Peretz Bernstein
Peretz Bernstein ( Hebrew פרץ ברנשטיין, * June 12, 1890 in Meiningen as Friedrich Bernstein ; † March 21, 1971 in Jerusalem ) was a German Zionist activist and Israeli politician and one of the signatories of the Israeli Declaration of Independence .
Life
Born as the son of the Jewish businessman Samuel Bernstein in Meiningen, he also spent his childhood there and attended the Bernhardinum grammar school until June 1906. In 1906 the family moved to Eisenach . From September 1906 to January 1, 1909, Bernstein completed an apprenticeship in a company for regional products (grain trade). In mid-August 1909 he moved to Rotterdam and worked as an accountant correspondent. From October 1911 to the end of September 1912 he completed his service as a one-year volunteer in the 5th Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 94 in Eisenach. Back in Rotterdam he worked with other Jewish merchants in a grain trading office and began to be interested in the New Hebrew language. His trade contacts in Asia Minor provided him with background knowledge that he was able to use as an employee and then editor of the Dutch-Zionist weekly newspaper De Joodse Wachter . In 1917 he joined the Zionist organization in the Netherlands, where he served as secretary and board member; from 1930 to 1934 he was its president.
His fundamental book on the subject of anti-Semitism was published in Berlin in 1926 , and later also memoranda on "The Jewish and the Social Question". A staunch Zionist, he emigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1936 , became a Tel-Aviv resident and editor of the Hebrew-language newspaper HaBoker (Der Morgen). He joined the Jewish Agency and was also a board member there, and between 1946 and 1948 served as director for its economic sector. Bernstein was one of the signatories of the Israeli Declaration of Independence on May 14, 1948 and was appointed Minister of Trade and Industry in the interim government in the government of David Ben-Gurion .
He was in contact with Germany again after the Second World War ; he supported the former housekeeper of his father, who died in March 1941 in Eisenach. Peretz was elected to the first Knesset in 1949 as a member of the General Zionists ( Tzionim Klaliym ), but lost his place in the cabinet. After he was re-elected in 1951, he returned to the post of Minister of Commerce and Industry in the fourth and fifth governments. Bernstein was also a candidate for the Knesset presidential election in 1952, but withdrew his candidacy after the second round of elections after finishing second behind eventual winner Yitzchak Ben Zwi .
Bernstein returned to the Knesset in 1955 and 1959, but did not regain his cabinet position. In 1961 the General Zionists merged with the Progressive Party to form the Liberal Party ; Bernstein was elected one of its two presidents. In the same year he was re-elected to the Knesset and oversaw the alliance with Menachem Begins Cherut party , which eventually formed the Gachal faction. In 1963 he ran again for president, but lost 67 to 33 votes to Salman Shazar . Bernstein lost his seat in the 1965 election and died in 1971.
Works
- (as F (ritz) B.): Anti-Semitism as a group phenomenon. Attempt at a sociology of hatred of Jews. Jewish publishing house, Berlin 1926 & Königstein im Taunus 1980
literature
- Christoph Gann: Fritz Bernstein - Zionist, anti-Semitism researcher and state founder from Meiningen. In: Hennebergisch-Fränkischer Geschichtsverein (ed.): Yearbook 2016, Kloster Veßra / Meiningen / Münnerstadt 2016, pp. 265–292.
- Bernstein, Peretz. In: Lexicon of German-Jewish Authors . Volume 2: Bend Bins. Edited by the Bibliographia Judaica archive. Saur, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-598-22682-9 , pp. 345-349.
- Friedrich Henning: Wartburgland. Messages from the Eisenach home district of the Bundeslandsmannschaft Thüringen eV Ed .: Bundeslandsmannschaft Thüringen e. V. Booklet XXI. Self-published, Bonn 1990, p. 31-32 .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bernstein, Peretz |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | פרץ ברנשטיין (Hebrew); Bernstein, Shlomo Fritz (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Zionist activist and Israeli politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 12, 1890 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Meiningen |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 21, 1971 |
| Place of death | Jerusalem |