Schulgesser, Jacob

Son of Chaya and Shalom. He was born in 1912 in Kalavarya, Lithuania, and at the age of seven he lost his father and then helped his mother to support the family that was in distress, but he continued his studies and graduated from high school in Kovno. And served in its ranks until his immigration to Eretz Israel. He immigrated to Israel as an “illegal” immigrant on one of the illegal immigrant ships of his movement and upon his arrival in Eretz Israel he went to Rosh Pina to fulfill the duty of serving two years in a labor battalion. In 1943, he enlisted in the Israeli infantry battalion (“Baps”) to give his share in the war effort against Nazi Germany. In his unit, which was later attached to the Jewish Brigade, Yaakov was known as a disciplined soldier, silent and humble, but brave and upright. On March 20, 1945, a group of soldiers from the Third Brigade of the Brigade, led by three English tanks, attacked an Italian fortified position in Giurgetta, Italy, while he was covering his comrades. He was brought to rest at the military cemetery in Ravenna, Italy, and his name was immortalized in the “Brigade Book,” “The Immortal Memory,” and “The History of the Haganah.”