Brigadier Frederick Hermann Kisch

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Frederick Hermann Kisch CBE, CB, DSO (23 August 1888 – 7 April 1943) was a decorated British Army officer and Zionist leader. A Brigadier, he was the highest ranking Jew to serve in the British Army.

Frederick Kisch was born to a British-Jewish family in the town of Darjeeling, India on 23 August 1888, where his father Michael was head of the Indian Postal Service. After some time, Kisch family moved back to England, where Frederick attended the Clifton College and subsequently the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He joined the Royal Engineers in 1909 and served with them in World War I in France and the Middle East theatres.

During his war service, he was wounded three times, and decorated with Distinguished Service Order for gallantry in action. He was also decorated by the government of France with the Croix de guerre with Palm. Due to his wounds, he was declared temporarily unfit for frontline service and was subsequently transferred to the Military Intelligence Corps, where he served for the rest of the war. He also served as general staff officer to General Sir George Macdonogh. During the war, he reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

He was appointed a member of the British delegation to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.

Kisch was killed in Tunisia on 7 April 1943 when he stepped on a landmine during the Battle of Wadi Akarit. He had been organising reconstruction of bridge, essential to the Allied advance. He is buried at Enfidaville War Cemetery in Tunisia.

The Israeli moshav Kfar Kisch was named after him.

In 2015, his grandson Yoav was elected to the Knesset.

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Israeli-law...

Brigadier Frederick Hermann Kisch, the grandfather of Likud MK Yoav Kisch, was the highest ranking Jew to serve in the British military.

A Likud lawmaker's request to have the remains of his grandfather reinterred in Israel from his current resting place in Tunisia has been rejected by the committee in charge of maintaining cemeteries for those who fought for the British empire.

Yoav Kisch, a freshman member of parliament, petitioned the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to exhume the body of his grandfather, Brigadier Frederick Hermann Kisch, the highest ranking Jew to serve in the British military.

In April 1943, Kisch died when he stepped on a landmine while fighting Nazi Germany during the North African Campaign. He is buried at Enfidaville War Cemetery in Tunisia.

After a protracted period of secret contacts, London's ambassador to Tel Aviv, David Quarrey, informed Kisch that his request had been denied.

Quarrey told Kisch that the CWGC's longstanding policy is to keep any fallen soldier killed during World War Two buried with his comrades in arms in the area the battle took place.

During a meeting in Kisch's office, Quarrey handed the Likud MK a photograph of his grandfather's grave, which is located in a war cemetery approximate 100 kilometers south of the Tunisian capital of Tunis.

Kisch's tombstone, which bears an inscribed Star of David, is being groomed and maintained like the other gravesites.

"I was very moved when I saw the picture," Kisch told The Jerusalem Post's Hebrew-language sister publication Ma'ariv. "I was raised on stories about my grandfather, who fell in combat in April 1943 during his service as an officer in the Eighth Army's Royal Engineers who fought Rommel in the desert. My grandfather stepped on a landmine and was buried in Tunisia."

"After I was elected to the Knesset, I told myself that now was the time to try and use my public standing in order to bring my grandfather's bones to Israel for reinterment on Mt. Herzl," Kisch said. "Unfortunately, it didn't help, but I do accept the explanations that I received from the British ambassador."

Quarrey is said to have told Kisch that British war cemeteries contain the gravesites of hundreds of thousands of soldiers killed during World War II. If Kisch's request were to be granted, it would set a precedent.

The ambassador told the Likud lawmaker that the CWGC has denied thousands of similar requests from descendants of the commonwealth's war dead.

The CWGC is responsible for perpetuating the memory of 1.69 million soldiers who fell in battle while fighting for the British Commonwealth. It is charged with maintaining over 2,500 cemeteries spread across 150 countries.

The official in charge of the commission is Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, who holds the title of president.

Kisch said that although he has resigned himself to the fact that his grandfather's resting place will always be in Tunisia, he remains intent on visiting the north African country despite recent terrorist attacks.

"If it turns out that it is possible to travel there safely, I will want to visit the grave, salute him, and show him the proper respect," he said.