Berl Locker

Berl Locker was born in 1887 in Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria

Locker was born in the village of Kriwiec in Galicia. He went to a Jewish school and later to a gymnasium in Siret in Bukovina. In 1904 he helped found the Zionist student union Flowers of Zion and began studying law at Chernivtsi University.

He joined Poale Zion in 1905 and sat on its central committee in Austria. He was secretary of its offices in The Hague from 1916 and later in Stockholm. From 1918 to 1928 he was secretary of the Poale Zion World Union, and then party secretary in the United States until 1931.

In 1931 he joined the Jewish Agency board, serving until 1935. He moved to the Land of Israel in 1936 and was a political advisor to the Agency, then returned to London as Chaim Weizmann's chief aide. There he worked for the Zionist cause among the British public and the Labour movement until 1948.

He settled in Israel in June 1948 and chaired the Jewish Agency board from 1948 to 1956. In 1955 he was elected to the Knesset for Mapai and served one term. He chaired the Zionist General Council from 1959 to 1961.

He was married to the Yiddish poet Malka Locker. In 1968 he was named Yakir Yerushalayim. He died in 1972 and was buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.