Gabriel Baer (1919-1982) was a German-born Israeli orientalist, an expert on the social history of the 18th and 19th-century Middle East, notably Egypt but also the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

.The Gabriel Baer Forum
, ''The Zvi Yavetz School of Historical Studies''. Baer was born on 13 January 1919 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Germany. He died in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, Israel, on September 22, 1982.

Activism

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

activist in his youth, he was a member of the German section of the

Fourth International The Fourth International (FI) is a revolutionary socialist international organization consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky, also known as Trotskyists, whose declared goal is the overthrowing of global capitalism and the establishment of wor ...

. In 1933, he left for

Mandatory 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 ...

. He became a member of the Hugim Marxistiim (Marxist Circles), the youth group of a faction of

Poale Zion Poale Zion (also spelled Poalei Tziyon or Poaley Syjon, meaning "Workers of Zion") was a movement of Marxist–Zionist Jewish workers founded in various cities of Poland, Europe and the Russian Empire in about the turn of the 20th century after ...

, the labour Zionist movement but left it in 1937 with Trotskyist theoretician and activist

Tony Cliff Tony Cliff (born Yigael Glückstein, he, יגאל גליקשטיין; 20 May 1917 – 9 April 2000) was a Trotskyist activist. Born to a Jewish family in Palestine, he moved to Britain in 1947 and by the end of the 1950s had assumed the pen nam ...

to found the Brit Kommunistim Mahapchanin (the Revolutionary Communist League), a section of the Fourth International in Palestine. In the late 1940s he left Palestine for Britain where he became a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party writing a number of articles in its paper Socialist Appeal. When the RCP collapsed he became a member of the Socialist Review group led by Tony Cliff who had joined him in Britain. Under the byline "S. Munir," he wrote several articles on the political and social situation in the Middle East in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Academic career

He studied

Arab literature Arabic literature ( ar, الأدب العربي / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is '' Adab'', which is derived from a ...

and

Muslim history Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...

at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

and at the

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...

. Starting from 1954, he was a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

at the Hebrew University, where he was instrumental in expanding the African and Asian Studies Institute there. He trained a whole generation of young scholars who were to become professors at Israeli universities. In 1965, he founded the ''

Journal of Asian and African Studies The ''Journal of Asian and African Studies'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers research in the fields of Asian and African studies. The journal's editor-in-chief is Nigel C. Gibson ( Emerson College). It was established in 1 ...

'', which he edited until 1981. He was also, from 1953 to 1966, the editor of '' Hamisrah Hehadash'' (The New East), a journal published in Jerusalem by the Israel Oriental Society. He died in Jerusalem, Israel, on September 22, 1982, being survived by his wife, Eva Baer, a specialist of

Islamic art Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across a wide ra ...

, who like him had emigrated to

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

in 1938.

Prize

In 1976, Gabriel Baer was one of the first two recipients of the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...

for Arabic linguistics.

Published works

A list of Baer's published works appeared in ''Journal of Asian and African Studies'', vol. 17 (1983), p. 315-321.

Under the byline "S. Munir"

* ''Le Moyen-Orient depuis la guerre de Palestine'' (1949), *''La lutte anti-impérialiste des masses égyptiennes'' (1952), *''La fermentation sociale et le coup d’État militaire en Egypte (1952).N. 59 (Volume 10, Issue 5-10) of ''Quatrième Internationale'', octobre 1952, under the byline « S. Munir »

Books

*''A History of Landownership in Modern Egypt, 1800-1950'', Oxford University Press, 1962, 280 p. *''Egyptian Guilds in Modern Times'', Volume 8 of Oriental notes and studies, Hevrah ha-Mizrahit ha-Yiśre’elit, Israel Oriental Society, 1964, 192 p.
review by P. M. Holt
in ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', vol. 29, issue 1 (February 1966), p. 154) *''Population and Society in the Arab East'', International library of sociology and social reconstruction, Praeger, 1964 (new edition in 1976, by Greenwood Press, 275 p.) *''Studies in the Social History of Modern Egypt'', Publications of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, no. 4, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1969, 259 p.
review by Roger Owen
in ''Middle Eastern Studies'', vol. 9, No 1, January 1973, p. 115-118) *''Fellah and Townsman in the Middle East: Studies in Social History'', London, Frank Cass, 1982, 338 p.

Articles

*Women and Waqf: An Analysis of the Istambul Tahrir of 1546, in ''Asian and African Studies'', vol. 17 (1983), p. 9-27 *The Waqf as a Prop for the Social System (Sixteenth-Twentieth Centuries), in ''Islamic Law and Society'', vol. 4, No. 3, 1997, p. 264-297

References

External links

Gabriel Baer. An Obituary
in ''Der Islam'', vol. 61, issue 1 (January 1984), p. 8-9 (obituary)
In memoriam. Gabriel Baer 1919-1982
in ''Middle Eastern Studies'', vol. 19, No. 3, p. 275-276 (obituary)
''Encyclopaedia Judaica''
, vol. 3, Jerusalem, Thomson Gale, 2007, second ed. - Baer, Gabriel, p. 52 {{DEFAULTSORT:Baer, Gabriel 1919 births 1982 deaths Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine German Trotskyists Jewish socialists 20th-century pseudonymous writers Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Hebrew Reali School alumni Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Israel Prize in linguistics recipients American University of Beirut alumni People from Berlin Burials at Har HaMenuchot