Frederick Hermann Kisch

He was born in the town of Darjeeling, India on 23 August 1888, where his father Michael was an important British official. 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 the First World War in France and the Middle East theatres.
During his war service, he was thrice wounded 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.
On 26 October 1927, at New West End Synagogue in London, he married Ruth Laura Franklin (born 1891); a niece of Herbert Samuel, she was the daughter of Sir Leonard Benjamin Franklin O.B.E., M.P. and Lady Laura Agnes Ladenburg.
He served as Zionist Commission head for the Jerusalem region between 1923 and 1931. His British military background allowed him to cultivate excellent relations with the British administration of the Palestine Mandate as well as Arab leaders including Sharif Hussein of Mecca and his son King Abdullah I of Jordan. He was awarded the Order of Wen-Hu (4th Class) by the Republic of China in 1921.
He was recalled to active service in 1939 at the outbreak of the World War II. He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier and assigned to the British Eighth Army, where he became commanding officer of the Royal Engineers in the North African Campaign. He was best known as being responsible for the planning and execution of the successful assault on the German minefields at El Alamein which were unprecedented in extent.
He was killed by a landmine in Tunisia on 7 April 1943, while organising reconstruction of bridge during the Battle of Wadi Akarit, essential to the advance. He is buried at Enfidaville War Cemetery in Tunisia.
The Israeli agricultural cooperative village Kfar Kisch was named after him.