Kepl, Aharon (Ari)

Aharon (Ari), son of Malka and Avraham Kepl, was born on March 4, 1923 in the city of Das in northern Transylvania, Romania. He studied at a yeshiva in Da’as and Batshand, then went on to trade in textiles and was known among his acquaintances for his acts of kindness. During the Second World War he was drafted into a special labor battalion for Jews in the Hungarian army, and upon the retreat of the Nazi armies he was taken to a concentration camp in Germany. After the war was over, he returned to his hometown and found meager remains from its large Jewish settlement.
Aharon immigrated to Israel in August 1946. He was held for three months in the Atlit camp, where he joined the Haganah. On 18 Nisan (April 27, 1948), Aharon was killed by shrapnel from a bomb in Tel Aviv. He was brought to rest in the Nachlat Yitzhak military cemetery.