Benno Sternberg
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ben-Zion (Benno) Sternberg (; 1894 – May 31, 1962), was a Romanian
Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...
and signatory of the
Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel The Israeli Declaration of Independence, formally the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel (), was proclaimed on 14 May 1948 (5 Iyar 5708), at the end of the civil war phase and beginning of the international phase of the ...
. Sternberg was born in
Czernowitz Chernivtsi (, ; , ;, , see also other names) is a city in southwestern Ukraine on the upper course of the Prut River. Formerly the capital of the historic region of Bukovina, which is now divided between Romania and Ukraine, Chernivtsi serv ...
,
Bukovina Bukovina or ; ; ; ; , ; see also other languages. is a historical region at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. It is located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains, today divided betwe ...
, a region of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...
, to a relatively prosperous local Jewish family. His father Abraham was a landowner in the thriving Jewish community of Bukovina.


Pre World War II

Sternberg was a prominent local Zionist from a young age. In 1914 put his nationalist aspirations on hold to serve as an officer of Austria-Hungary during the First World War. Prior to and following the war, Sternberg was a leading member of the Hebronia movement, a leading local Zionist movement. In 1920 he addressed 600 visiting Romanian dignitaries (Czernowitz became a part of newly enlarged Romania following the
dissolution of Austria-Hungary The dissolution of Austria-Hungary was a major political event that occurred as a result of the growth of internal social contradictions and the separation of different parts of Austria-Hungary. The more immediate reasons for the collapse of the ...
) in Hebrew, marking the first significant attempt to bring the rebirth of the language to the attention of a non-Jewish audience. Following the
Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...
and Britain’s assuming the mandate for Palestine, Sternberg affiliated himself closely with the Revisionist movement - an affiliation which he was to retain for the rest of his political life. Sternberg gradually emerged as a leading light of the Revisionist-Zionist movement. He received Dr.
Chaim Weizmann Chaim Azriel Weizmann ( ; 27 November 1874 – 9 November 1952) was a Russian-born Israeli statesman, biochemist, and Zionist leader who served as president of the World Zionist Organization, Zionist Organization and later as the first pre ...
during his visit to Czernowitz, who, in a friendly barb, thanked "his esteemed opposition" for the greeting. In 1926
Vladimir Jabotinsky Ze'ev Jabotinsky (born Vladimir Yevgenyevich Zhabotinsky; 17 October 1880  – 3 August 1940) was a Russian-born author, poet, orator, soldier, and founder of the Revisionist Zionist movement and the Jewish Self-Defense Organization in O ...
visited Czernowitz for the first time. During this visit he and Sternberg began their close political alliance. Sternberg was elected chairman of the All Romanian Revisionist Federal Organisation, following which he became a leading exponent of Revisionism at multiple Zionist Congresses.


World War II and the establishment of the State of Israel

Sternberg continued to fulfill his prominent role in international Zionism from Romania until the Nazi persecutions of the Second World War. Upon the outbreak of war, he fled Europe with his family to Mandate Palestine. Unlike most Jewish refugees who had to be secretly spirited into the territory, Sternberg had the unusual distinction of arriving under diplomatic protection into Mandate Palestine on board a vessel of the British Royal Navy. Sternberg maintained his prominent political role during the War and in the years leading up to the birth of the State of Israel. With Jabotinsky’s death in 1940, Sternberg took on an increasingly visible role in leading the Revisionist movement. During these years he played a central role in coordinating efforts to aid Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis migrate to Mandate Palestine. The British
White Paper of 1939 The White Paper of 1939Occasionally also known as the MacDonald White Paper (e.g. Caplan, 2015, p.117) after Malcolm MacDonald, the British Colonial Secretary, who presided over its creation. was a policy paper issued by the British governmen ...
had severely limited Jewish migration to Palestine, ensuring that only 75,000 Jews were officially granted permission to enter during the years of the War, despite the genocide taking place in Europe. For his attempts to help Jewish refugees subvert the British immigration authorities, Sternberg was jailed for one month at Latrun jail, near Jerusalem. With the withdrawal of the British Mandate, Sternberg represented the Revisionist movement in the historic Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948. Following
David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary List of national founders, national founder and first Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister of the State of Israel. As head of the Jewish Agency ...
's speech to the Vaad Leumi gathered at the then Tel-Aviv Museum of Art, Sternberg was one of the 37 signatories of the Declaration. During Israel’s early years, marked by war and a struggle for survival against the powers of the Arab world, Sternberg continued to serve the Zionist cause as a member of Israel’s Provisional Council of State. Following the birth of the new state, Sternberg continued to serve his country as Director of the Investment Centre at the Ministry of Trade. He remained active in politics and civil service until his death in 1962.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sternberg, Ben-Zion Signatories of the Israeli Declaration of Independence Israeli people of Romanian-Jewish descent Bukovina Jews Military personnel from Chernivtsi 1894 births 1962 deaths Romanian Zionists Romanian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Revisionist Zionists Jews from Austria-Hungary Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I Ukrainian Zionists Aliyah Bet activists Jews who emigrated to escape Nazism Members of Aliyah Bet