Amir, Israel

Kibbutz Amir was established on 29 October 1939 on land purchased by the Jewish National Fund from the Arab village of Khiyam al-Walid. It was the last of the tower and stockade settlements, and the only one to be established during World War II.[4] Its founders were Jewish immigrants and refugees from Lithuania and Poland, later joined by German and Yugoslav settlers.[5] Initially they suffered from outbreaks of malaria, but managed to establish an intensively cultivated farm. According to a 1949 report from the Jewish National Fund, a clinic was opened at Amir for the treatment of malaria and eye diseases by a professor from Hebrew University. Until the beginning of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war treatment there for neighboring Arab villagers was free.[5]

A photo in the June 1940 edition of Life Magazine shows a kibbutz member ploughing the heavy soil with a primitive plough pulled by two water buffalo. Due to its location, the kibbutz was affected by floods every winter, and in 1942 was moved to its present location on land bought from another Arab village, al-Dawwara.

Kibbutz Amir 1940

Kibbutz Amir 30 June 1940

A disposable diaper factory, Tafnukim, owned by the kibbutz was privatized in 2003.[6] On July 15, 2006, a missile fired from Lebanon hit Kibbutz Amir, setting fire to the factory,[7] which is located about 400 meters from the kibbutz residences. The attack was on Saturday when the factory was closed. Four days later, a missile hit a cow shed, killing two dozen dairy cows.[8]

Several important female artists are associated with Kibbutz Amir. Israeli jewelry artist Deganit Stern Schocken was born at Kibbutz Amir in 1947; she now teaches and works in Hadera. American photographer Annie Leibovitz worked as a volunteer at Kibbutz Amir in 1969, and gelatin silver prints of her photos taken during her stay are now part of the collection of the Jewish Museum in New York.