Item 075_kremenchuk_ukraine_001 - Kremenchuk Ukraine, "Members of the Hechalutz organisation"

Photograph of 12 young Jewish adults who are part of the Kremenchuk Hechalutz organisation. The Hechalutz Zionist organisation aimed to train and prepare youth and young adults Jews to survive and self-sustain in Israel, through practical training in agricultural work and ideological teaching of the Zionism. Due to the harsh political and economic situation in Israel, it was necessary to have these skills. This immigration to Israel is in light of the Zionist sentiment of aliyah (returning to the Jewish homeland). The members of this organisation competed to become Halutzim, which is a Hebrew word that translates directly to “pioneers”. This originally referred to the first Jews who immigrated to agricultural Palestine from the 1880s until the State of Israel was formed in 1948, but was increasingly used in the 20th century to refer to those who migrate to Israel. In other words, members of this organisation were intending to immigrate to Israel, but were competing due to the limited number of travel passes for this kind of emigration at the same. [Source: https://www.yadvashem.org/about.html].

Some of the members are standing in the back row, some of whom have their hands or arms resting on other members in front of them. The middle row has some members sitting on stools, also resting hands or arms on the front row members, who are lying on the ground. All members of this group photograph are looking at the camera, but are not smiling. All of the Hechalutz members are wearing hats or head coverings, which is an indication of the focus of the organisation being on outdoor work to sustain themselves.