Hanoch Bartov ( he, חנוך ברטוב, 13 August 1926 – 13 December 2016) was an Israeli author and journalist.

Biography

Hanoch Helfgott (Bartov) was born in

Petah Tikva Petah Tikva ( he, פֶּתַח תִּקְוָה, , ), also known as ''Em HaMoshavot'' (), is a city in the Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Jews of the Old Yishuv, and became a permanent set ...

in 1926, a year after his parents immigrated from Poland.http://www.olinfilms.com/brigade/resources/bios/bartov.html The hidden story of the Jewish Brigade in World War II He attended a religious school and then the

Ahad Haam Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg (18 August 1856 – 2 January 1927), primarily known by his Hebrew name and pen name Ahad Ha'am ( he, אחד העם, lit. 'one of the people', Genesis 26:10), was a Hebrew essayist, and one of the foremost pre-state Zi ...

gymnasium. After working in diamond polishing and welding for two years, he enlisted in 1943, at the age of 17, in the

Palestine Regiment The Palestine Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army that was formed in 1942. During the Second World War, the regiment was deployed to Egypt and Cyrenaica, but most of their work consisted of guard duty. Some Palestine Regiment mem ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

. He spent three years in the

Jewish Brigade The Jewish Infantry Brigade Group, more commonly known as the Jewish Brigade Group or Jewish Brigade, was a military formation of the British Army in the World War II, Second World War. It was formed in late 1944 and was recruited among Yishuv, Y ...

, first in Palestine and then in Italy and the Netherlands, where he served as a medic, caring for

Holocaust survivors 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 acce ...

in DP camps. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Bartov studied Jewish and general history 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 ...

. During the

War of Independence This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence. List See also * Lists of active separatist movements * List of civil wars * List of ...

he served in field army units and 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 ...

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

. He lived for four years on

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 ...

Ein Hahoresh Ein HaHoresh (, ''lit.'' "the plower's spring" / "the plowman's fountain") is a kibbutz in central Israel. Located to the north of Netanya, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hefer Valley Regional Council. In it had a population of . History I ...

, working as a farmhand and a teacher.Hanoch Bartov, 83, wins Israel Prize
/ref> From 1966 to 1968, Bartov served as a cultural advisor in the Israeli embassy in London.

Literary career

Bartov published his first story in 1945, when he was a 19-year-old soldier in Europe. In his writing, as a journalist and novelist, Bartov describes his first contacts with survivors of the Holocaust. ''The Brigade'' is a fictionalized account of the operation of the Jewish Brigade.

Awards

Among the various prizes received by Bartov for his work are the following: * In 1985, 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; * In 2006, the Agnon Prize; * In 2010, 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 literature.

Books published in English

* ''The Brigade'' (1967), translation of ''Pitzei Bagrut'' (1965) * ''Everyone Had Six Wings'' (1974), translation of ''Shesh Kenafaim Le-Echad'' (1954) * ''An Israeli at the Court of St. James'' (1971), translation of ''Arba Yisraelim Be-Hatzer Saint James'' (1969) * ''Whose Little Boy Are You?'' (1978), translation of ''Shel Mi Ata Yeled'' (1970) * ''Dado, 48 years 20 days'' (1981), translation of '' Dado, 48 Shanim Ve-Od 20 Yom'' (1978). ''Note: An updated and expanded edition of this book was published in Hebrew in 2002 but has not yet been translated to English.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bartov, Hanoch 1926 births 2016 deaths Jews in Mandatory Palestine Israeli Jews Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni People from Petah Tikva Israel Prize in literature recipients Israeli novelists Israeli journalists Mandatory Palestine military personnel of World War II International Writing Program alumni Jewish Brigade personnel Recipients of Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works