Shraga Har-Gil (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: שרגא הר-גיל, born Paul-Philipp Freudenberger; 19 September 1926, in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

– 20 September 2009, in Würzburg) was a German-Israeli journalist, Middle East correspondent and a writer. He Hebraized his name to Har-Gil (Mount of Joy) in 1949.

Life

Har-Gil was the second son of a real estate agent whose family lived in Germany for centuries. His mother was an Orthodox Jew, his father a

Social Democrat Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

. In 1935 the whole family fled the Gestapo and escaped to Mandatory Palestine. During the Second World War he fought 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 ...

of the British Army and at the end of the war he fought for the independence of Israel. He was severely wounded and was permanently handicapped, however this did not hinder him in attaining prominence in his literary career both as a journalist and an author of short stories. He was the chief correspondent for the then-biggest Israeli newspaper ''

Maariv ''Maariv'' or ''Maʿariv'' (, ), also known as ''Arvit'', or ''Arbit'' (, ), is a Jewish prayer service held in the evening or at night. It consists primarily of the evening '' Shema'' and ''Amidah''. The service will often begin with two ...

'' for twenty years and subsequently became Middle East correspondent for German, Austrian and a Luxemburg newspapers. Time and again he focused upon the problem of the Middle East conflict and the difficult way towards peace. "There is no peace because there is no confidence". He never stopped advocating for dialogue even with the Hamas: "You have to negotiate with enemies not with friends." In his next career he set out to establish himself as a literary writer with an emphasis on Judaica and Israel. In this capacity he made many lecture tours throughout Germany. He was invited repeatedly to lecture in Germany at the Jewish Culture-Festival in the Rhineland. In 2009 Har-Gil was nominated for the Würzburg Peace Prize. He should be honored, because he, whose whole life first in Germany, then in Mandatory Palestine and Israel, was imprinted with the effects of anti-Semitism, hatred and wars, in spite of all he said: "I don't hate!" and he continued: "War is no solution, never!"Festvortrag auf der Akademie Frankenwarte anläßlich des Seminars am 24./25. Mai 2008 "Wenn ihr wollt ist es kein Märchen" - 60 Jahre Israel From 1999 Har-Gil and his German life partner Ulla Gessner, who became his co-author, lived together in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

Books (selection)

* ''Auserwählt und trotzdem heiter. Witze aus Israel'', 1970 (hg. mit Uri Sela) * ''Alte Liebe rostet nie, Erzählungen aus Würzburg als die Nazizeit begann'', 2004 (Vorwort H. Steidle) * ''Der schöne Busen der Nachbarin. Geschichten aus 50 Jahren Israel'', 2006 (Vorwort P. Pagel) * ''Täubele, mein geliebtes Täubele. Jüdische Geschichten'', 2008 * ''Ein Witz geht um die Welt'', in: Jüdischer Almanach "Humor" 2004 (Hg. Gisela Dachs) * ''Onkel Schlomo – ein ungewöhnlicher Jecke'', ebd. "Die Jeckes" 2005

Movie

* ''Die Kunst des Überlebens''. Documentation about Har-Gil's life and love from Amir Har-Gil (son), 52 min. Israel 2003, Germany WDR 3 (Red. Felix Kuballa) 9. July 2004 (first broadcast)

External links

Radio broadcast from WDR, 10 September 2006 "The Jewish child in Würzburg"
* * Obituary.
Obituary, The Foreign Press Association in Israel

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Har-Gil, Schraga Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine Writers from Würzburg 1926 births 2009 deaths Jewish Brigade personnel German Zionists 20th-century Israeli journalists Israeli military personnel of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War