Mordechai Olmert

Mordechai Olmert was born in 1908 in Buguruslan

Mordechai Olmert was born in 1908 in Buguruslan in the Russian Empire, to a Jewish family. His family moved to Harbin in China in 1919. There he studied at a local polytechnic and helped found the Jewish Students Organisation and the local Betar branch.

In Harbin he met Bella Wagman, whom he later married. From 1931 to 1933 he taught Russian at a Chinese high school. In 1933 he immigrated to Mandatory Palestine.

He joined the Betar work group in Hadera and worked in farming until 1939. He was among the founders of the Irgun and of the Jabotinsky neighborhood in Binyamina in 1946. His son Ehud Olmert was one of 4 sons.

In 1949 he went back to China to raise money for the Irgun fund. He then headed the Herut settlement department until 1953. He was elected to the Knesset in 1955, re-elected in 1959, and lost his seat in 1961.

In 1965 he left the Herut central committee. He joined the Free Centre in 1969 and helped found La'am in 1976. He died in 1998.