Following is a composition written by one of my students about
the deceased principal of Elementary school Number One, Safed:

The most interesting man I ever met was Mr. Tuviash, my principal. He had a rich but tragic past. Before the Second World War, he was the assistant principal of a religious boarding school in Poland. His wife and three daughters lived in a town some distance away. The German blitzkrieg broke the Polish Army in a matter of days, as the German Army approached the eastern part of the country where the school was located. The principal and all the teachers fled to be with their families, but Mr. Tuviash stayed with the four hundred children. He organized and led them over the Russian border where he managed to find food and quarters for them. When the Germans turned on their former allies, he and the children retreated on foot with the Russian Army. In rain, smow, sleet. And hunger. For weeks and months, they tramped the roads with the battered Red Army to Moscow. Once in the Capital, they were put on a boat and sent up the Volga to a place near Siberia. It was Spring when the children arrived. They were billeted in an old wooden building with no heat. There was a scarcity of food for everyone. Mr. Tuviash once again organized the children into groups for washing, cleaning, and cooking, and he even found time to teach a little. As the short summer came to an end, the teacher realized that his students would never survive the Siberian winter. Without official permission, just before the Volga froze over, he moved the children south to Moscow. On arrival in the capital, he was jailed. After an investigation, the authorities released him. He was given a large building to house the children, where he cared for and taught them. When the Russians counterattacks broke the German Army, Mr. Tuviash took to the road with the children, following the advancing troops. He eventually made his way to Paris, where the Jewish Agency reunited the few families who survived the Holocaust. He and the orphaned children came to Israel. To do that, they had to get around the British Blockade, but eventually their odyssey ended. They came home. Mr. Tuviash’s wife and three daughters died in a concentration camp. He was awarded the Stalin Medal for Bravery, came to Israel, and was the principal of my school. I shall never forget him.