Ernst (Yacov) Kroch was born in Leipzig, Germany on 23rd November 1923 and studied there at high school until 1938, when he left. Germany for Holland In his teens he was a member of the Zionist Youth movement.
After the invasion of Holland by the Germans, he succeeded in escaping to Argentina with his father and brothers. There he continued his high school education, and in the Zionist Youth movement prepared himself for life in Eretz Yisrael by learning how to be a pioneer.
He arrived in Palestine in 1945 with the first group of pioneer settlers from South America. He joined Kibbutz Nitzanim and worked wherever he was needed there, ready to shoulder any burden in helping to develop the kibbutz.
Eventually, he settled down to work in the fields of haulage, planning and tending the kibbutz orchards.
In the early summer of 1947 he was sent as an emissary to Cyprus. Six months later, when the Arabs attacked Israel, he returned and enlisted in the Haganah, completing an NCO’s course. He was put in charge of the northern sector of the kibbutz.
In the final battle against the regular Egyptian Army, he fought heroically and fell, with a song on his lips, on 7th June 1948.
He was buried in the cemetery at Kibbutz Nitzanim.
Source: Translated from the Yizkor Website by Joe Woolf