Kurzruk, Chaim

Son of Rachel and Yaakov. He was born on the 28th of Shevat (5.2.1913) in the city of Kozowa, Poland. In 1914 his family moved to Vienna where he grew up. As a teenager, he joined the ranks of Beitar, where he was active both in education and politics. The tall, broad-shouldered young man, the outstanding, cheerful, energetic athlete, with a smile of kindness always on his face, was liked all those who came into contact with him. In 1933 he immigrated to Eretz Israel and settled in Nahariya, which was among the first builders. He joined the Irgun underground in 1942. In 1942 he joined the British Army, the infantry of the Palestine Regiment, and later moved to the Jewish Brigade and was promoted to corporal. On 15 Nisan, Passover, March 29, 1945, the soldiers of his unit sat near the front, in the Senio Valley of Italy, and set up a guard unit to inspect the positions in the valley. The commander managed to conduct a Seder with his subordinates. He went out at the head of a guard unit to inspect the positions in the valley. As they approached one of the houses, a grenade was thrown at them and Haim was hit by shrapnel. He was buried in the military cemetery in Ravenna. Apparently he had predicted his death, for he had written to the friend three weeks earlier: “The hope that we shall see you is faint.” He left a sister in Israel. His name is mentioned in a memorial to the fallen of Nahariya, and his memoirs were published in “The Book of the Brigade” and “Their Memory of Netzach.” His name was also commemorated in “The Book of Volunteerism,” in the book Yizkor, published by the Jabotinsky Institute and in the “Book of the Year of the Journalists” 1956.