Yaakov Weiss

On May 4, 1947, he took part in the Acre Prison break, an attack against Acre Prison, a British fortress prison in the city of Acre, during which 28 Jewish underground prisoners were freed. Weiss was part of a blocking squad that laid mines to cover the retreat of the attackers and escapees by delaying any British pursuers. However, Weiss was captured, along with Avshalom Haviv, Meir Nakar, Amnon Michaelov, and Nahman Zitterbaum.

Haviv, Weiss, and Nakar were hanged in Acre Prison in the early morning hours of July 29, 1947, with Weiss being the last one executed. Each of them went to their deaths singing Hatikvah, with the rest of the Jewish prisoners joining in.

In summer 1944, Weiss managed to escape to Switzerland, and studied at the University of Geneva. In 1945, he boarded an Aliyah Bet ship headed for Palestine. It was intercepted by the Royal Navy, and Weiss was interned at Atlit detainee camp. On October 9, 1945, the Palmach raided the camp and freed 208 inmates, Weiss among them. One of his rescuers was Avshalom Haviv, who would eventually be hanged alongside him.

In 1943, following his father's death and with World War II underway, Weiss fled to Budapest, hoping to get to Palestine from there. While in Budapest, he frequently disguised himself as a Hungarian military officer or an SS officer, stole birth certificates and passports, and used the fraudulent documents to save hundreds of Jews. He would frequently travel to ghettos, especially those in Miskolc, Debrecen, Košice, and Eger, and demand the Nazi authorities release individual Jews he picked out, producing forged documents "proving" they were Christians. However, he did not manage to produce documents for his mother and sister in time to prevent their deportation to Auschwitz, where his mother was murdered but his sister survived.

Yaakov Weiss (Hebrew: יעקב וייס; 1924–1947) was a Hungarian Jew born in Czechoslovakia and member of the Irgun Jewish guerrilla organization in Mandatory Palestine. After saving hundreds of Jews during Holocaust, he illegally immigrated to Palestine, joined the Irgun, and fought the British during the Jewish insurgency in Palestine. He was one of three Irgun members executed for their part in the Acre Prison break, which triggered the Irgun's retaliatory hanging of two British soldiers. He is memorialized today as one of 12 Olei Hagardom.

Yaakov (Imre) Weiss was born in 1924 in Nové Zámky, Czechoslovakia, to a Hungarian-speaking Jewish family, the son of Joseph and Helena Weiss. He had one sister, Edith. At age 10 he was sent to the Hebrew Gymnasium in Munkács. He developed Revisionist Zionist views and joined the Betar youth movement.