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The Gat Archive Collection

Kibutz Gat, 1951-1956

11 Minutes, 1951
Genre:
Home Movie

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Directed by: Unknown
Language: Silent
| Subtitles not available

The current group of film clips follows events and daily life in Gat after the War of Independence from 1951 to 1956.
The first clip, filmed in 1956, documents the ceremony of laying the cornerstone for the Gat-Gal On School, named after Shalom Finci. Finci, one of the founders of Gat, a Yugoslav immigrant and commander of the kibbutz during the War of Independence, was killed in the Ma׳agan disaster in 1954, and the Gat members gather for a ceremony of remembrance and commemoration of his name. One of the speakers is Zvi Merton, a kibbutz member and poet who wrote the renowned “March of the Aliyah” (also known as “On the Wilderness”) in 1941; the pianist is Ivó Kovács, a musician and choir conductor. Shalom Finci’s widow, Zehava, participates in laying of the cornerstone and planting a tree in a grove in his honour. The event is a multi-participant affair that allows for a broad view of the community, its members, and children, as well as the nature of Gat’s organised public events in the open. Members and children are dressed in meticulous yet straightforward holiday attire, and the speakers’ table is covered with a white tablecloth featuring a framed portrait of Shalom Pinchi. A painted backdrop featuring symbols of the emerging socialist culture: two soldiers, a man and a woman on guard; a car used to break through a besieged road, and the red flags of the socialist revolution.
Additional segments in this group of film clips, taken between 1951 and 1956, feature Gat’s agricultural branches and the power of mechanised farming versus the manual work of the individual farmer, including harvesting fodder for cows, picking beets, and methods of collecting and packaging agricultural produce. The photographer often captures his subjects against the background of mostly open desert wilderness.