Emil Grunzweig (Hebrew: אמיל גרינצווייג) (December 1, 1947, in Cluj, Romania - February 10, 1983 in Jerusalem) was an Israeli educator and peace activist, one of the prominent members of the Peace Now (Shalom Akhshav) movement. He became a symbolic figure of the center-left democratic forces in Israel after having been killed during a peace rally in Jerusalem on February 10, 1983.
Emil Grunzweig was born in the town of Cluj-Napoca in Transylvania, Romania, as the son of a mother (Olga) who was a survivor of the Nazi extermination camp Auschwitz. The family emigrated to France and to Brazil. In 1963 on the way to Israel, the father Samuel died in France. In Israel the mother and her two sons, Emil and Eliezer, settled in Haifa. There Emil studied at the Hebrew Reali School. After his graduation he joined an army agricultural unit based at Kibbutz Revivim in the Negev desert. As a paratrooper in the Israeli Defence Forces he took part in the Six Days War, then as reserve officer in the War of Attrition, in the Yom Kippur War and in the Lebanon War in 1982.
After discharge from the regular service, he settled in Kibbutz Revivim where he worked in the orchards, then studied mathematics and philosophy at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Later he worked as a teacher of maths and was responsible for social activities at Maaleh Bessor high school in Kibbutz Magen. He was involved in many educational projects including role playing games with the students in negotiations on issues such as the Israeli-Arab conflict, work relations, and connections between religious cults and the state.
He then moved to Jerusalem to complete his master's degree in the history, philosophy and sociology of sciences and worked in educative projects at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. In this capacity he organized common summer camps for better understanding between Jewish and Arab youth.
Grunzweig was killed when Yona Avrushmi lobbed a grenade into the crowd of demonstrators.[1][2][3] Avrushmi was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, later commuted to 27 years in prison. In 2005 Avrushmi was denied early release; he is currently slated to be released in 2010.[4]
Footnotes
- ^ "Thousands attend Israeli's funeral". The New York Times. 1983-02-12. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0A1FF63F5F0C718DDDAB0894DB484D81. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
- ^ Shipler, David K. (1983-02-16). "A crude shrine rises at spot where bomb halted protest". The New York Times. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50711FD3E5F0C758DDDAB0894DB484D81. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
- ^ Shipler, David K. (1984-01-29). "Israel begins to note Jewish terrorism". http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40715F63D5F0C7A8EDDA80894DC484D81. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
- ^ Court rejects appeal for early release from jail by killer of Peace Now activist, Haaretz, quoted by Peace Now, November 24, 2005.
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