Sampowski, Yaakov (Yankele)

Son of Yona and Yosef, was born in 1928 in Poland. During the Nazi occupation he and his family arrived in Warsaw and were among the inmates in the ghetto. From time to time he sneaked out of the ghetto and into the Christian part of town, bringing food to the family. One day he came home and found no one, because the parents and the rest of the family were taken to an extermination camp. Yaakov managed to escape and found refuge in the home of a Polish farmer in the village and worked for him until the day of liberation. He immediately went to Kibbutz Lodz and on the Bericha route he reached Germany via Italy, and from there he made aliyah. For eight months he was interned in Cyprus, and only in November 1947 he arrived in Israel with all the members of Kibbutz Bamavak. When he arrived he was in a youth company in Ashdot Yaakov. During the War of Independence he enlisted in the Palmach, served in the Harel Brigade, participated in several battles, and fought with them, and Yaakov fell in battle for the Hartov police force on 10.10.1948. He was laid to rest at the military cemetery in Kiryat Anavim.