Hanoch Bartov (; 13 August 1926 – 13 December 2016) was an Israeli author and journalist.

Biography

Hanoch Helfgott (Bartov) was born in

Petah Tikva Petah Tikva (, ), also spelt Petah Tiqwa and known informally as Em HaMoshavot (), is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jews of the Old Y ...

in 1926, a year after his parents immigrated from Poland.http://www.olinfilms.com/brigade/resources/bios/bartov.html The hidden story of the Jewish Brigade in World War II He attended a religious school and then the

Ahad Haam Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg (18 August 1856 – 2 January 1927), primarily known by his Hebrew name and pen name Ahad Ha'am (, lit. 'one of the people', ), was a Hebrew journalist and essayist, and one of the foremost pre-state Zionist thinkers. ...

gymnasium. After working in diamond polishing and welding for two years, he enlisted in 1943, at the age of 17, in the

Palestine Regiment The Palestine Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army that was formed in 1942. During the Second World War, the regiment was deployed to Egypt and Cyrenaica, but most of their work consisted of guard duty. Some Palestine Regiment mem ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. He spent three years in the

Jewish Brigade The Jewish Infantry Brigade Group, more commonly known as the Jewish Brigade Group or Jewish Brigade, was a military formation of the British Army in the World War II, Second World War. It was formed in late 1944 and was recruited among Yishuv, Y ...

, first in Palestine and then in Italy and the Netherlands, where he served as a medic, caring for

Holocaust survivors Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universall ...

DP camps DP may refer to: In arts and entertainment Film, television, and theatre * ''Danny Phantom'', an animated television series * David Production, a Japanese animation studio * Director of photography, a job in filmmaking * Digital Playground, an A ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Bartov studied Jewish and general history at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

. During the

War of Independence Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) ...

he served in field army units and the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. He lived for four years on

Kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

Ein Hahoresh Ein HaHoresh () is a kibbutz in the Sharon region of the Central District of Israel. Located to the north of Netanya and to the south of Hadera, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Hefer Valley Regional Council. In it had a population of . ...

, working as a farmhand and a teacher.Hanoch Bartov, 83, wins Israel Prize
/ref> From 1966 to 1968, Bartov served as a cultural advisor in the Israeli embassy in London.

Literary career

Bartov published his first story in 1945, when he was a 19-year-old soldier in Europe. In his writing, as a journalist and novelist, Bartov describes his first contacts with survivors of the Holocaust. ''The Brigade'' is a fictionalized account of the operation of the Jewish Brigade.

Awards

Among the various prizes received by Bartov for his work are the following: * In 1985, the

Bialik Prize The Bialik Prize is an annual literary award given by the municipality of Tel Aviv, Israel, for significant accomplishments in Hebrew literature. The prize is named in memory of Israel's national poet Hayyim Nahman Bialik. There are two separate p ...

for literature; * In 2006, the

Agnon Prize People with the name of Hagnon or Agnon (in Greek: Ἅγνων) include: *Hagnon of Peparethus (6th century BC), ancient Greek athlete, victor in the stadion race of the 53rd Olympiad (568 BC) *Hagnon, son of Nikias (5th century BC), Athenian gener ...

; * In 2010, the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

, for literature.

Books published in English

* ''The Brigade'' (1967), translation of ''Pitzei Bagrut'' (1965) * '' Everyone Had Six Wings'' (1974), translation of ''Shesh Kenafaim Le-Echad'' (1954) * ''An Israeli at the Court of St. James'' (1971), translation of ''Arba Yisraelim Be-Hatzer Saint James'' (1969) * ''Whose Little Boy Are You?'' (1978), translation of ''Shel Mi Ata Yeled'' (1970) * ''Dado, 48 years 20 days'' (1981), translation of '' Dado, 48 Shanim Ve-Od 20 Yom'' (1978). ''Note: An updated and expanded edition of this book was published in Hebrew in 2002 but has not yet been translated to English.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bartov, Hanoch 1926 births 2016 deaths Jews from Mandatory Palestine Israeli Jews Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni People from Petah Tikva Israel Prize in literature recipients Israeli novelists Israeli journalists Israeli military personnel of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War International Writing Program alumni Jewish Brigade personnel Recipients of Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works Bialik Prize recipients

Biography

Literary career

Awards

Books published in English

See also

References