Dov Seligman was born on June 30, 1922 in the Bronx (New York) to Lillian (Liba) and Hyman (Chaim). His parents, who came to the US from East Europe, were members of the Bund, spoke Yiddish, maintained a Jewish home, and sent Dov to the Shalom Aleichem School.
When he was 17 years old, Dov joined the "Hashomer Hatzair" movement in his town. Dov decided to immigrate to Palestine, but not before studying agriculture and preparing himself to become a farmer in a kibbutz. He began his studies at the Faculty of Agriculture in Pennsylvania, but had to stop his studies when he received a draft order, and joined the US Air Force. He was sent to serve on a small island in the Pacific Ocean, where he served for three and a half years.
Upon his discharge from the Air Foirce, Dov joined other friends in bringing the 'illegal' immigration of Holocaust survivors to Israel and was part of the crew of the 'Wedgewood,' which was caught by the British who sent its passengers to Cyprus.
When he was freed from the detention camp, Dov assumed his mother's maiden name 'Smilansky' and became a member of the newly established kibbutz Ein Dor in the lower Galilee. During the War of Independence, on January 19, 1948 Dov was killed by sniper fire while plowing the fields of Ein Dor. He was buried temporarily at Mishmar HaEmek and then moved to the cemetery at Ein Dor.
In 1951 his parents, sister, brother and nieces came on aliya, living at Ein Dor, together with Dov's widow Chana, who has remarried.
