Ben-Chanoch, Avraham

Avraham, son of Miriam and Hanoch, was born on August 16, 1913 in the city of Pabianitz, Poland, and grew up in a well-known Zionist family and graduated from a Hebrew high school. He was one of the leaders of Gordonia in Lodz, one of the most prominent Zionist youth movements in Poland. In 1934 he immigrated to Israel and joined the Gordonia group in Rechovot. He immediately became one of its leaders. He was sent on behalf of the group to guide youth and was a member of the management of the Ben Shemen Youth Village, and he carried out the merger of Gordonia and the Mahaneot Haolim into a new movement – the United Movement. He fought with the Golani Brigade and participated in stopping the invasion of the Syrian forces in the Jordan Valley, and as a squad leader, he and his men were armed with Molotov cocktails against tanks. Avraham fell with them on the 9th of Iyar 5708 (18.5.1948), in the battles for the police station in Tzemach, only a few hundred meters from his farm. After the battles, the bodies of the dead were collected from the battlefield and brought to a mass grave in Degania Bet. He left behind a wife and a daughter. His memory was included in the booklet “Shaar” – the book of battles on Degania Bet.