Reuben Hecht

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Reuben Rudolph Hecht (born August 15, 1909 in Antwerp , Belgium , † April 14, 1993 in Haifa , Israel ) was an Israeli- Swiss entrepreneur and political advisor to the Prime Ministers of Israel Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir . He was a co-founder of Haifa University , where the Hecht Museum of Archeology, which he initiated , is located.

Memorial plaque at Reuben Hecht Park in Haifa, 2008

Live and act

Reuben Hecht was born to Jacob and Ella Hecht in Antwerp and went to school there until 1918. His father Jacob and his uncle Hermann Hecht were co-founders of the shipping company Neptun Rhenania (later Rhenania Schiffahrtsgruppe, today Rhenania Wincanton ). In 1919 the family moved to Basel .

Hecht's interest in Zionism arose after studying publications by the Central Association of German Citizens of the Jewish Faith . He was a member of the Jewish youth movement "Blau-Weiß". From 1928 to 1933 he studied at the universities of Munich, Berlin and Heidelberg, where he graduated in 1931 with a degree in economics. In 1933 he obtained his doctorate from Heidelberg University. rer. pole. (magna cum laude) in political science .

In 1936 Hecht emigrated to Palestine . He ran an Alija Bet office in Zurich and Paris. During the Second World War, Hecht was involved in several rescue operations in Western Europe.

Immediately after the end of the war, he returned to Basel in 1945, where he worked for the Neptun shipping company until 1948. After the establishment of the state of Israel, Hecht ran a trading company in Haifa and Ashdod . From 1977 Hecht was an advisor to the Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin . In this capacity, he took part in the Camp David peace talks and in other meetings with Jimmy Carter , Ronald Reagan , Anwar as-Sadat and Margaret Thatcher . From 1983 he was an advisor to Yitzhak Shamir.

He also founded the Hecht Museum at Haifa University in 1981 . His archaeological collections and paintings from the 19th century are kept there.

Honors

In 1984 Hecht was awarded the Israel Prize (the highest distinction of the State of Israel) for special services to society and the state. The humanities faculty of the University of Haifa has awarded him an honorary doctorate (Dr. phil. Honoris causa). In addition, the "Reuben Hecht Park" in Haifa was named after him.

Web links

Commons : Reuben Hecht  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reuben Hecht, 83, Israeli Industrialist And Premiers' Aide, The New York Times (Eng.)
  2. ↑ Biography of Reuben Hecht, Haifa University
  3. ↑ Biography on the website of the Hecht Museum
  4. ^ Hecht Promenade, Haifa
personal data
SURNAME Pike, Reuben
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hecht, Reuven Rudolph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Israeli entrepreneur and political advisor
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Antwerp
DATE OF DEATH April 14, 1993
Place of death Haifa