Esther Herlitz
Esther Herlitz ( Hebrew אסתר הרליץ; * October 9, 1921 in Berlin ; † March 24, 2016 ) was an Israeli diplomat and politician .
Life
Herlitz was born in Berlin in 1921 as the daughter of Georg and Irma Herlitz. Together with her younger sister Miriam (1925–1975) she attended a humanistic grammar school there . In 1933 the family emigrated to the British Mandate Palestine in Jerusalem . Herlitz attended the Gymnasia Ivrit in Rechavia and then the newly founded Hebrew University High School in Bet ha-Kerem . In Palestine she joined the Mahanot Olim youth movement and Hagana . After finishing school in 1938, she studied at the Hebrew Teachers College (today: David Yellin Teachers Seminary ). She then taught at the school in Karkur and in her free time worked as a secretary for the local branch of the Women's International Zionist Organization . In July 1943, at the end of the school year, she gave up her job to register for the Auxiliary Territorial Service of the British Armed Forces. During her four and a half years of service, she was first an instructor at the Sarafand Training Camp and later became an officer in Egypt . Since she was unmarried and childless, she remained stationed in Egypt until early 1946. Herlitz continued her work for the Hagana while serving in the British armed forces. When in 1947 the first 25 candidates were admitted to the diplomatic school newly established by the Jewish Agency , she was one of five women in this group. At the beginning of March 1948 she interrupted her training to fight in the Palestinian War. In the summer of the same year, at the request of Moshe Sharet, she was released from work and began to work in the Israeli Foreign Ministry in Tel Aviv. In 1950 Herlitz became first secretary at the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC. She was later transferred to New York, where she was Israeli consul from 1955 to 1958 .
After her return to Israel in March 1958, Herlitz was released for four years to help set up the International Department of Mapai . In 1959 she was elected to the Tel Aviv City Council, where she was chairman of the cultural committee from 1960 to 1964. From 1962 she worked again in the Foreign Ministry, with a brief interruption in 1965 when she ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Knesset . In 1966 Herlitz became the second woman to become Israeli ambassador . She represented her country in Denmark until 1971 . In 1972 Herlitz founded the Center for Volunteer Services , which she also chaired until 1978.
In 1973 she was elected to the Knesset for the Avoda . In the next elections in 1977 Herlitz was unable to defend her mandate. In 1979 she was again a member of the Knesset when she replaced the late Yehoshua Rabinowitz on August 14 . After an unsuccessful candidacy in the 1981 elections, she left parliament.
From 1977 to 1981 Herlitz was the secretary of the Na'amat branch in Tel Aviv. She was also a member of the Na'Amat Central Committee. In 1994 she published her autobiography Esther - or what can a Women Accomplish .
Awards
- 1996: Honorary Citizen of Tel Aviv
- Prime Minister's Shield for Voluntarism
- 1999: Honorary Doctorate from Hebrew Union College
- 2003: Woman of Distinction Award given by Hadassah
- Federal Cross of Merit 1st class
- 2015: Israel Prize in the Lifetime Achievement category
Web links
- Entry on the Knesset website
- Alice Shalvi : Esther Herlitz . Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia: Jewish Women's Archive , March 1, 2009
Individual evidence
- ↑ Esther Herlitz, Israel's first female ambassador, dies aged 94 . The Times of Israel , March 24, 2016.
- ^ Champion of women's rights . The Jerusalem Post , June 18, 2015, accessed March 24, 2016.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Herlitz, Esther |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | אסתר הרליץ (Hebrew) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Israeli diplomat and politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 9, 1921 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Berlin |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 24, 2016 |