Tamar Tilda Mark was born to Camille and Chaya Dvorah (Dora) (nee Katchka) Mark on August 4, 1921 (29 Tamuz 5681) in Vienna, Austria. Her mother passed away when Tamar was just an infant. Her father remarried. Bluma (nee Rosenkrantz) became Tamar’s stepmother and brought her up.
From an early age on, Tamar was a member of the “Gordonia Youth Movement” (a Zionist youth movement based on the beliefs of Aaron David Gordon, i.e. the salvation of the Land of Israel and the Jewish people through manual labor and the revival of the Hebrew language. The cadets learned Hebrew and the graduates organized themselves into training groups pending immigration to the Holy Land) in Vienna, helping to organize the immigration of the youth to British Mandatory Palestine.
Tamar’s kind heartedness, pleasant disposition and willingness to help others caused her to be very popular.
After Austria was annexed to the German Reich, Tamar was witness to the Nazi persecution of the Jews there, and she too was humiliated by them. She was traumatized by all this and decided to immigrate to British Mandatory Palestine.
In April 1939, Tamar reached her destination as part of a group of young members of the Youth Movement. In the beginning she stayed in the Youth Village in “Ben Shemen” training to become a member of the group. A short while after she arrived there she wrote, “We are beginning a new life here. I have heard much about it not being easy here, but I know that life here will be beautiful so this is the path I have taken.”
After completing her training, Tamar arrived at “Shdemot” in Herzliya. From there she moved to “Avuka” and prepared to participate in the building of the new settlement in “Beit Shean”. The other members of the group described Tamar as a happy, fun loving young woman, optimistic and enthusiastic, who loved to dance, sing and listen to music. She also had the spirit of a true Chalutzah, a zealous pioneer who understood the importance of speaking Hebrew.
Meanwhile, Tamar’s parents were exiled from Vienna, and at the beginning of 1942 she lost contact with them.
In January, 1943 Tamar decided to join the British Army. She was assigned to the 511 company of the Women’s Auxiliary Corps that was sent to serve in Egypt. There she wrote frequently to her friends back in the kibbutz that she missed them terribly, and that where she was, it was very important to maintain the Jewish spirit she was familiar with as a precaution against assimilation in the army. In her last letter she wrote that she intended to be back shortly on furlough.
On March 25, 1943 (18 Adar Bet, 5703) Tamar was killed in an automobile accident in Egypt and buried at the Military Cemetery in Tel El Kabir. Her friends at the kibbutz published a booklet about her containing her profile and a list of her accomplishments.
The details of Tamar’s life appear in part on the “Yizkor” site of the Ministry of Defense.
The story of Tamar’s life was researched and completed and a photograph of her has been attached by the volunteers of “Giving a Face to the Fallen”.