Marantz, Yaakov-Tuvia (Kuba)

Yaakov-Tuvia, son of Chana and Eliezer Marantz, was born in 1921 in Lodz, Poland. After graduating from high school, he began to work in his parents’ factory. On October 14, 1939, when the Germans occupied Poland, he fled to Russia, found work in a quarry, and learned mechanics. When Russia entered the war against Germany, he joined the first Polish brigade in Kosciuszkom, Russia. Yaakov-Tuvia was always one of the first on all fronts, was wounded twice and returned to the front each time. He showed great courage and received seven medals. After his discharge from the army, he returned to Lodz where he met his mother and sister who survived and received the bitter news of his father’s death in the Bergen-Belsen camp.
In 1946 he left Poland to immigrate to Israel. On his way he stopped in Germany, worked in the Bergen-Belsen camp on behalf of the Jewish Agency, first as a driver and later as the director of the JDC workshop. He won the affection of all the camp residents and received letters of thanks from the main leadership and the Bericha administration in Germany.
On May 22, 1948, he immigrated to Israel and immediately joined the IDF, where he served in a raid unit and took part in battles in the Negev during Operation Horev to expel the Egyptian army from the area of ​​Wadi Abid under a barrage of gunfire. In this operation he was injured and fell on the 26th of Kislev 5709 (December 28, 1948). He was buried in Halutza. On 20.7.1949, he was laid to rest in the military cemetery in Haifa.