to Palestine, which the whole family attempted to reach, though only the sons succeeded - Wolfgang was followed soon afterwords by his older brother Kurt. Wolfgang Reinhold changed his name to Zeev Ron; he studied at the Mishmar Ha’Emek boarding school for a year before joining the kibbutz of Givat Haim. Later, he also lived in the kibbutzes of Ein Gev and Kfar Sod. In autumn 1941 his mother and his stepfather were deported to the ghetto in Łódź; they both died in the war. In 1950 Zeev Ron married Dagmar Pollaková, who was also from Czechoslovakia. Together, they left the kibbutz and settled down near Kiryat Tivon. Dagmar was employed as a teacher, Zeev worked in agriculture and as a joiner; he later headed an insurance company. The couple brought up three children; Dagmar died in 2014. Zeev Ron lives in Ramat Gan.
