Public lifeמשה ברור

Moshe Brawer

Moshe Brawer was an Israeli geographer and cartographer who edited Hebrew atlases used in Israeli schools and won the Israel Prize in 2002.

1919 to 2020Editing Hebrew school atlasesResearch on Israel's bordersFounding university geography departments

Born: 2 November 1919, Vienna
Died: 28 December 2020, Ramat Gan
Occupation: educator, geographer, cartographer
Education: Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Moshe Brawer was born in 1919 in Vienna

Moshe Brawer was born in Vienna in 1919. His father, Abraham Jacob Brawer, was a geographer and historian, and his mother Sarah taught French. The family moved to the Land of Israel in 1920, and as a child he joined his father's geography tours.

He studied at Tachkemoni school in Jerusalem and later at King's College in London. During World War II he studied geology and mathematics at the Hebrew University. He earned degrees from the University of London, finishing a doctorate in 1958.

Near the end of the war he worked as a military correspondent in Europe and covered the Nuremberg trials. In Vienna in 1945 he found the Kozenn atlas and had it translated into Hebrew. He fought in the War of Independence and was released in 1949.

He founded the geography departments at Tel Aviv University in 1966 and Bar-Ilan University in 1969. He was dean of humanities at Tel Aviv University from 1980 to 1983 and president of the Israeli Geographical Society from 1979 to 1981. He also wrote for the newspaper Hatzofe and studied Israel's borders.

He retired in 1989 and remained professor emeritus. He chaired the government names committee from 2006 to 2014. He died on 28 December 2020.