Fruchter, Yitzhak

Son of Miriam and Mordechai, was born on July 23, 1899, in the city of Grodek, Galicia. During the First World War he served as an officer in the Austrian army. In 1920 he immigrated to Israel, worked as a pioneer in roads, building, and drying swamps. He also suffered from lack of work and experienced the hardships of life in Israel. After years he left the kibbutz, moved with his family to Haifa and was one of the first founders of the Kiryat Chaim workers’ neighborhood, and he invested himself in public work and was very active in the security affairs of the place. In 1941, he volunteered for a transport unit in the British army, where he attained the rank of sergeant major, and joined the Jewish Brigade in 1944. He was one of the organizers of the aid to She’erit HaPleita in Europe. In 1945, after his discharge from the army, he returned to Israel and invested himself in public positions. In 1947, Yitzchak immediately enlisted and was appointed responsible for road safety in the Haifa district. On the 22nd of Shvat 5708 (2.2.1948), when he toured the road to Ein Ghazal, he was run over by an Arab car and killed. He was laid to rest at the cemetery in Mizra. He left behind a wife, Stella, and a son, who was also active in Hagana affairs and served in the British navy during the Second World War.