Nachman was born in 1914 in Riga, Latvia, to Devora and Eliezer. His parents were Zionists with deep roots, who set up an illegal Jewish school in Moscow at the beginning of the Bolshevik Revolution. His first underground activity was thus attending school. In 1920, the family went back to Riga, and his parents established the first Hebrew Gymnasium in Latvia. In fact, in that very school in 1923, Aharon Propes founded the Brit Trumpeldor youth movement; only in 1925 would Zeev Jabotinsky adopt the movement, which became World Beitar.

Nachman joined in 1927, at age thirteen. He made illegal aliyah in 1934, under the auspices of Beitar’s Latvian representative, Eliyahu Glazer. Nachman joined the work company of Beitar in the Galilee, and for a time he was its commander. In 1936, as his parents made aliyah, he moved to Rishon LeZion, where he lives until this day.

He joined the IZL in 1937, and his nicknames were Ben-Ami and Yoram. In 1940, he was given an unusual mission: breaking in to the regional Hagana offices and removing everything. To his surprise, he learned that the material had been turned over to the Jerusalem CID that very night. Nachman demanded an explanation, and a week later, he met Yair in his home. There he heard for the first time of the disputes between Yair’s group and Raziel; for the first time, he heard that a schism was imminent. Two weeks later, Nachman gathered all the IZL commanders in the southern district to his house; there were fifteen of them. They voted in the presence of Yair, and thirteen of them decided to follow Yair. This was the basis of Lehi in the south. Yair gave him organizational assignments in intelligence, with Yehoshua Zattler being their contact. In their last meeting, Yair told him that his plans for Lehi were intriguing, and he should put them in writing.

In early 1941, Nachman was arrested. He was imprisoned in Acre, Mizra and Latrun, until September 1944. Once he was released, he had to cease political activity, as he was under house arrest until 29.11.1947. He joined the IDF, the Givati Brigade, as a combat officer, and he fought in all its battles against the Egyptians until they were defeated.

After the State was established, Nachman worked in various endeavors, including establishing businesses for those who had recently made aliyah for 25 years. He was also an emissary of the Foreign Ministry, in the international cooperation department, and he held dozens of seminars for the organization and management of developing nations, mainly in Southeast Asia. While he was still in Acre, he began sculpting, and hundreds of his pieces are in public institutions in Israel and museums abroad as well. Nachman still works on his sculptures to this very day.

He married Sarah Pople. They had three children: Ofra, Vered and Boaz, as well as six grandchildren. She passed away on 27.4.1988.