Nechama Natke Zaltowski Hacohen

Nechama Natke Zaltowski, daughter of David and Leah (nee Guttman), was born in December 1900 in Warsaw, the capital of Poland.  After graduating from high school in 1923, Nechama came to Palestine, and from 1927 was active in the Haganah in Jerusalem.  As a devoted member, she accepted every mission, loyally executing all orders.

Nechama worked as assistant to Professor Sofia Gatzuva (one of the first Israeli pathologists) in Beit Rattanoff at the Mount Scopus Hadassah Hospital.  In addition, she was a member of the Haganah Medical Corps.

On April 7, 1946, Nechama Zaltowski married Shimon Hacohen, an agriculturist from Binyamina, son of Shifra Batya and Mordechai Hacohen, Zionist activists, and among the founders of Tel Aviv.  Shimon was one of the Eretz Yisrael officers of the British Ports Operations Battalion imprisoned by the Nazis.  He received the High Commissioner Award for providing the British with information regarding his time in captivity.

Nechama spent the last Shabbat of her life with her husband on their farm in Binyamina.  The United Nations vote in favor of a plan for the partition of Palestine on the 29th of November, 1947 resulted in a state of alert throughout the country.

"I am a member of Jerusalem's Old City Haganah Unit.  Should riots erupt there, it is best I return to my post."  With those words, Nechama bade her husband a final good bye on Sunday November 30th, 1947.

The Egged bus she traveled on from Hadera to Jerusalem was ambushed by Arabs near Kfar Sirkin.  The shots fired injured five passengers.  Nechama was killed on the spot. 

Nechama Zaltowski Hacohen was among the first victims to fall following the UN resolution.  Upon her father's request, she was buried in Jerusalem two days later, beside her mother Leah, on the Mount of Olives.

Her name is engraved on a monument erected in the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in memory of the fallen of the Jewish Quarter and in commemoration of the warriors who fell in the battle of Jerusalem and were buried on the Mount of Olives.

Nechama Natke Zaltowski Hacohen's partial biography appears on the Ministry of Defense website.  Following further research, her story was completed in 2018 by volunteers of “Giving a Face to the Fallen”.