Haim Gouri ( he, חיים גורי; Gurfinkel; 9 October 1923 – 31 January 2018) was an Israeli poet, novelist,

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 journalis ...

, and documentary

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

. Widely regarded as one of the country's greatest poets, he was awarded the Israel Prize for poetry in 1988, as well as being the recipient of several other prizes of national distinction.

Biography

Haim Gurfinkel (later Gouri) was born in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...

. After studying at the

Kadoorie Agricultural High School Kadoorie Agricultural High School, sometimes spelled "Kadouri" or "Kaduri", is an agricultural school and youth village in Israel situated next to Mount Tabor in the Lower Galilee, two kilometers north of Kfar Tavor. Founded in 1933, it had a po ...

, he joined the Palmach and completed a commander's course. He participated in the bombing of a British radar station being used to track

Aliyah Bet ''Aliyah Bet'' ( he, עלייה ב', " Aliyah 'B'" – bet being the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet) was the code name given to illegal immigration by Jews, most of whom were refugees escaping from Nazi Germany, and later Holocau ...

ships carrying illegal Jewish immigrants to Palestine. In 1947 he was sent to

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

to bring

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally accep ...

s 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 ...

. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War he was a deputy company commander in the Palmach's

Negev Brigade The 12th Negev Brigade ( he, חטיבת הנגב, ''Hativat HaNegev'') is an Israeli reserve infantry brigade under the Sinai Division, that originally served in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. History Founding and organization The brigade was f ...

.Eli Elihau, ''First-person plural'', Haaretz April 17, 2009

/ref> Gouri studied literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

in Paris. As a journalist he worked for '' LaMerhav'' and later, ''

Davar ''Davar'' ( he, דבר, lit. ''Word'') was a Hebrew-language daily newspaper published in the British Mandate of Palestine and Israel between 1925 and May 1996. It was relaunched in 2016, under the name ''Davar Rishon'' as an online outlet by th ...

''. He achieved fame with his coverage of the 1961

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal ...

of Adolf Eichmann.

Family

Gouri lived with his wife, Aliza, in

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

.Encyclopedia of Holocaust Literature: Haim Gouri
/ref> Gouri died on 31 January 2018, at the age of 94.

Literary career

Gouri's first published poem, ''Day Voyage,'' appeared in Mishmar, edited by Abraham Shlonsky, in 1945. His first complete volume of poetry, ''Flowers of Fire,'' was published in 1949 following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Some poems that Gouri wrote became an inseparable part of the Israeli ethos. One of his most famous poems, "Behold, here our bodies lie" ( he, הנה מוטלות גופותינו), was written in the time of Israel's war for independence (1948-1949) to commemorate the 35 soldiers who were killed on their way to the besieged

Gush Etzion Gush Etzion ( he, גּוּשׁ עֶצְיוֹן, ' Etzion Bloc) is a cluster of Israeli settlements located in the Judaean Mountains, directly south of Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the West Bank. The core group includes four Jewish agricultural v ...

( he, גוש עציון) settlements. Gouri also wrote a few famous popular songs such as "The Comradeship" ( he, הרעות) that became representative of Israel's war for independence.

Awards and recognition

* In 1961, Gouri obtained the Sokolow Award for Israeli Journalism. * The film ''

The 81st Blow ''The 81st Blow'' ( he, המכה ה-81 and also known as ''The Eighty-First Blow'') is a 1974 Israeli documentary film directed by Haim Gouri. The film covers the oppression of Jews under the Nazis and features rare historical footage of concen ...

'', which he wrote, co-produced, and co-directed, was nominated for the 1974

Academy Award for Documentary Feature The Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film is an award for documentary films. In 1941, the first awards for feature-length documentaries were bestowed as Special Awards to '' Kukan'' and ''Target for Tonight''. They have since been best ...

