Maksim Kahan

Maksim Kahan was born in 1918 in South Africa

Kahan was born in South Africa on 25 January 1918. He immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1935 and studied at the Technion.

He joined the Haganah and served as a senior weapons instructor. In 1940 he enlisted in the British Army and later commanded a company in the Jewish Brigade in Italy. After the war he helped organize immigration through Belgium and the Netherlands and helped obtain munitions for the Haganah.

In the 1948 war he served in the Carmeli Brigade and commanded it in 1948. He then joined the Israel Police, where he helped found the police school in Shefa-Amr and was among the first members of the Border Police. He served as acting Northern District commander from 1960 to 1961 and retired in 1970.

Kahan was an Israeli champion in clay pigeon shooting. He competed in the trap event at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and won a gold medal at the 1969 Maccabiah Games, setting a Maccabiah record.

He was married to Carmela and they had 4 children. His son Daniel was killed in an exchange of fire on the Syrian front in 1970. Kahan later founded the Hogla Club shooting range in Caesarea and died on 18 May 2006.