Gershom Schocken

Gershom Schocken was born in 1912 in Zwickau

Schocken was born in Zwickau, Germany, to Lilli and Salman Schocken, whose family owned a chain of stores. As a young man he was active in a Zionist socialist youth movement. He later changed his first name from Gustav to Gershom.

He studied at the University of Heidelberg, where he met Walter Gross, and later at the London School of Economics. After the Nazis came to power he moved to Mandatory Palestine, studied Hebrew and worked at the Anglo-Palestine Bank.

His father bought Haaretz, and Schocken first helped run its business side. In 1939 he became its editor and held the post until his death. In 1950 he was among the founders of the ITIM news agency.

In 1955 he entered the Knesset for the Progressive Party and sat on several committees, leaving politics in 1959. He wrote poetry in German, English and Hebrew under the pen name Robert Pozen. In 1983 he received the International Editor of the Year Award.

He married Shulamit Persitz in 1937, and they had three children, Amos, Hillel and Racheli. He died in Tel Aviv in 1990 and was buried in Nahalat Yitzhak Cemetery.