Fighter Zemach Chaim Betcho

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Chaim (Betcho) Zemah 
was born to his parents Shoshana (Suzette) and Isaac in Bulgaria on May 7, 1929. He immigrated to Israel (then Palestine) in 1944 and came to Kfar HaMaccabi kibbutz.
In 1948 he enlisted in the Palmach and served in Company D of the First Battalion of the Yiftach Brigade. During Israel's War of Independence he took part in the battles of Malkia and Latrun and in the battle for the village of al-Qubab.
Chaim Zemah's niece, Gina Bannay, has shared his story: 
"I am writing you a few words about my dear uncle . He was a caring brother, son, husband and uncle. He was an extremely curious man, wanting to know everything about new places, new people and friends. He made us always feel with his questions as if we were the center of the world and the most important person . He was a great intellectual and linguist . His curiosity brought him to know a lot of languages - more then 16. French, Italian, German, Spanish, Bulgarian, Russian and more . He spoke, wrote and read them like a mother tongue. From Balzac to Dante to Goethe and Tolstoy. He knew many more. Greek, Japanese, Chinese, Swedish and many more. 
He had a big passion to our family tree that goes back thanks to his work to the 15th century. 
Chaim started to play his Cello at a very young age. His father, Isaac Zemach, bought him a small cello.  Chaim didn't show much interest in the beginning but the celli took over and he fell in love.
When they had to leave Bulgaria in 1942 they settled in Petach tiqva. He and his small sister Ziona and his older brother Vico.
Betcho was sent to a Kibbutz. 
From there to the army. 
After the army he applied to the Israeli Philharmonic's and got accepted. 
After a few years in the Philharmonic, conducted by Bernstein and Koussewitzky; he is invited to play under Ernest Ansermet to join the Orchestra of "la Suisse Romande" in Geneva, Switzerland, as a solo cellist. 
Around 1960, the Philharmonic's of Rochester NY, proposed him a post as a first cellist . He leaves Europe and moves with his wife Hildegard to the United states.
He continued to play at the Metropolitan opera in New York, at the Carnegie hall and the American symphony orchestra. 
He was a professor at the Montclair college in New Jersey and a professor at the Chautauqua university, and participated in the summer festivals until his last days.
He had his own quartet, the Bassan quartet, after the family of his mother Suzette Bassan, which are by the way the founders of all the schools of the "Alliance Israélite Universelle" in the whole middle east, including of course Jerusalem.
May his soul rest in peace".