David Ben-Gurion

David Ben-Gurion was born in 1886 in Płońsk

David Ben-Gurion was born David Grün in Płońsk, then in the Russian Empire, on 16 October 1886. His father Avigdor was a court scribe and an active Zionist. His mother Scheindel died in 1897.

He studied in several heders, some of which taught in Hebrew, and his formal schooling ended after his bar mitzvah. In 1900 he and friends founded Ezra, a youth group that taught Hebrew and promoted emigration to the Land of Israel. In 1904 he moved to Warsaw, where he taught Hebrew and in 1905 joined Poalei Zion.

He immigrated to Palestine in 1906 and worked as a day laborer in Petah Tikva. He took the name Ben-Gurion in 1909. From 1935 he headed the Jewish Agency and led the Jewish community under the British Mandate.

On 14 May 1948 he proclaimed the State of Israel and was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence. As prime minister and defense minister he united the militias into the IDF, oversaw the absorption of immigrants and signed the reparations agreement with West Germany. He resigned in 1954, returned in 1955 and led Israel during the 1956 Sinai War.

He stepped down in 1963 and founded Rafi in 1965. He left political life in 1970 and lived at Sde Boker in the Negev. He died on 1 December 1973.