Benjamin Pogrund

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Benjamin Pogrund (* 1933 ) is a South African - Israeli journalist and writer .

Life

Pogrund grew up in Cape Town . In 1958 he began his career as a journalist with the Rand Daily Mail in Johannesburg and later became its deputy editor-in-chief. At the time, the Rand Daily Mail was the only South African newspaper to cover the events in the black townships . During his career as a journalist, he met important opponents of apartheid , including Nelson Mandela .

On March 21, 1960, Pogrund was a reporter at the Sharpeville massacre . In 1965 he published a series of articles on the beatings and torture of black prisoners and the mistreatment of white political prisoners based on an interview with Harold Strachan . During his career in South Africa, he was tried several times and imprisoned once. In addition, his passport was declared invalid and the security police monitored him for “threatening the state”.

After the Rand Daily Mail was discontinued in 1985, Pogrund settled in London in 1986 and became foreign editor for Today and later assistant foreign editor for The Independent . He later became an editor for The Boston Globe in Boston and a reporter in South Africa for The Sunday Times . In addition, Pogrund authored several books on Robert Sobukwe , Nelson Mandela and the South African press under apartheid.

Pogrund emigrated to Israel in 1997 and settled in Jerusalem with his wife Anne . There he founded the Yakar Center for Social Concern and in 2001 became a member of the Israeli delegation at the United Nations World Conference against Racism in Durban .

view

In 2005, Pogrund took the view that the term “apartheid” was wrongly used as an accusation against Israel: “Whoever knows what apartheid was and whoever knows Israel today is aware of it. The use of the apartheid label is at best ignorant and naive and at worst cynical and manipulative. "

Award

Pogrund was awarded the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award .

Fonts (selection)

Books

  • How can one die better: The life of Robert Sobukwe . ISBN 1-86842-050-7 .
  • Shared Histories: A Palestinian-Israeli Dialogue . Left Coast Press, 2005, ISBN 1-59874-012-1 .
  • War of Words: Memoir of a South African Journalist . Seven Stories Press, 2000, ISBN 1-888363-71-1 .
  • Sobukwe and Apartheid . Rutgers Univ Press, New Jersey 1991, ISBN 0-8135-1693-5 .
  • Drawing Fire: Investigating the Accusations of Apartheid in Israel . Rowman & Littlefield, 2014, ISBN 978-1-4422-2684-5 .
  • Nelson Mandela: Leader Against Apartheid (=  World Peacemakers ). Blackbirch Press, 2003, ISBN 1-56711-978-6 .

items

  • Why depict Israel as a chamber of horrors like no other in the world? In: The Guardian . February 8, 2006 ( theguardian.com ).
  • Palestinians and Israelis must be able to meet to talk peace . In: Daily Star . June 27, 2006 ( archive.org ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Donald G. McNeil Jr .: Fear and Surprise: As a reporter in South Africa the author saw lots of both . In: The New York Times . February 11, 2001 ( nytimes.com [accessed February 13, 2020]).
  2. ^ Benjamin Pogrund: War of Words: Memoir of a South African Journalist . Seven Stories Press, 2000, ISBN 1-888363-71-1 , pp. 158-166 (English).
  3. ^ Robin Knight: The Daily Courage: Journalist Benjamin Pogrund let the facts speak for themselves, no easy task in apartheid South Africa . In: Time . (English, time.com ).
  4. ^ Israel is a democracy in which Arabs vote. Archived from the original on October 8, 2007 ; accessed on October 23, 2006 (English).
  5. ↑ Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award Recipients. Archived from the original on May 20, 2014 ; accessed on February 13, 2020 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Pogrund, Benjamin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African-Israeli journalist and writer
DATE OF BIRTH 1933