. It is part of a powerful Holocaust trilogy that includes ''The Last Sea'' and ''Flames in the Ashes''. * In 1975, Gouri was awarded the

Bialik Prize The Bialik Prize is an annual literary award given by the municipality of Tel Aviv, Israel, for significant accomplishments in Hebrew literature. The prize is named in memory of Israel's national poet Hayyim Nahman Bialik Hayim Nahman Bialik ...

for

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

. * In 1988, he was awarded the Israel Prize, for Hebrew poetry. * In 1998, he won the Uri Zvi Grinberg award. *In 2004, he was awarded the

Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works The Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works, also known as the Levi Eshkol Literary Award, named after Israel's third Prime Minister, is an annual award granted to writers in the Hebrew language. The prize was established in 1969. Abou ...

. * In 2016, Gouri rejected an award from the Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sport of the annual 50,000

shekel Shekel or sheqel ( akk, 𒅆𒅗𒇻 ''šiqlu'' or ''siqlu,'' he, שקל, plural he, שקלים or shekels, Phoenician: ) is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly —and became c ...

prize for “Zionist works of art”.

Published works

Poetry

* ''Flowers of Fire'' ( he, פרחי אש), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1949) * ''Till Dawn'' ( he, עד עלות השחר), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1950) * ''Poems of the Seal'' ( he, שירי חותם), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1954) * ''Compass Rose'' ( he, שושנת רוחות), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1960) * ''Gehazi Visions'' ( he, מראות גיחזי), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1967) * ''Movement to Touch'' ( he, תנועה למגע), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1968) * ''The Eagle Line'' ( he, עד קו נשר), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1975) * ''Summer's End'' ( he, מחברות אלול), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1985) * ''The One Who Came After Me'' ( he, הבא אחרי), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1993) * ''Words in My Love-Sick Blood'' (selected poems in English translation). Detroit: Wayne State University, 1996, . * ''The Poems'' ( he, השירים), in two volumes, Bialik Institute (1998) * ''Late Poems'' ( he, מאוחרים), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, (2002) * ''I Am a Civil War'' ( he, אני מלחמת אזרחים), Daniella De-Nur, , Hakibbutz Hameuchad, (2004). * ''Eyval'' ( he, עיבל), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, (2009) * ''Though I Wished for More of More'' ( he, אף שרציתי עוד קצת עוד), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, Daniella De-Nur, (2015)

Fiction

* ''The Chocolate Deal'' ( he, הספר המשוגע), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1965). English translations: New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1968, . Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1999, . * ''The Crazy Book'' ( he, הספר המשוגע). Am Oved Publishers, (1971) * ''The Interrogation'', ''The Story of Reuel'' ( he, החקירה, סיפור רעואל). Am Oved Publishers, (1980) * ''Who Knows Joseph G?'' ( he, מי מכיר את יוסף ג'), Hakibbutz Hameuchad (1980)

Non-fiction

* ''Pages of Jerusalem'' ( he, דפים ירושלמיים) Hakibbutz Hameuchad, notes (1968) * ''Facing the Glass Booth: the Jerusalem Trial of Adolf Eichmann'' (1962). English translation: Detroit: Wayne State University, 2004, . * ''The Imprint of Memory'' ( he, חותם הזיכרון), Hakibbutz Hameuchad, Bialik Institute, (2015).

Documentary films

* ''

'' (''Ha-Makah Hashmonim V'Echad'', 1974), distributed with English subtitles by "American Federation of Jewish Fighters, Camp Inmates and Nazi Victims" * ''The Last Sea'' (''Ha-Yam Ha'Aharon'', 1980) * ''Flames in the Ashes'' (''Pnei Hamered'', 1985)

References

External links

*
Haim Gouri
(capsule biography and bibliography) at the Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature. * *

Hebrew article about the poet in later life, retrieved from ynet 28 November 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gouri, Haim 1923 births 2018 deaths Palmach members Israeli journalists Israeli poets Israeli documentary filmmakers Israel Prize in Hebrew poetry recipients Recipients of Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works People from Tel Aviv