Israel Pollak ( he, ישראל פולק; 1909–1993) was an Austro-Hungarian-born

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i textile industrialist. He is best known for founding the Israel-based ''Polgat'' company.

Biography

Israel Pollak was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

Orthodox family in

Borșa Borșa (; Hungarian: ''Borsa'', German: ''Borscha'', yi, בורשא ''Borsha'') is a town in eastern Maramureș County, Maramureș, Romania, in the valley of the river Vișeu and near the Prislop Pass. Linking Transylvania to Bukovina, Prislo ...

, east

Maramureș or Marmaroshchyna ( ro, Maramureș ; uk, Мармарощина, Marmaroshchyna; hu, Máramaros) is a geographical, historical and cultural region in northern Romania and western Ukraine. It is situated in the northeastern Carpathians, alon ...

. In 1925, he moved to Gura Humorului, Bukovina, and later to

Cernăuți Chernivtsi ( uk, Чернівці́}, ; ro, Cernăuți, ; see also other names) is a city in the historical region of Bukovina, which is now divided along the borders of Romania and Ukraine, including this city, which is situated on the up ...

. While in Cernăuți he studied at

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are st ...

and at a textile plant. In 1935, he founded an enterprise of its kind in the city.

Business career

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he emigrated to Chile where his brother Marcos had emigrated before the war. There with his brothers and brothers-in-laws he founded the "Pollak Hnos." textile company. In 1960, Pinhas Sapir, then Israel's Minister of Industry, invited Pollak to make '' aliyah'' and to establish a textile plant in

Kiryat Gat Kiryat Gat, also spelled Qiryat Gat ( he, קִרְיַת גַּת), is a city in the Southern District of Israel. It lies south of Tel Aviv, north of Beersheba, and from Jerusalem. In it had a population of . The city hosts one of the most a ...

. The Pollak's new company, ''Polgat'', grew into the largest textile, clothing and knitwear company in Israel. It eventually became a public corporation whose shares were traded on the

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE; ; colloquially known as The Bursa, ) is Israel's only public stock exchange and a public company that has been traded on the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange since August 1, 2019. Legally, the exchange is regulated by ...

. In 1970, the Pollaks founded Bagir, a men's division for suits and jackets.Israel couturier sold to a mass marketer

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

Awards and recognition

In 1990, Pollak was awarded the Israel Prize for his special contribution to society and the State of Israel. In 1992, he was honored by the

Hebrew University 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 ...

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

. In 1993, he was honored by the Technion in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

References

1909 births 1993 deaths 20th-century Chilean businesspeople Chilean Jews Israel Prize for special contribution to society and the State recipients 20th-century Israeli businesspeople 20th-century Israeli Jews Israeli people of Romanian-Jewish descent Chilean emigrants to Israel People from Borșa 20th-century Romanian businesspeople Romanian emigrants to Chile Romanian Jews {{Israel-business-bio-stub

Biography

Business career

Awards and recognition

See also

References