Eliezer Preminger

Eliezer Preminger was born in 1920 in Vienna

Preminger was born in Vienna in 1920 to Hillel and Amalia Preminger, Jews from Galicia. As a teenager he was active in the underground Communist youth movement. During Kristallnacht his mother hid him in a closet when stormtroopers searched their home.

He had hoped to study classical languages. He received an entry visa to Palestine through a scholarship to the Technion, so he studied engineering instead. He emigrated in 1939.

He joined the Palestine Communist Party but left it in 1945 to help form the Communist League. In 1947 he spoke for the League before UNSCOP, and the group became the Hebrew Communists. In 1948 he joined Maki and was elected to the first Knesset in 1949.

In 1949 he left Maki, revived the Hebrew Communists, and later that year joined Mapam. He lost his seat in 1951. He later served as deputy director general of the Ministry of Development and held posts in state companies such as Israel Quarries and the Phosphates Company.

He died in 2001 and was buried at Kiryat Shaul Cemetery. His son is film director Anat Preminger.