Yitzhak Gruenbaum
Encyclopedia
Yitzhak Gruenbaum was a noted leader of the Zionist
movement among Polish Jewry
between the two world wars and of the Yishuv
in Mandatory Palestine, and the first Interior Minister of Israel
.
, Poland. While a student of jurisprudence
, he began activities on behalf of the Zionist movement and engaged in journalism
. He served as editor of several periodicals widely circulated among Polish Jewry, including the Hebrew
Ha-Zefirah and the Hebrew weekly Ha-Olam. Under his editorship, the Yiddish daily, Haynt, took on a pro-Zionist slant.
, Gruenbaum headed the Al Hamishmar radical Zionist faction. In 1919 he was elected to the Sejm
(Polish parliament), where, together with Apolinary Hartglas
, he organized a "Jewish bloc" that united most of the Jewish parties. He was the moving force in forming a collaboration with other minority parties represented in the Sejm, including Germans, Ukrainians, and others, to form a Bloc of National Minorities
alliance in 1922, that acted to protect the rights of minority populations in Poland. His efforts brought about an increase of Jewish representation in the Sejm, which was accompanied by a rise in antisemitism. Gruenbaum was known for his courageous and militant stance against antisemitism and on behalf of minorities' rights, while equally critical of the ultra-orthodox
party Agudat Israel
and Jewish lobbying
.
to Mandate Palestine. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization
.
During the Holocaust
, he served on the "Committee of Four" chosen at the outbreak of World War II
to maintain contact with Polish Jewry and aid in their rescue. In 1942, when word reached the Yishuv
of the mass extermination taking place in Eastern Europe, Gruenbaum was chosen to head a 12-member Rescue Committee comprising representatives of the various parties. Due to circumstances prevailing at the time, their rescue efforts failed to accomplish much.
The quote; "One cow in Palestine is worth more than all the Jews in Europe" is attributed to Yitzhak Greenbaum.
At the war's end, he endured a personal crisis involving his son, Eliezer Gruenbaum. The latter, a Holocaust survivor, was accused in Paris
by two other Jewish Holocaust survivors of having served as a Kapo
and acting cruelty towards Jewish prisoners. During his son's detention and trial, Gruenbaum remained at his side. The matter was eventually closed; not long afterwards, Eliezer Gruenbaum fell in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
.
In 1946, Gruenbaum was among the Jewish Agency
directors arrested by the British and interned in a detention camp at Latrun
.
of the emerging State, and, as a member of Moetzet HaAm
, signed its declaration of independence. Between 1948 and 1949 he served as a member of the Provisional State Council and was the first Minister of the Interior in that formative period. His initial stance was with the General Zionists
, but as time went on moved leftward. He became an adherent of the Mapam
socialist-Zionist party, and was known as a declared secularist. Gruenbaum headed an independent list in the elections for the first Knesset
, but failed to obtain the minimum number of votes to secure a seat.
He was later a candidate for President
in the 1952 presidential election
alongside Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
of Mapai
, Peretz Bernstein
of the General Zionists
and Mordechai Nurock
of Mizrachi
. However, he was well beaten by Ben-Zvi.
educational institution is named for him.
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
movement among Polish Jewry
History of the Jews in Poland
The history of the Jews in Poland dates back over a millennium. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jewish community in the world. Poland was the centre of Jewish culture thanks to a long period of statutory religious tolerance and social autonomy. This ended with the...
between the two world wars and of the Yishuv
Yishuv
The Yishuv or Ha-Yishuv is the term referring to the body of Jewish residents in Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel...
in Mandatory Palestine, and the first Interior Minister of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
Education and journalistic career
Gruenbaum was born in WarsawWarsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Poland. While a student of jurisprudence
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
, he began activities on behalf of the Zionist movement and engaged in journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
. He served as editor of several periodicals widely circulated among Polish Jewry, including the Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
Ha-Zefirah and the Hebrew weekly Ha-Olam. Under his editorship, the Yiddish daily, Haynt, took on a pro-Zionist slant.
