Hugo Bergmann (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: שמואל הוגו ברגמן; December 25, 1883 – June 18, 1975) was an Israeli philosopher, born in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

Biography

Hugo Samuel Bergmann was born and raised in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. He was a member of the

intelligentsia visiting the salon group that met at the house of Berta Fanta. Bergmann married her daughter Else Fanta. Bergmann and his wife

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

to Palestine in 1920.Spector, Scott. "Bergmann, Hugo." YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe 27 July 2010. 2 February 201
link
/ref> They lived in the

Rehavia Rehavia or Rechavia ( he, רחביה, ar, رحافيا) is an upscale Jerusalem neighborhood located between the city center and Talbiya. Since its establishment in the 1920s, the area has always been associated with German-Jewish culture and ...

neighborhood of Jerusalem. Bergmann served as the director of the Jewish National Library between 1920 and 1935. He brought

Gershom Scholem Gershom Scholem () (5 December 1897 – 21 February 1982), was a German-born Israeli philosopher and historian. Widely regarded as the founder of modern academic study of the Kaballah, Scholem was appointed the first professor of Jewish Myst ...

from Germany to serve as the head of the Judaica Division. Together with

Martin Buber Martin Buber ( he, מרטין בובר; german: Martin Buber; yi, מארטין בובער; February 8, 1878 – June 13, 1965) was an Austrian Jewish and Israeli philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism ...

, he founded Brit Shalom, an organization espousing a

binational solution The one-state solution, sometimes also called a bi-national state, is a proposed approach to resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, according to which one state must be established between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean. Proponen ...

for promoting the co-existence of Jews and

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

s in the State of Israel. Bergmann was the father of Martin S. Bergmann, professor of psychology at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, the uncle of the Czech philosopher and historian Pavel Bergmann and the grandfather of the American director, writer and producer

Michael Bergmann Michael Bergmann is an American writer, director, and producer. Biography Michael Bergmann graduated with a B.A. in Latin from Columbia University in 1975 and studied film concurrently at N.Y.U. Undergraduate Film School. He went on to study a ...

Academic career

Hugo Bergman receives Honorary Doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1959 c

He became a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and later on the

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of the university. He was friends with

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

, who was a schoolmate of his, the philosopher

Felix Weltsch Felix Weltsch (6 October 1884, Prague – 9 November 1964, Jerusalem), was a German-speaking Jewish librarian, philosopher, author, editor, publisher and journalist. A close friend of Max Brod, Ludwig Winder and Franz Kafka, he was one of th ...

, who later worked at the Hebrew University Library in

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

, and

Max Brod Max Brod ( he, מקס ברוד; 27 May 1884 – 20 December 1968) was a German-speaking Bohemian, later Israeli, author, composer, and journalist. Although he was a prolific writer in his own right, he is best remembered as the friend and biog ...

, whom he introduced to

Zionism Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

before 1910. He wrote on the nature of quantum mechanics and causality where he interpreted spontaneity in nature with the psychological idea that the closer we come to elements in nature or components in the individual, the less tenable is strict causal determinism and the more freedom we must grant to decisive personal elements: "In corresponding areas of physics, the statistical law of averages takes on the same functions in determining temporal position and in prediction and reconstruction that the strict law of causality previously covered, but with the distinction that the individual case could be temporally located and predicted or reconstructed before, whereas now we deal only with the average." (1929) He translated several of

Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as ...

's books about Threefold Social Order into

Awards and recognition

* Bergmann was twice a recipient of the Israel Prize: ** in 1954, for the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

** in 1974 for his special contribution to society and the State of Israel. * He was a recipient of the

Yakir Yerushalayim Yakir Yerushalayim ( he, יַקִּיר יְרוּשָׁלַיִם; en, Worthy Citizen of Jerusalem) is an annual citizenship prize in Jerusalem, inaugurated in 1967. The prize is awarded annually by the municipality of the City of Jerusalem to o ...

(Worthy Citizen of Jerusalem) award in 1967, the year of the award's inauguration. City of Jerusalem official web site * He is also a recipient of the

Tchernichovsky Prize Tchernichovsky Prize is an Israeli prize awarded to individuals for exemplary works of translation into Hebrew. History The Tchernichovsky Prize is awarded by the municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo.

for exemplary translation.

References

External links

Jewish Virtual Library

** https://web.archive.org/web/20050112202325/http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/HEBREW/people/hogo.html ** https://web.archive.org/web/20041115133337/http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/german/people/Hugo_Samuel_Bergmann.html *

* https://web.archive.org/web/20050910162553/http://www.phil.muni.cz/fil/scf/bergmn.html * http://www.uncletaz.com/waage/waagenglish2.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Bergmann, Hugo Jewish philosophers Zionists Austro-Hungarian Jews Czechoslovak emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Writers from Prague Israel Prize in humanities recipients Israel Prize in humanities recipients who were philosophers Israel Prize for special contribution to society and the State recipients Librarians at the National Library of Israel Hebrew University of Jerusalem faculty Members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities 1883 births 1975 deaths 20th-century Israeli philosophers

Biography

Academic career

Awards and recognition

Further reading

See also

References

External links