Koblenz, Nissan

Was born in 1892 to a family of wealthy forest traders who came from the city of Kreisburg on the German-Russian border. Although his formal education was only popular, Nissan acquired a wealth of knowledge and rich life experience when he joined his father on his numerous business trips throughout Russia and Prussia. After the First World War, his hometown became part of Latvia, which gained independence. Nissan moved to Riga, the capital city, where he was perceived as a Zionist. He first joined a group of merchants from his city who wanted to immigrate to Palestine as owners of capital. When the program was canceled for various reasons, Nissan joined the Hechalutz movement in 1920, despite his father’s fierce opposition, and immigrated to Israel in 1920. With the Latvian group, he first worked on land training on Mount Scopus to establish the Hebrew University. Nissan invested all his energy, strength and dedication to the team’s success. After a while he left the group and began working as an agricultural laborer in the farmers’ farms in Rishon Letzion. One of the reasons for his move was his desire to save money so that he could bring his fiancee who remained in Riga to Israel. Here, too, he proved his energy and worked so devotedly and industriously that the Arab workers who worked together with him could not keep up with him. On the day of the outbreak of the 1929 riots in Jaffa, Nissan moved to Tel Aviv and, as a Haganah member, was sent to protect the Neveh Shalom neighborhood on the Jaffa-Tel Aviv border. On 23 Nisan (1.5.1921) the house of immigrants suffered from Arab attacks. An Arab policeman shot and killed him and he was laid to rest in a mass grave in the old cemetery in Tel Aviv.