Hugo Bergmann

Hugo Bergmann was born in 1883 in Prague

Hugo Samuel Bergmann was born in Prague in 1883 and grew up there. He studied philosophy at the universities of Prague and Berlin, under Anton Marty and Franz Brentano. He was active in Zionist circles and was a friend of Franz Kafka, Felix Weltsch and Max Brod.

From 1907 to 1914 he worked as a librarian at the university library in Prague. In 1914 he served in the Austro-Hungarian army during World War I, and in 1918 he returned to the library. In 1919 he moved to London to work in the Zionist leadership's education and culture department.

In 1920 he immigrated to the Land of Israel and became director of the National Library, a post he held until 1935. He began lecturing in philosophy at the Hebrew University in 1928. In 1935 the university senate chose him as its first rector, and he served until 1938.

With Martin Buber he founded Brit Shalom, which supported a binational path for Jews and Arabs. In 1961 he organized a petition against the death penalty for Adolf Eichmann. He also translated books by Rudolf Steiner into Hebrew.

He married Else Fanta in 1908, and in 1936 he married Escha Else Bergmann. He had 5 children. He received the Israel Prize in 1954 and 1974, and he died in 1975.