Hannah Lamdan

Hannah Lamdan was born in 1905 in Shyrivtsi

Hannah Lerner was born in 1905 in Shyrivtsi, in Bessarabia in the Russian Empire. Her parents were Miriam Rapoport and Michael Krakushansky, a farmer and cattle trader. The family later moved to Novoselytsia, where she attended a Hebrew primary school, the only girl among boys.

She emigrated to the Land of Israel and settled in Tel Aviv. In 1926 she married Zvi Lamdan, and the couple had a daughter, Michal. She worked as an industrial worker and labor leader in the Histadrut, and headed the Women Workers department of the Tel Aviv workers council from 1937 to 1940.

In 1948 she joined Mapam and in 1949 she was elected to the Constituent Assembly. She served as a deputy speaker of the Knesset and in 1951 chaired the first parliamentary inquiry committee in Israel, on the Jalami camp detainees. In 1952 she and David Livschitz formed an independent faction, which joined Mapai in January 1954.

She lost her seat in 1955 but returned to the Knesset in 1957 and again in 1962 as a replacement member. Her work focused on the Labor Committee, where she promoted workers' rights and employment for people with disabilities. In 1965 she left Mapai with David Ben-Gurion to found Rafi, and lost her seat later that year.

After leaving the Knesset she remained active in the Labor Party and in workers' rights. She died in Holon in 1995.