Enrique Rothschild, the son of Benjamin and Chana, was born in Santiago on 7th November 1927. His parents had immigrated to Chile from Poland. At the age of five his father perished in an air crash.
He spent a year with his mother in Poland with family, and then traveled to Buenos Aires in Argentina, where he began his education. A few years later, they returned to Santiago, where his mother remarried.
For family reasons he spent some time in a boarding school, where he developed a rebellious nature, an inclination to early maturity and independence. He excelled in his studies, and when he received his matriculation certificate in biology, he traveled to the USA where he was accepted for entrance to the Faculty of Medicine at the University of California, Berkeley.
Several months later, he got fed up with his studies and began leading a nomadic life, working in a number of occupations, often drunk, wasting his life and at times living in total poverty.
Eventually he landed up in New York after his lonely wanderings and adventures. But finally he returned to his studies at Berkeley, taking them very seriously, found his place in society and participated in sport. He enjoyed swimming the most, explaining that this was “because it was an individual’s sport.” He became interested in psychiatry, and began to participate in sports experiments.
Due to his stepfather’s illness, he was summoned home by telegraph, and he took over running the business in his stepfather’s absence. At the age of 20, he ran the business with vigor and responsibility. He joined in the social life of educated young men and women, and continued to progress spiritually in social awareness and in the quality of his life. When his stepfather recovered his health, Enrique prepared his educational certificates with the purpose of returning to Berkeley, but when he learned of the State of Israel standing on its own and in need of volunteers from the Diaspora, he joined a group of volunteers from South America without hesitation.
On the first day of June 1948, they arrived in Haifa, and after four days leave to get to know the country, they joined the Palmach. He served in a South American Platoon attached to one of the fighting battalions, and bore the hardships of the training in battlefield conditions with enthusiasm. Part of the training was done at Kibbutz Givat Brenner and as was customary in the Palmach, the youngsters also participated in kibbutz chores, and were given short periods of leave to tour and to get acquainted with the land. He also received a two-week leave to travel with members of his platoon which included volunteers from Chile. He served as an interpreter (English to Spanish) between the officers and the South Americans. After service in the camps and various frontline positions, he was sent with his platoon to participate in “Operation Horev.”
During an attack on Egyptian positions in the Rafiah area, man’s carelessness prevailed. During the night of 3rd January 1949, Enrique Rothschild stood up directly in the light of an enemy flare in order to retrieve the tommy-gun of an Egyptian soldier, and was killed.
He was buried at Halutza, and on 24th July 1949 was re-interred at the Nachlat Yitzhak military cemetery.
Source: Translated from the Yizkor website by Joe Woolf.