Political career in Poland
On the political scene in PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Gruenbaum headed the Al Hamishmar radical Zionist faction. In 1919 he was elected to the Sejm
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
(Polish parliament), where, together with Apolinary Hartglas
Apolinary Hartglas
Maksymilian Apolinary Hartglas – a Zionist activist and one of the main political leaders of Polish Jews during the interwar period, a lawyer, a publicist, and a Sejm deputy from 1919 to 1930.-Early life and education:Hartglas was born into a lawyer family from Podlasie...
, he organized a "Jewish bloc" that united most of the Jewish parties. He was the moving force in forming a collaboration with other minority parties represented in the Sejm, including Germans, Ukrainians, and others, to form a Bloc of National Minorities
Bloc of National Minorities
Blok Mniejszości Narodowych , was a political party in the Second Polish Republic, representing a coalition of various ethnic minorities in Poland, primarily Ukrainians, Belarusians, Jews and Germans. The Bloc was co-founded by Yitzhak Gruenbaum, a Polish-Jewish politician...
alliance in 1922, that acted to protect the rights of minority populations in Poland. His efforts brought about an increase of Jewish representation in the Sejm, which was accompanied by a rise in antisemitism. Gruenbaum was known for his courageous and militant stance against antisemitism and on behalf of minorities' rights, while equally critical of the ultra-orthodox
Haredi Judaism
Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....
party Agudat Israel
Agudat Israel
Agudat Yisrael began as the original political party representing the ultra-Orthodox population of Israel. It was the umbrella party for almost all ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel, and before that in the British Mandate of Palestine...
and Jewish lobbying
Lobbying
Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by various people or groups, from private-sector individuals or corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or...
.
In Mandate Palestine and during the Holocaust
In 1933 Gruenbaum made aliyahAliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
to Mandate Palestine. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization
World Zionist Organization
The World Zionist Organization , or WZO, was founded as the Zionist Organization , or ZO, in 1897 at the First Zionist Congress, held from August 29 to August 31 in Basel, Switzerland...
.
During the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
, he served on the "Committee of Four" chosen at the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
to maintain contact with Polish Jewry and aid in their rescue. In 1942, when word reached the Yishuv
Yishuv
The Yishuv or Ha-Yishuv is the term referring to the body of Jewish residents in Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel...
of the mass extermination taking place in Eastern Europe, Gruenbaum was chosen to head a 12-member Rescue Committee comprising representatives of the various parties. Due to circumstances prevailing at the time, their rescue efforts failed to accomplish much.
The quote; "One cow in Palestine is worth more than all the Jews in Europe" is attributed to Yitzhak Greenbaum.
At the war's end, he endured a personal crisis involving his son, Eliezer Gruenbaum. The latter, a Holocaust survivor, was accused in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
by two other Jewish Holocaust survivors of having served as a Kapo
Kapo (concentration camp)
A kapo was a prisoner who worked inside German Nazi concentration camps during World War II in any of certain lower administrative positions. The official Nazi word was Funktionshäftling, or "prisoner functionary", but the Nazis commonly referred to them as kapos.- Etymology :The origin of "kapo"...
and acting cruelty towards Jewish prisoners. During his son's detention and trial, Gruenbaum remained at his side. The matter was eventually closed; not long afterwards, Eliezer Gruenbaum fell in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...
.
Jewish Agency for Israel
The Jewish Agency for Israel , also known as the Sochnut or JAFI, served as the organization in charge of immigration and absorption of Jews from the Diaspora into the state of Israel.-History:...
directors arrested by the British and interned in a detention camp at Latrun
Latrun
Latrun is a strategic hilltop in the Ayalon Valley in Israel overlooking the road to Jerusalem. It is located 25 kilometers west of Jerusalem and 14 kilometers southeast of Ramla.-Etymology:...
.
In Israel
Gruenbaum was among a group of 13 leaders forming the provisional governmentProvisional government of Israel
The provisional government of Israel was the temporary cabinet which governed Israel from shortly before independence until the formation of the first government in March 1949 following the first Knesset elections in January that year....
of the emerging State, and, as a member of Moetzet HaAm
Provisional State Council
The Provisional State Council was the temporary legislature of Israel from shortly before independence until the election of the first Knesset in January 1949...
