Ari Rath (‎; 6 January 1925 – 13 January 2017) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n-Israeli

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

Life

Rath was born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and grew up there. After the ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

'' he came through a ''

Kindertransport The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children (but not their parents) from Nazi-controlled territory that took place during the nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World ...

'' as a thirteen-year-old boy to

Mandate Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 i ...

. As one of the founders of

Kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

Hamadia Hamadia ( he, חֲמַדְיָה) is a kibbutz in the Beit She'an Valley, just north of Beit She'an in northern Israel. It belongs to the Valley of Springs Regional Council. In it had a population of . Name The kibbutz took its name from al-Ha ...

he lived there for 16 years and studied contemporary history and economics.

Career

After turning to journalism he became

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

of ''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...

'' in 1975, and in 1979 was appointed its Editor-in-Chief. In this capacity he belonged, together with

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres (; he, שמעון פרס ; born Szymon Perski; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the ninth president of ...

, to the inner circle of friends of

David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; he, דָּוִד בֶּן-גּוּרִיּוֹן ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Adopting the name ...

. Leaving ''The Jerusalem Post'' in 1989, he was a

freelance writer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

and taught at the

University of Potsdam The University of Potsdam is a public university in Potsdam, capital of the state of Brandenburg, Germany. It is mainly situated across three campuses in the city. Some faculty buildings are part of the New Palace of Sanssouci which is known ...

and was news editor of the on-line journal ''Partners for Peace''. Rath was an advocate for a peaceful coexistence of Israelis and

Palestinians Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

. He was a founding member of the Next Century Foundation, a second-track group working for peace and reconciliation.

Awards

For his merits of Israeli-German/Austrian dialog he was awarded several honors among others: in 2005 he won the German ''

Bundesverdienstkreuz The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

''; his latest award for his "dialog between Vienna and Israel" was the ''Goldenes Ehrenzeichen'' (golden badge of honor) of the city of Vienna. In 2005, Ari Rath, along with some British and Arab journalists, received a Special Prize in the British House of Lords in the shape of an olive tree from the

International Council for Press and Broadcasting International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

in recognition of his achievement and tireless work for rapprochement and peace. This was in lieu of the Peace for Media awards, which were not given that year.

Death

Rath died on 13 January 2017 in Vienna at the age of 92.

Works

* Rath, Ari a.o. ''Auf dem Weg zum Frieden. Artikel und Essays aus fünf Jahrzehnten'', Berlin 2005. * Rath, Ari; Frenkel, Erwin. ''Front page Israel. Major events 1932–1986 as reflected in the front pages of ''The Jerusalem Post', Jerusalem 1986, .

References

External links

Ari Rath

Austrian Press Agency, 6 May 2005
Image of Ari Rath
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rath, Ari 1925 births 2017 deaths Jewish emigrants from Austria to Mandatory Palestine after the Anschluss Israeli journalists Kindertransport refugees The Jerusalem Post editors Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany University of Potsdam faculty