Murder of Alexander Zaid (1938)

Alexander Zaid was born in Siberia, state of the Russian Empire in 1886. In 1904 he moved to Palestine, as one of the first pioneers of the Second Aliyah to reach Eretz Israel. In 1907, he was one of the founders of a secret defense organization which was at the origins (Bar Giora) of the HaShomer organization. HaShomer was established in the Lower Galilee in 1909. The purpose of HaShomer was to provide protection to Jewish Yishuv settlements, freeing Jewish communities from dependence on foreign consulates and Arab security guards during the Ottoman Empire. He was killed by Arabs while he was on guard duty in 1938. He devoted himself to the organization until his death.