Freund, Yaakov (Kurt, Pym)

Yaakov (Kurt, Pym), son of Elfrieda and Shimon Freund, was born in 1914 in the city of Bonsalen, Silesia, Germany. In 1933 he graduated from high school and was about to enter university, but Hitler’s rise to power in Germany and the laws against the entry of Jews to higher education institutions canceled this plan. In October 1933, he immigrated to Israel and arrived in Lubav Shemen, but he got sick there and as a result of a long illness he was denied all physical work and so continued his studies. In 1934, he began studying at the Beit HaKerem Teachers’ Seminary in Jerusalem and completed his studies. He joined the Hashomer Hatzair movement and was active in it, and after his studies he was offered various job offers by private institutions, but he did not respond to them and joined Kibbutz Hatzor. During the War of Independence he joined the ranks of the defenders. On 14 Elul, September 18, 1948, he fell in Kibbutz Hatzor. He was laid to rest in the kibbutz cemetery. He was survived by a wife, Deborah, a daughter, Naomi, and a son, Jacob.