Eliyahu Noach Flug (; 1 January 1925 – 11 August 2011) was an Israeli economist, diplomat and advocate for the rights of

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 ...

Biography

Flug was born in

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

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 ...

to Rywka (''née'' Gliksman) and Icek Flug. During the

Second World War 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 was a resident of the

Łódź ghetto The Łódź Ghetto or Litzmannstadt Ghetto (after the Nazi German name for Łódź) was a Nazi ghetto established by the German authorities for Polish Jews and Roma following the Invasion of Poland. It was the second-largest ghetto in all of ...

, from which he was transferred in 1944 to

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

. In the last months of the war he was also sent to Gross-Rosen concentration camp and was rescued by the Allied forces while on a

death march A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war, other captives, or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinct from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Convention requires tha ...

to Mauthausen. In 1958, he made

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

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. An economist, Flug worked in the civil service for over 30 years. He worked at the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

and later appointed as a financial advisor to the Finance Committee 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 ...

and to the Israeli embassy in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

. Flug also served as the Israeli consul to

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. Flug was a central advocate for the rights of Holocaust survivors. In 1987 he was a founding member of the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel, an umbrella organization for about 70 bodies. After his retirement from the civil service he dedicated his time to these causes, serving as president of the International Auschwitz Committee, vice president of the Claims Conference and a member of the

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

executive board. For several years he served chairman of the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel, reelected to the post a second time in June 2011. Noach was married to Dorota Flug (née Tugendreich), they had two daughters, Anat Flug-Levin, a psychoanalyst, and

Karnit Flug Karnit Flug (; born January 9, 1955) is a Polish-born Israeli economist and government official who served as the 9th governor of the Bank of Israel from 2013 to 2018. She was the first, and to date the only, woman to hold that position. Biograph ...

, former governor of the Central Bank of Israel. Flug is the grandfather of Boaz Levin, a writer and curator, Noa Levin, a philosopher and filmmaker, Michael Lach, a PhD student at the Weizmann institute, and Maya Lach, a psychologist. Flug died in 2011 at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, age 86.

Published works

Collaborations *''The History of the Israelis and Palestinians'' with Martin Schäuble, 2007,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flug, Noach 1925 births 2011 deaths Łódź Ghetto inmates Jewish resistance members during the Holocaust Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Gross-Rosen concentration camp survivors International Auschwitz Committee members Polish emigrants to Israel Israeli economists Consuls for Israel Israeli civil servants Diplomats from Łódź Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany