Jacques, Zelig (Saadia)
Son of Sonia and Shlomo. He was born in 1915 in Berezica, Latvia, a town of Jews steeped in tradition, with schools where Hebrew or Yiddish were taught. He studied and was educated in the school in his town and at an early age he joined the Betar youth movement and was active until his immigration to Eretz Israel and his movement’s friends throughout the years. In 1938 he came to Israel and joined the Betar recruitment company and eventually became the head of the branch in Rehovot. After the outbreak of World War II and the Irgun’s declaration of an armistice in its anti-British system during the war, Zelig was one of the opponents of this policy of his organization and during the split that took place in the summer of 1940. In this context he was one of those who joined the Irgun, “Fighters of Herut Israel” (Lehi). In the underground he stood out as a fierce, devoted and committed fighter, a model for his comrades in the agriculture. In mid-March 1941, one of the Lehi hiding places was discovered and Zelig was arrested and transported by train to Acre, where he managed to escape, to return to his comrades and to continue his underground activities On January 27, 1942, he was critically wounded in a clash with British police on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv And was rushed to the hospital. Five days later, on 14 Shvat, February 1, 1942, he died of his wounds. He was laid to rest in the cemetery in Nahalat Yitzhak near Tel Aviv. His name was immortalized in the books “Wanted”, “The Man Who Made the Vow”, “Unknown Soldiers” and “The Blood That Suffered.”