, signed its declaration of independence. Between 1948 and 1949 he served as a member of the Provisional State Council and was the first Minister of the Interior in that formative period. His initial stance was with the General Zionists
General Zionists
The General Zionists were centrists within the Zionist movement and a political party in Israel. Their political arm is an ancestor of the modern-day Likud.-History:...
, but as time went on moved leftward. He became an adherent of the Mapam
Mapam
Mapam was a political party in Israel and is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Meretz party.-History:Mapam was formed by a January 1948 merger of the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party and Ahdut HaAvoda Poale Zion Movement. The party was originally Marxist-Zionist in its outlook and represented...
socialist-Zionist party, and was known as a declared secularist. Gruenbaum headed an independent list in the elections for the first Knesset
Israeli legislative election, 1949
Elections for the Constituent Assembly were held in newly independent Israel on 25 January 1949. Voter turnout was 86.9%. Two days after its first meeting on 14 February 1949, legislators voted to change the name of the body to the Knesset...
, but failed to obtain the minimum number of votes to secure a seat.
He was later a candidate for President
President of Israel
The President of the State of Israel is the head of state of Israel. The position is largely an apolitical ceremonial figurehead role, with the real executive power lying in the hands of the Prime Minister. The current president is Shimon Peres who took office on 15 July 2007...
in the 1952 presidential election
Israeli presidential election, 1952
An election to choose the second President of Israel was held in the Knesset on 8 December 1952 following the death of the Israel's first president, Chaim Weizmann on 9 November...
alongside Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi was a historian, Labor Zionist leader, the second and longest-serving President of Israel.-Biography:...
of Mapai
Mapai
Mapai was a left-wing political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the Israeli Labor Party in 1968...
, Peretz Bernstein
Peretz Bernstein
Peretz Bernstein was a Zionist activist and Israeli politician and one of the signatories of the Israeli declaration of independence.-Biography:...
of the General Zionists
General Zionists
The General Zionists were centrists within the Zionist movement and a political party in Israel. Their political arm is an ancestor of the modern-day Likud.-History:...
and Mordechai Nurock
Mordechai Nurock
Rabbi Dr Mordechai Nurock was a Jewish politician and minister who served in both the parliaments of Latvia and Israel. He was also Israel's first Minister of Postal Services , though he only held the post for just under two months.-Biography:Born in Tukums in the Russian Empire , Nurock attended...
of Mizrachi
Mizrachi (political party)
Mizrachi was a political party in Israel and is one of the ancestors of the modern-day National Religious Party.-History:The Mizrachi movement was founded in 1902 in Vilnius as a religious Zionist organisation. It also had a trade union, Hapoel HaMizrachi, started in 1921...
. However, he was well beaten by Ben-Zvi.
Post-political career
Following his exit from politics, Yitzhak Gruenbaum undertook the editing of an Encyclopaedia of the Diaspora Communities and numerous other volumes, including The Zionist Movement and its Development. He spent his later years on kibbutz Gan Shmuel, and died in 1970. The Alonei YitzhakAlonei Yitzhak
Alonei Yitzhak is a youth village in northern Israel. Located near Binyamina, it falls under the jurisdiction of Menashe Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 210....
educational institution is named for him.
Further reading
- Encyclopaedia JudaicaEncyclopaedia JudaicaThe Encyclopaedia Judaica is a 26-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people and their faith, Judaism. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, holidays, language, scripture, and religious teachings...
, vol. 7, pp. 943–944. - The Central Zionist ArchivesCentral Zionist ArchivesThe Central Zionist Archives The Central Zionist Archives The Central Zionist Archives (CZA; Hebrew: (הארכיון הציוני המרכזי (אצ"מ) is an archive in Jerusalem, Israel, housing the historical archives of the Zionist movement from 1880-1970 and documenting the growth of the Zionist movement throughout...
in Jerusalem site. Office of Yitzhak Gruenbaum (S46), personal papers (A127)