Avraham Sharon

Avraham Sharon was born in 1878

Avraham Sharon was born Abraham Schwadron in 1878 in the village of Bieniów, near Zolochiv in Galicia. His father, Isaac Schwadron, made beverages, and his mother was Rivka Gelernter. As a child he studied with his uncle, Rabbi Sholom Mordechai Schwadron, and later at the Jewish Gymnasium in Suceava.

At the University of Vienna he earned 3 doctoral degrees, in philosophy, law and chemistry. He founded a Zionist association in Zolochiv and belonged to HaTehiya, a group of Jewish students who spoke only Hebrew. In 1914 he fled the Russian army to Vienna and published essays there.

Though a pacifist, he served in the Austro-Hungarian Army in World War I and wrote reports from the front. After the war he changed his name to Sharon and was active in Hapoel Hatzair in Vienna. In 1927 he moved to the Land of Israel, studied music and set 9 poems by Rachel to music.

He wrote children's stories, criticism and essays, and translated Bialik's The City of Slaughter into German. He promoted Hebrew labor and called himself anti-partisan, while supporting David Ben-Gurion. He married Gina Freudenberg in 1935, and in 1950 she moved to the United States with their son Isaac.

His collection of autographs and portraits began in 1896 with a letter from Moritz Güdemann. In 1957 he was hit by a vehicle on Strauss Street in Jerusalem and died weeks later. He was buried on Har HaMenuchot.