Kopler, Yosef (Joop)

Yosef, son of Sabina and Meshulam Kopler, was born in Stanislaw, Poland, in a traditional Zionist home on 29 November 1922. At the outbreak of the War of Independence he was active in the defense of Jerusalem and its environs and saw it as a special duty and privilege to defend Gush Etzion. He fought with the masses of Arabs until they all fell in battle on the day of the 5th of Shevat 5708 (16.1.1948). Yosef was buried in Kfar Etzion. On the 17th of Cheshvan 5710 (17.11.1949) he was transferred to eternal rest with the rest of the victims of the Gush, in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.