Reuven Dafni

Reuven Dafni (ראובן דפני; born Ruben Kandt; Zagreb, 1913 – 2005, Israel) was Croatian Partisan, Israeli soldier and diplomat, one of founders of the kibbutz Ein Gev and longtime assistant director of the Yad Vashem memorial center.

Dafni was born on November 11, 1913 in Zagreb to a Croatian Jewish family with two siblings. Dafni studied in Vienna, where his father was a diplomat. He was an active athlete, member of the student union and Zionist youth movement activist. In 1936, Dafni immigrated to Mandatory Palestine where he became one of the founders of the kibbutz Ein Gev.

In 1940, he joined the British Army Jewish Brigade with whom he fought against the Nazis in the North African Campaign and Battle of Crete, Greece. In mid-March 1944, with several other paratroopers, Dafni was dropped into Yugoslav Front and from there he joined the Partisans and kept radio contact with Western Allies. Dafni spent six months in Croatia, and after the war he returned to kibbutz.

In 1946, as a member of Haganah, for the purpose of defense Dafni purchased weapons and raised funds in the United States. Bugsy Siegel was one of contributors. In 1948, Dafni returned to the United States to help raise the funds for the newly established state of Israel. That year he was appointed as the first Israel consul in Los Angeles. From 1953 to 1956, he served as general consul of Israel in New York. Later he also served as general consul in Bombay, India, and has also served as ambassador to Kenya and Thailand. For 13 years, from 1983–1996, Dafni served as assistant director of Yad Vashem memorial center in Jerusalem.

Dafni was married to Rina (née Grossman) with whom he had two children, son Yoram and daughter Avital. After his wife's death, Dafni remarried twice.