Ben-Zion Sternberg

Ben-Zion Sternberg was born in 1894 in Chernivtsi

Ben-Zion Sternberg was born in 1894 in Bukovina, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father Abraham was a landowner in the local Jewish community. He studied law and political science at the universities of Vienna, Czernowitz and Cluj.

During the First World War he served as an officer in the Austro-Hungarian army. He was wounded several times and received decorations.

He was active in the Zionist group Hebronia and helped found the Revisionist movement in Bukovina. He became chairman of the Revisionist movement in Romania and worked closely with Vladimir Jabotinsky from 1926. In 1933 he was elected to the Zionist Executive Committee.

In 1940 he moved to the Land of Israel and chaired the Revisionist movement's supreme committee. He led efforts to help Jewish refugees reach the country and was held at the Latrun detention camp. He was a member of the Provisional Council of State and signed the Declaration of Independence.

After the state was founded he headed the trade department at the Ministry of Trade and Industry. In 1952 he moved to head the association of foreign investors in Israel. He died in 1962 and was buried in Kiryat Shaul cemetery.