Michael Harisch
He was born into a family of religious Jews. The mother lost her entire family in the Holocaust of the Jews of Hungary and northern Transylvania. In 1942-1944 his father, Iosef Hirsch, worked in compulsory labor detachments. In 1938, his father's brother, Simon Hirsch, and his wife, Helen, were killed in a bomb attack by a legionnaire during the Yiddish-language theater performance of the troupe of actress Sidi Thal in Timişoara. Michael was a student at the Israelite High School in Timişoara and was active in the "Bney Akiva" Zionist religious youth movement.
In 1950 the family emigrated to Israel aboard the ship "Transylvania". He performed compulsory military service as a combat soldier, although he had been admitted as a violinist in the army orchestra. He became an officer in the 12th Regiment of the Golani Brigade and participated in the Sinai Campaign of 1956. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Harish was one of the founders of the Young Guard of the Labor Party (1966). He supported Ben Gurion and was close to Shimon Peres. He was director of the Department of International Relations of the Labor Party (1967-1982) and chairman of the Political Committee of the Labor Party.
Harish was a member of the Knesset from 1974-1996. In 1992, he led Itzhak Rabin's election campaign team. In 1992-1996 he was Minister of Industry and Trade of the State of Israel in the governments of Itzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. In January-September 2011 he was interim president of the Labor Party, in a crisis situation.
For several years he has been the executive president of AMIR - the United Organization of Israelis Originally from Romania.
Sources
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Interview with Getta Neumann, unpublished
https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Harish