Yitzhak Gruenbaum

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Yitzhak Gruenbaum
Minister of Internal Affairs
Personal details
Born24 November 1879
Warsaw, Russian Empire
Died7 September 1970(1970-09-07) (aged 90)
Gan Shmuel, Israel
Political partyBloc of National Minorities

Yitzhak Gruenbaum (

State of Israel
.

Biography

Yitzhak ("Itche") Gruenbaum was born in

Ha-Zefirah and the Hebrew weekly Ha-Olam. Under his editorship, the Yiddish daily, Haynt
, took on a pro-Zionist slant.

In Poland, Gruenbaum headed the

Agudat Israel and Jewish lobbying
.

After moving to Paris in 1932, Gruenbaum

Jewish Agency Executive (the board of directors), during the Eighteenth Congress[1] of the Zionist Organization
.

Zionist activism

Yitzhak Gruenbaum, 1926

During the Holocaust, he served on the "Committee of Four" chosen at the outbreak of World War II to maintain contact with Polish Jewry and aid in their rescue. In 1942, when word reached the Yishuv of the mass extermination by the German occupying forces taking place in Eastern Europe, Gruenbaum was chosen to head a 12-member Rescue Committee comprising representatives of the various parties. Due to circumstances prevailing at the time, their rescue efforts failed to accomplish much.

At the war's end, he endured a personal crisis involving his son,

1948 Arab-Israeli War.[3][4]

Zionist leaders, arrested in Operation Agatha, in detention in Latrun (l-r): David Remez, Moshe Sharett, Yitzhak Gruenbaum, Dov Yosef, Mr. Shenkarsky, David Hacohen, and Isser Harel
(1946)

In 1946, Gruenbaum was among the Jewish Agency directors arrested by the British and interned in a detention camp at Latrun.

He spent his later years on Kibbutz Gan Shmuel, and died in 1970.

Political career

Yitshak Gruenbaum List
רשימת יצחק גרינבוים‎
LeaderYitzhak Gruenbaum
Founded1948
Dissolved1949
IdeologyZionism
Political positionCentre-left
Election symbol
יג‎

Gruenbaum was among a group of 13 leaders forming the

elections for the first Knesset
, but failed to obtain the minimum number of votes to secure a seat.

He was later a candidate for President in the 1952 presidential election alongside Yitzhak Ben-Zvi of Mapai, Peretz Bernstein of the General Zionists and Mordechai Nurock of Mizrachi. However, he was beaten by Ben-Zvi.

Journalism and literary career

He served as editor of the

Ha-Zefirah, the Hebrew weekly Ha-Olam and the Yiddish
daily, Haynt.

Gruenbaum was the editor of the Encyclopedia of Diaspora Communities, The Zionist Movement and its Development and many other books.

Commemoration

Binyamina
in northern Israel, is named for him.

Famous quote by Yitzhak Gruenbaum

“I think it is necessary to state here – Zionism is above everything.” and “I will not demand that the Jewish Agency allocate a sum of 300,000 or 100,000 pounds sterling to help European Jewry. And I think that whoever demands such things is performing an anti-Zionist act.”[5] Stated at a 1942 gathering in pre-state Israel (Yishuv) about rescue of Jews in Europe.

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-1-57958-286-9
    . Retrieved 20 March 2015. Gruenbaum was the leader of the Radical Zionists, known in Poland as Al Hamishmar
  2. ^ "Kapo - or Hero?" Haaretz
  3. S2CID 145298849
    .
  4. ISSN 0002-8762
    .
  5. ^ Tom Segev, "The Seventh Million”

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yitzhak Gruenbaum.
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