Reich, Daniel (Chico)

The only son of Helena and Karl was born on July 12, 1927 in Lvov, Poland. When he was three months old, his parents immigrated to Israel and settled in Jerusalem. From the dawn of his childhood, he received an atmosphere of love for science and art from his father, the science man, and his mother, the teacher of art and painting. From childhood he played the piano. Daniel attended the Deborah Klein School, the School for Workers’ Children, and the Beit Hakerem High School and graduated with honors. He was a member of the Scouts movement. After completing his studies at the Gymnasium he served for a year and a quarter in the Palmach in Poriah and Degania, and when he completed his service, he began studying at the university in the Department of Natural Sciences, where his teachers appreciated his talents in chemistry, physics and mathematics. The UN General Assembly on November 29, 1947, on the division of the country into two states and the outbreak of the War of Independence in its wake, enlisted a full mobilization in the Haganah and participated in all the battles in Jerusalem and guarding its entrances. In the few hours left for rest, he would come home and read his science books or play the piano, thus relieving the fatigue of the military actions, which he had filled with all his mind and responsibility, but which he did not like. As an outstanding chemist he was supposed to work in a unit of the Science and Technology Corps, but before his transfer he was sent with the “Halachah Department” (“the Mountain Division”), Palmach and Hachash fighters who were sent as reinforcements to Gush Etzion. 1948. The fighters departed from Hartuv on the night of January 15-16 and were loaded with weapons, ammunition and equipment, but due to the late hour of departure and the difficulties, they were unable to reach Gush Katif in the night, and were discovered by villagers in the villages of Beit Natif, Jaba and Surif, (The “Battle Hill”) and fought the masses of Arabs until they all fell in battle on the 5th of Shevat (16.1.1948). They were buried in a mass grave in Kfar Etzion. On the 17th of Cheshvan 5710 (November 17, 1949) he was transferred to the military cemetery at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem with his comrades and other victims of the Gush.