Uziel "Uzi" Gal ( he, עוזיאל "עוזי" גל, born Gotthard Glas; 15 December 1923 – 7 September 2002) was an Israeli firearm designer, best remembered as the designer and namesake of the
Uzi
The Uzi (; he, עוזי, Ūzi; officially cased as UZI) is a family of Israeli open-bolt, blowback-operated submachine guns and machine pistols first designed by Major Uziel "Uzi" Gal in the late 1940s, shortly after the establishment of the ...
submachine gun.
Biography
Gal was born in
Weimar
Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...
, Germany to Miele and
Erich Glas. When the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
came to power in 1933, he first moved to the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and later in 1936 to
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 ...
Yagur
Yagur ( he, יָגוּר) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located on the northeastern slopes of Mount Carmel, about 9 km southeast of Haifa, it falls under the jurisdiction of Zevulun Regional Council. In it had a population of , making it ...
in the
British Mandate of Palestine British Mandate of Palestine or Palestine Mandate most often refers to:
* Mandate for Palestine: a League of Nations mandate under which the British controlled an area which included Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan.
* Mandatory P ...
, where he changed his name to Uziel Gal. In 1943, he was arrested for illegally carrying a gun and was sentenced to six years in prison. However, he was pardoned and released in 1946 (serving less than half of his sentence).
Gal began designing the
Uzi
The Uzi (; he, עוזי, Ūzi; officially cased as UZI) is a family of Israeli open-bolt, blowback-operated submachine guns and machine pistols first designed by Major Uziel "Uzi" Gal in the late 1940s, shortly after the establishment of the ...
submachine gun shortly after the founding of Israel and the
1948 Arab–Israeli War
The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...
. In 1951, it was officially adopted by the
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...
and was called the Uzi after its creator. Gal did not want the weapon to be named after him but his request was denied. In 1955, he was decorated with the
Tzalash haRamatkal and in 1958, Gal was the first person to receive the Israel Security Award, presented to him by
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
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 ...
for his work on the Uzi.
Gal retired from the IDF in 1975, and moved to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
the following year. He settled in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
so that his daughter, Tamar, who had serious
brain damage
Neurotrauma, brain damage or brain injury (BI) is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors. In general, brain damage refers to significant, undiscriminating t ...
, could receive extended medical treatment there.
In the early 1980s, Gal assisted in the creation of the
Ruger MP9 submachine gun.
Gal continued his work as a firearms designer in the United States until his death from
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
in 2002. His body was flown back to Yagur for burial.
References
External links
Uziel Galbiography by his son, Iddo Gal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gal, Uziel
1923 births
2002 deaths
Weapon designers
Weapon design
Firearm designers
Israeli military personnel
Israeli colonels
Israel Defense Prize recipients
Deaths from cancer in Pennsylvania
Recipients of British royal pardons
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom
Israeli inventors
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine
Israeli emigrants to the United States
Israeli people of German-Jewish descent