Izbitzky, Michael

Son of Jacob. He was born in 1911 in the city of Turk, Poland. First he studied in cheder and then moved to the elementary school in his hometown where he graduated. When he grew up he worked as a laborer to earn a living, married a wife and had a son. When the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939, the town was one of the first to be hit since it was a border town. After the Nazis entered the city, they immediately began robbing, looting, and murdering Jews. Michael himself was forcibly led to several orders during which Jews were taken and executed. He was later sent to forced labor but managed to escape to Russia. His family was later murdered by the Nazis. In Russia he was sent with masses of refugees from Poland to the “White North” where he worked in the woods. After the signing of the agreement between Soviet Russia and the Polish government-in-exile following the German invasion of Russia, Michael was among the first Polish refugees in Russia to enlist in the Polish army, and as a soldier in the army he arrived in Palestine. In Israel, Michael defected from the ranks of the Polish army and after a while joined the British “Baps” regiment in the British army. When the Jewish Brigade was established, he was attached to it and was happy that he had been given the opportunity to go to the front of the war with the murderers of his family and his people. On the first day of Pesach, 29.3.1945, when his unit was parked on the front line in Italy, the Germans began heavy shelling of the area. Michael was hit and killed. He was buried in the military cemetery in Ravenna, Italy. It is commemorated in “The Book of the Brigade”. An investigation conducted in 2017 found that his resting place in Ravenna, Italy, was the location of Tomb IV.B.3. Palestine Regiment Private Rank. Another family name – Vizhevinsky.