Ehud Avriel

Ehud Avriel was born in 1917 in Vienna

Avriel was born Georg Überall in Vienna in 1917. He went to secondary school in the city and was active in Jewish youth movements, including Blau-Weiss. From 1938 to 1940 he worked for the Youth Aliyah office in Vienna under Nazi rule and helped Jews leave Austria.

He immigrated to the Land of Israel and joined the group that founded kibbutz Neot Mordechai. He joined the Haganah and worked for the Rescue Committee, spending much time in Turkey. In 1944 he escorted Joel Brand on his mission, and Brand was arrested by British police in Aleppo.

After the war he served as deputy to Shaul Avigor in the Mossad LeAliyah Bet and bought arms in Europe. Sent by Ben-Gurion, he signed an arms deal with Czechoslovakia that was finalized on 14 January 1948. In 1948 he became envoy to Czechoslovakia and Hungary, and later headed the legation in Romania until 1951.

He was elected to the Knesset for Mapai in 1955 and resigned in 1957 to become ambassador to Ghana and Liberia. He was deputy director general of the Foreign Ministry from 1961 to 1965 and ambassador to Italy from 1965 to 1968. From 1968 to 1972 he chaired the World Zionist Organization.

He was consul general in Chicago in 1974 and ambassador for special affairs from 1977 to 1979. He died of a heart attack in Jerusalem in 1980 while giving a lecture. He was buried at Neot Mordechai.