Komarov, Gershom

Son of Sarah and Nachum. He was born in Kharkov, Russia, and at the age of eight he made aliyah to Eretz Israel, where he studied at the Hebrew Gymnasium in Jerusalem until it was closed at the outbreak of World War I. He later became a police officer and served as a clerk in the Jerusalem prison. Gershom was among the first members of the Haganah and in 1920 was among the defenders in the attack on the Old City and Musrara, during which time he also dealt with the activities of the Shai (the intelligence service) and with the training. On the eve of the holiday of Purim (15 Adar, 15.3.1930) he returned to his home in Talpiot after training for a group of members of the Haganah in Makor Chaim and on the way he was murdered by an Arab. He was laid to rest on the Mount of Olives and engraved on his tombstone the words of Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, one of the Haganah leaders in Jerusalem: “In my life, son of my people. In my death, son of my people.”