Roy Rubin

Researcher, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Roy Rubin was a Hungarian Jew, one of 37 Jews living in Palestine, now Israel, who were trained by the British army to parachute into Yugoslavia during the Second World War in order to help save the Jews of Hungary, who were about to be deported to the German death camp at Auschwitz. Roy was arrested at the Hungarian border, imprisoned and tortured, but he refused to reveal details of his mission, and was eventually tried and executed by firing squad. He is regarded as a national hero in Israel, where streets are named after him and his poetry is widely known.