Dr. Olla Bukspan was born in Austrova, Czechoslovakia July 15,1905, to Antonina and Avigdor. She had an older sister. Her father was immensely Zionist, an engineer, a wealthy contractor, president of the Hebrew community, and of the Czech Maccabia, and among the originators of the Maccabia idea. Her mother was a housewife, who dedicatedly took care of her daughters. In 1924, at 19, Olla left for Vienna to study at University; art in her first year, then medicine. That year she met Dr David Bukspan, her future husband. After finishing medical school, she specialised in ophthalmology. During their stay in Vienna, the couple was active in the Jewish student corporation “Ha’ivriya”. David and Olla married on March 20,1930; after David finished training as a lawyer, they arrived in Israel 1934.
She was among National Healthcare’s first female doctors, also working in clinics for the needy. Olla joined Etzel at the end of the 30’s, where Avraham Stern was one of her instructors, including weapons usage. She joined Lehi 1944 and served as a doctor at Etzel and Lehi. Among her contacts was Marese, responsible for Lehi’s Medical Division. She helped many Lehi and Etzel members in hard dangerous times (among her patients were Nathan Yellin-Mor, Yitzhak Shamir and Israel Eldad). She was known as a great doctor, liked by her patients, whom she looked after until her last day. Her husband, a Revisionist Party leader in the 30’s and 40’s, served as a contact person between the Party and the underground movements; he went out for important missions abroad. He was close to Avraham Stern, David Raziel Yitzhak Shamir, and many other Etzel and Lehi heads. He passed away 1972. Olla’s parents perished in the Holocaust; her sister passed away in the 1950’s. Her children only found out about her underground involvement during the siege on Jaffa, when she took great care of Etzel fighters. Olla was a warm mother, a loving grandmother, very dedicated to her family. She passed away in 1980 and left her body to science. She left two sons and five grandchildren.
