Politicsיוסף ברץ

Joseph Baratz

Joseph Baratz was a Zionist pioneer, a founding member of Degania, and a member of Israel's first Knesset for Mapai.

1890 to 1968Early member of DeganiaFounding the soldiers' welfare associationMember of the first Knesset

Born: 8 May 1890, Coșnița
Died: 14 December 1968, Degania Alef
Occupation: politician
Party: Mapai, The Young Worker
Founded: Israel Association for the Support of Soldiers (1942)

Joseph Baratz was born in 1890 in Coșnița

Baratz was born in 1890 in the village of Coșnița in the Russian Empire. He studied at a heder, and after his family moved to Chișinău he joined the Young Zion movement.

In 1906 he immigrated alone to the Land of Israel and worked in farming in Rehovot. He joined The Young Worker, trained as a stone cutter in Jerusalem, and later worked in Tel Aviv, Atlit and Zikhron Ya'akov. In 1910 he joined a workers' commune in Hadera that went on to found Degania.

He was sent abroad as an emissary, including to Russia in 1919. He was active in the Haganah and was among the founders of the Histadrut in 1920. In 1941 he volunteered for the British Army, and in 1942 he helped found the Israel Association for the Support of Soldiers and headed it.

In 1949 he was elected to the first Knesset for Mapai and lost his seat in 1951. He married Miriam Ostrovsky in 1912, and they had 7 children. He died in 1968 and was buried in Degania Alef.