Shraga Har-Gil

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Schraga Har-Gil (Hebrew שרגא הר-גיל), born Paul-Philipp Freudenberger (born September 19, 1926 in Würzburg ; † September 20, 2009 there ) was a German-Israeli journalist, Middle East correspondent and writer. The Hebrewization of his name in Har-Gil ("Mountain of Joy") took place in 1949.

Shraga Har-Gil (July 2009); Photo: Sabine E. Paffenholz

Life

Har-Gil was born as the second son of a real estate agent whose family had been based in Germany for centuries. His mother was a Jewish Orthodox, his father a Social Democrat. In 1935 the entire family fled the Gestapo to Palestine . During the Second World War he fought in the Jewish Brigade of the British Army and after the war in the Palestine War for the independence of Israel. He was so badly wounded that he remained a war invalid for his life, but that did not prevent him from pursuing a career.

For two decades he was chief correspondent for the largest daily newspaper in Israel, Maariv, and then for just as long a Middle East correspondent for German, Austrian and a Luxembourg newspaper. Again and again he illuminated the problem of the Middle East conflict and the difficult path to peace. “There is no peace because there is no trust”. He never stopped pleading for talks, even with Hamas : "You have to negotiate with enemies, not friends".

He built his third career as a writer. It took him on many reading trips to Germany, such as the Jewish Culture Days in the Rhineland .

In 2009 Har-Gil was nominated for the Würzburg Peace Prize. He was to be honored because he, whose entire life, first in Germany, then in Palestine and Israel, was marked by anti-Semitism , hatred and wars, was able to say in spite of everything: “I don't hate!” And remained: “War is not a solution at no time!".

From 1999 his German partner Ulla Gessner , who also became his co-author, lived with Har-Gil in Tel Aviv .

Fonts (selection)

  • Chosen and yet cheerful. Jokes from Israel , 1970 (Ed. With Uri Sela)
  • Old love never rusts, stories from Würzburg when the Nazi era began , 2004 (preface by H. Steidle)
  • The beautiful bosom of the neighbor. Stories from 50 Years of Israel , 2006 (Foreword P. Pagel)
  • Taubele, my beloved Taubele. Jewish Stories , 2008
  • A joke goes around the world , in: Jüdischer Almanach "Humor" 2004 (Ed .: Gisela Dachs)
  • Uncle Schlomo - an unusual Jecke , ibid. "The Jeckes" 2005

Movie

  • The art of survival. Documentation about Har-Gil's life and love by Amir Har-Gil (son), 52 min., Israel 2003, Germany WDR 3 (Ed. Felix Kuballa) July 9, 2004 (first broadcast)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ in: MAINPOST (Würzburg), July 14, 2006
  2. ^ Film, "The Art of Survival" by Amir Har-Gil, WDR television, first screening July 9, 2004
  3. ↑ Lecture at the Akademie Frankenwarte on the occasion of the seminar on 24./25. May 2008 "If you want it is not a fairy tale" - 60 years of Israel


personal data
SURNAME Har-Gil, Shraga
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Paul-Philipp Freudenberger
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Israeli journalist, author
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Wurzburg
DATE OF DEATH September 20, 2009
Place of death Wurzburg