Heinz Steinitz
Three sons were born to Heinz Steinitz and Dr. Ruth Steinitz. Each turned to sciences: Raphael Steinitz, an astrophysicist, is a Professor Emeritus at the Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be’er Sheba; Gideon Steinitz, a senior geologist, was the former Head of the Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem; and Benjamin Steinitz, a plant scientist retired as a senior research scientist in the fields of plant physiology and horticulture at the Institute of Plant Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Rishon LeZion.
Walter Steinitz
The rise at the beginning of 1933 of the Nazi regime brought an end to both his medical and academic career. He immediately recognized there was no future for a reasonable life as a Jew in Germany. Consequently, he emigrated that same year, together with his wife Alma, to Palestine. He joined a group of Jewish German-born settlers who together founded in 1933 Ramot HaShavim, a village organized as an agricultural commune. For five years (1933-1938) he was member of the leading committee of the village. In 1939 he chaired the committee for less than a year. He was a highly educated person, a polymath with wide interests in the fields of life sciences, geology, philosophy and music. With his skills and experience as teacher, he led courses and gave lectures in the village on biological and agricultural topics relevant to farmers, and contributed to the cultural life of the village. Until his death in 1963, he made his living in Ramot HaShavim from a chicken farm, where he attempted to improve egg production by poultry breeding. After his death in Bad Nauheim, Germany, he was buried in Ramot HaShavim.