Hillel Seidel (; 9 October 1920 – 14 February 1999) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

for the Independent Liberals and

Likud Likud (, ), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement (), is a major Right-wing politics, right-wing, political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon in an alliance with several right-wing par ...

between 1974 and 1981.

Biography

Born in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, Seidel was educated in a

heder A ''cheder'' (, lit. 'room'; Yiddish pronunciation: ''khéyder'') is a traditional primary school teaching the basics of Judaism and the Hebrew language. History ''Cheders'' were widely found in Europe before the end of the 18th century. L ...

and

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

, before attending the College of Economic Studies in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

. A member of the Akiva youth movement, he was involved with the anti-

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

underground movement in the

Vilna Ghetto The Vilna Ghetto was a World War II Jewish ghetto established and operated by Nazi Germany in the city of Vilnius in the modern country of Lithuania, at the time part of the Nazi-administered . During the approximately two years of its existen ...

, and headed the underground in the

Klooga concentration camp Klooga concentration camp was a Nazism, Nazi forced labor subcamp of the Vaivara concentration camp complex established in September 1943 in Harju County, during World War II, in German-occupied Estonia near the village of Klooga, Estonia, Klooga ...

. 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 ...

he headed the Akiva movement in Poland until 1947, and was a commander of the

Berihah Bricha (), also called the Bericha Movement, was the underground organized effort that helped Jewish Holocaust survivors escape Europe post-World War II to the British Mandate for Palestine in violation of the White Paper of 1939. It ended w ...

movement until the end of 1947. In 1948 he

emigrated to Israel ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the State of Israel. Traditionally described ...

, where he became head of the Immigrant Absorption department of the World Confederation of

General Zionists The General Zionists () were a centrist Zionist movement and a political party in Israel. The General Zionists supported the leadership of Chaim Weizmann and their views were largely colored by central European culture. The party was considered ...

, a post he held until 1952. He also became secretary general of the

HaOved HaTzioni File:Pre-State_Zionist_Workers'_Parties_chart.png, chart of zionist workers parties, 360px, right rect 167 83 445 250 Hapoel Hatzair rect 450 88 717 265 Non Partisans rect 721 86 995 243 Poalei Zion rect 152 316 373 502 HaPoel HaMizrachi rect 5 ...

movement and a member of the Progressive Party's directorate. From 1952 until 1959 he was a member of the

Histadrut Histadrut, fully the New General Workers' Federation () and until 1994 the General Federation of Labour in the Land of Israel (, ''HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael''), is Israel's national trade union center and represents the m ...

's organising committee, and head of its Pensions department, before becoming head of the union's Immigrant Absorption department, a post he held until 1973. In

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

he was elected to the Knesset on the Independent Liberals list. However, on 15 February 1977 he left the party to establish the Ahdut faction, joining Likud.Mergers and Splits Among Parliamentary Groups
Knesset website He was re-elected later that year on the Likud list and chaired the Public Petitions Committee. He lost his seat in the 1981 elections. He died in 1999 at the age of 78.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Seidel, Hillel 1920 births 1999 deaths Jewish resistance members during the Holocaust Vaivara concentration camp survivors Polish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine 20th-century Israeli Jews Israeli trade unionists General Zionists politicians Progressive Party (Israel) politicians Independent Liberals (Israel) politicians Likud politicians Members of the 8th Knesset (1974–1977) Members of the 9th Knesset (1977–1981) Vilna Ghetto inmates