Peretz Bernstein

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Peretz Bernstein
Liberal Party
1965Gahal
Personal details
Born12 June 1890
Meiningen, Germany
Died21 March 1971(1971-03-21) (aged 80)

Peretz Bernstein (

Israeli declaration of independence
.

Biography

Bernstein was born Shlomo Fritz Bernstein in Meiningen in the German Empire.[1] He moved to the Netherlands before World War I, where he worked in the grain trade.[1] In 1917 he joined the Zionist Organization, serving as secretary and board member.[1] In 1925 he became editor-in-chief of a Zionist weekly, a role he held until 1935, and between 1930 and 1934 served as the Zionist Organization's president.[1]

He emigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1936, and became editor of the HaBoker newspaper.[1] He joined the Jewish Agency, and became a board member, serving as director of its economics department between 1946 and 1948.[1]

Bernstein was one of the people to sign

Minister of Trade and Industry in the provisional government.[1]

He was elected to the

first Knesset in 1949 as a member of the General Zionists, but lost his place in the cabinet. Re-elected in 1951, he returned to the cabinet as Minister of Trade and Industry in the fourth and fifth governments.[2][3] Bernstein also stood as a candidate in the Knesset's election for president in 1952, but withdrew after the second round of voting, having come a distant second to eventual winner Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
.

Bernstein returned to the

Liberal Party and Bernstein was elected one of its two presidents. He was re-elected to the Knesset later that year and oversaw the alliance with Menachem Begin's Herut to form Gahal. In 1963, he ran again for president, but lost by 67–33 to Zalman Shazar. Bernstein lost his seat in the 1965 elections
and died in 1971.

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Peretz Bernstein Knesset
  2. ^ Second Knesset: Government 4 Knesset website
  3. ^ Second Knesset: Government 5 Knesset website

External links