Kopolowicz, Shmuel (Kupo)

Son of Leah and Jacob, was born in 1916 in the city of Khust, Czechoslovakia. He studied at Yeshivah, acquired higher education and studied medicine. In 1940 he left Nazi Slovakia and boarded the rickety “Pancho” ship in order to immigrate to Israel. On the way, the ship drowned near a deserted island, where its passengers saved their lives. They were transferred to camps in Italy, where he lived for about four years until he immigrated to Israel in 1944. He worked in diamond polishing and joined the organization of the Irgun Zvai Leumi. With the outbreak of the War of Independence, he enlisted and served in the Givati ​​Brigade and served as a medic. He fell in Hulikat on the 19th of Tishrei, 5709 (October 19, 1948) during the “Yoav” operation to break through to the Negev, when he helped a wounded friend. A short time before the attack, he complained of leg pain, but did not want to give up his participation in the operation. “What, are you going to battle, and I’ll stay here?” – said. He went out with his friends and did not come back. He was laid to rest at the Warburg military cemetery.