Abba Hushi
Polish-born Israeli politician (1898–1969)
Abba Hushi (Also: Aba Khoushy; Hebrew: אבא חושי; born Abba Schneller; 1898 – 24 March 1969) was an Israeli politician who served as mayor of Haifa for eighteen years between 1951 and 1969. Hushi was one of the founders and activists of Hashomer Hatzair movement in Poland.2
From Wikipedia’s article on Abba Hushi (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Born 1898, died Mar 24, 1969.1
About
In July 1920, he settled to Mandatory Palestine with a group of 130 Jewish pioneers. There he took the Hebrew surname "Hushi" ["speedy"], a translation of his original name, Schneller. He built roads and drained swamps, and helped to found kibbutz Beit Alfa. He was one of the founding members of the Histadrut labor federation. In 1927, he settled in Haifa and joined the Ahdut HaAvoda party, which later merged with Mapai. He was secretary of the Haifa Workers Council from 1931 to 1951. Hushi was elected to Israel's first Knesset in 1949 as a member of Mapai. Before the 1951 elections, he left the government to become mayor of Haifa. As mayor, he helped to found the University of Haifa, the Haifa Theatre, the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, the Mane-Katz Museum and the Carmelit (Haifa's funicular railway).
Abba Hushi was the father-in-law of Knesset member Amnon Linn.
From Wikipedia’s article on Abba Hushi, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2
Companies
- Haifa TheatreFounder12
Early life and education
Childhood and Aliyah
Family-background
Abba Hushi was born in 1898 in Turka, Galicia, then part of Austria-Hungary (today in Ukraine). His mother, Liba, ran a small farm, where she grew fruits and vegetables. After divorcing her first husband, Liba moved to Turka and married Zisha, a haberdasher. To avoid the draft, Zisha changed his name to Alexander, took Liba's surname, "Schneller," and hid in the attic of Liba's farmhouse.
The Schnellers had seven children: Ettia, Abba, Hinda, Ya'akov, Rosa, Malka and Harry from Liba's first marriage.
Education
After attending a heder, Hushi studied at the local gymnasium. He spoke Yiddish, German, Hebrew, Ukrainian and Polish, and knew some Greek and Latin. He planned to study medicine and even wrote "Property of Medical Student Abba Schneller" on his notebooks, but his plans were disrupted by the outbreak of World War I in 1914. The Schneller family fled to Bohemia.
Read more
Involvement in Hashomer Hatzair
After the family's return to Turka in 1918, the city fell under Polish rule. Antisemitism was on the rise, so a group of members of Hashomer Hatzair organized into an independent Jewish protection force. They were successful in Turka and stopped pogroms and other attacks, although in other cities throughout Poland these attacks continued.
On 4 and 5 August 1918, a Hashomer Hatzair conference was held in Turka. Hushi was one of the chairs of the conference, and there he called for immigration to the land of Israel. In the spring of 1920, at another Hashomer Hatzair conference in Lviv, Abba read publicly for the first time the words to his poem "In the Galil, at Tel Hai" inspired by the courage of Joseph Trumpeldor at Tel Hai. Indeed, the decisions made at the conference mirrored the spirit at Tel Hai: it was decided that the graduating group of Hashomer Hatzair would make Aliyah, and the workers of the movement would assist in the realization of this decision.
From Wikipedia’s article on Abba Hushi (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Career
Occupation: politician.7
- 1949 to 1951Knesset member5 6
- Date not recordedFounded Haifa Theatre3
- Date not recordedFounded University of Haifa4
Personal life
Marriage to Hannah
Hushi's relationship with Hannah grew closer while they were in Turka, although Hannah's father was not happy with the match. On Lag Ba'omer 1926, the Chief Rabbi of Haifa, Rabbi Kaniel, officiated at their wedding. On 29 March 1927, their daughter Ruth was born. Hannah remained in Beit Alfa while Hushi went to Haifa to help his family run the restaurant and continue his activities on behalf of the Histadrut. Hannah joined him in June. In September 1930, their son, Gadi, was born. Gadi died in an accident on 12 January 1932. Another son, Dan, was born the following year.
From Wikipedia’s article on Abba Hushi (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Legal issues and controversies
Building controversy
In 1934, Jewish contractors experimented with Arab workers, who were less expensive to employ than Jewish workers. The Histadrut responded with strikes and protests. The height of the controversy was in the Borovsky House construction site, where the contractor employed exclusively Arab workers, and didn't "reserve" any jobs for Jewish workers. As a reaction, Hushi sent workers to picket the site, who disturbed the building process. The contractor complained to the police, and the picketing workers were arrested. Nevertheless, Hushi continued to send workers to protest. The protests continued for 684 days, and a total of 2259 days of jail time were served by workers who had picketed. By the end of the conflict, the contractor gave in and was forced to employ Jewish workers who were members of the Workers Council.
From Wikipedia’s article on Abba Hushi (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Links
Sources
The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.
- 1WikidataAbba Hushi on Wikidata
- 2WikipediaAbba Hushi on Wikipedia
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6WikidataKnesset member, as reported
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11WikidataAbba Hushi: spouse, on Wikidata
- 12WikidataHaifa Theatre, Founder
- 13Wikimedia CommonsAbba Hushi photo by Hebrew Wikipedia, Public domain