Background
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.
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.
A Brigadier, he was the highest ranking Jew to serve in the British Army. He joined the Royal Engineers in 1909 and served with them in World War I in France and the Middle East theatres. 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 joined the Zionist Organization in 1922, where he headed the political department until being succeeded by Chaim Arlosoroff. He also served as Zionist Commission head for the Jerusalem region between 1923 and 1931.
Kisch was awarded the Order of Wen-Hu (4th Class) by the Republic of China in 1921.
Kisch was recalled to active service in 1939 at the outbreak of the 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. 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.
He was appointed a member of the British delegation to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.