Ehrlich, Avraham Zvi (Hershka)

Avraham Zvi (Hershka), son of Rivka and Aharon-Yosef Ehrlich, was born in 1918, in Kursk, Russia, to a family of immigrants from Poland. In 1922 he moved with his parents to Poland, to the city of Zamosc, Lublin district. Because of his refusal to accept Soviet citizenship, he was deported to northern Russia, to the Vologda forests. He spent 15 months in the deportation, worked hard while eating badly and lacking complete freedom. As the Germans approached, he wandered south into the steppes of Uzbekistan in order to cross the border and reach Israel. After a year and a half of wandering, working in kolkhozim, with a lack of bread and roofing, the Russians transferred him to Persia, with 400 Jews from Turkestan, who had joined the Anders Army. In Teheran he contacted the Palestine Office and in July 1942 he arrived in Israel. As a member of the youth movement of the Land of Israel, he went to Kibbutz Ein Chaim in Atlit. There he married and had a daughter. He was humble and kind-hearted, loving and devoted to his family. He did not demand anything for himself and was ready to offer help to anyone who wished it. He spent two years as a construction worker and was accepted as a student at the Technion. When the War of Independence broke out, he enlisted in active duty and joined a battalion in the Givati, despite the fact that he was entitled to partial service, especially because of the illness of his wife. He took part in many battles and fell near Hulikat on 16 Tishrei, October 19, 1948, during the “Yoav”operation to break through the Negev. Avraham-Zvi was laid to rest in the military cemetery in the village of Warburg.