Aaronsohn, Yerachmiel (Elisha)

Son of Zipporah and Dov. He was born in 1918 in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, to an affluent and educated family. Since his childhood, he has been at home in Hebrew and then studied and completed his studies at the “Laor” Jewish Gymnasium. He took advantage of the right granted by the British to come to Israel for studies outside the framework of the certificates. He immigrated to Israel in 1939 and began studying at the Technion in Haifa. Even before his immigration, he joined the Irgun cell in Warsaw, and his friends and family were of average height, black hair, black burning eyes, a cheerful young man, full of hope and confidence. After the outbreak of World War II and the split in the Etzel, he joined the Lehi underground and was called “Elisha.” When the Lehi activists, Yitzhak Shamir and Eliyahu Giladi, escaped from the detention camp in Mizra in September 1942 and reached Haifa, a place to sleep. After a while he moved from Haifa to Tel Aviv and was charged with organizing an underground civilian home. This was supposed to be a separate division, also a conspirator, that would provide assistance to the fighting underground according to its needs: housing, finances, medical assistance, etc. This initiative sank his characteristic energy and charm and a great deal of persuasion. He initiated and prepared material for an internal newsletter called Shocharei Herut Yisrael, whose first issue was published in the month of Shvat 1944. On March 19, 1944, Elisha walked on Mazeh Street in Tel Aviv, And he was ordered to stop, but he ignored the demand and tried to escape to another street. The police began to chase him and he shot at them and slipped into the stairwell of House No. 33. He rang the doors but there was no answer. When he reached the locked door of the roof, he shot again at the policemen who had been chasing him, and then he was shot and killed by submachine guns. A forged identity card with the name Zalman Furman was found on his body. He was buried in Nahalat Yitzhak without being identified and buried in the name of Avraham son of Avraham. He was 26 years old. His memory was immortalized in the books “Unknown Soldiers” by Y. Banai and “Red Days” Memories of Matti Shmuelevitz.