Yosef Gustin (formerly Gurtin) was born in 1918 (5678) in Luts’k (Luck), Poland. He was the son of Gershon (Hirsh) and Channa Gurtin. They also had a daughter. Yosef studied to become a Dental Technician while in High School. When he was about 15 years old, he became active In the “Gordonia” Youth Movement, a Zionist-pioneer youth movement that followed the teachings of A.D. Gordon who was one of the leaders in the city calling for Jewish labor.
Three years later, intending to immigrate to British Mandatory Palestine, Yosef set out for training in Dubnow, Zdunska Wola and the Polish port of Gedansk. In 1936 he immigrated to British Mandatory Palestine, and changed his surname from Gurtin to Gustin.
In 1938, Yosef returned to Poland to visit his mother and sister in Luts’k and “the entire family got together to celebrate the occasion.” When he returned to British Mandatory Palestine, he joined a “gar’in” (a small group of people planning to establish a new settlement) of fishermen from the ‘Gordonia Youth Movement’ who intended to settle in “Kibbutz Neve Yam” (which was established in 1939) near Atlit.
In 1940, Yosef’s “gar’in” moved on to “Kibbutz Gennigar” to train for life on the kibbutz. At the same time, he was active in the “Hagana” (the Jewish underground in British mandatory Palestine) and even finished the course to become a m”m (mefaked machlaka, a platoon commander). On September 23, 1940 Yosef joined the British Army.
Yoske’, as he was called by his friends, was well liked by all. He was a very inquisitive person, wanting to know everything he could. He had a good voice and was a music lover, an idealist, a socialist and an avid Zionist.
On September 21, 1944 Yosef married Yaffa Abramov (who later became known as Yaffa Yarkoni). She was born in Tel Aviv to a family that immigrated during the 1920’s from the Caucasus. Yaffa’s family lived in Givat Rambam in Givatayim where her mother ran a popular coffee shop, Café’ Tzllil. Yaffa was a ballet dancer, appearing with Gertrude Kraus’ ballet group. She also performed at the coffee shop that her mother ran. Yaffa and Yosef’s wedding invitations stated that it was Yosef’s mother, Channa, who was inviting her son’s guests to the wedding. According to Yosef’s cousin, Yossie Weiner, Yosef didn’t know at that time that his mother and sister had already been murdered at the end of 1942, together with most of the Jews in their region in Poland.
Orit Shochat, Yaffa Yarkoni’s daughter, reported that “the day after his wedding, Yosef joined the British Brigade that had just been established. He told his friends that establishing the Brigade just then was the most precious wedding gift he had received. He wanted to fight the Nazis and win the war. A few weeks after he joined the army, he was sent to Italy for training.”
A month later, Yosef was posted to the Infantry Unit of the Brigade that was serving in Italy. In a letter from Italy that he sent to his wife, the singer Yaffa Yarkoni (Gustin), he wrote, “I am looking at my watch and it is 8:00 p.m. I close my eyes and see you sitting at the piano, head bent down, playing ‘Wait for me and I will return’ by Semyonov, because that is what we agreed to do, to devote the hour to each other by singing a song, in order to feel close to one another, even from afar. I too am singing, has my song reached you yet?”
On March 29, 1945 (15 Nissan 5705), Yosef led a group of soldiers to check houses in the “Savio Valley” in Italy. They were to make sure that Germans were not hiding in the houses. They walked to the river bank, to the home of someone known as “Alexander”’ where they were fired upon from within the house. Yosef was hit; he fell, wounded. Fierce fighting broke out among the British soldiers outside the house and the Germans inside. The German mortars finally forced the British soldiers to retreat but Yosef was left in the field. After about six hours, another company of British soldiers went out to the battlefield and found Yosef dead. He was brought back to the camp, later to be buried at the British Military Cemetery in Ravenna, Italy. His wife, Yaffa, received notification of his death shortly before her performance with Gertrude Kraus’ Ballet, where she was appearing at the time.
In 1945, after Yossi was killed in battle, Yaffa’s mother, Malka, and brother Binyamin Chaim, changed their surname from Abramov to Gustin in his memory.
The song “Uri”, that was sung by Yaffa Yarkoni, was written in Yossi’s memory by the actor Rafael Klatchkin.
Yosef’s aunt and her son Yossie Weiner immigrated to Israel during the 1950’s.
Yosef’s name was memorialized in the book “The Jewish Brigade” and in the “First Ones”, a booklet dedicated to the memory of the soldiers of the Brigade.
The details of Yosef Gustin (Gurtin) appear in part on the “Yizkor” site of the Israeli Defense Ministry.
The story of his life was researched and completed in 2018 by volunteers from “Giving a Face to the Fallen”.