Oded Messer

Oded Messer was born in 1922 in Vienna

Messer was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1922. He belonged to the Scouts and later to Hashomer Hatzair. He came to the Land of Israel in 1938 with Youth Aliyah, trained at Kibbutz Givat Haim and then lived in Beit Oren.

He joined the Haganah and in 1942 enlisted in the Palmach, where he rose from squad to company commander. After the War of Independence he stayed in the IDF, commanding the Givati Brigade and serving as chief of staff of Northern Command. He studied at the military college in France and, from 1958 to 1960, economics and international relations at the Hebrew University.

In December 1961 Yigal Allon asked him to become director general of the Labor Ministry. In 1967 he became director general of the Arad complex and resigned in March 1970. In 1974 he joined the Planning and Budgeting Committee.

In May 1975 he became Supervisor of Banks at the Bank of Israel and served until October 1982. During his term Israel moved from the lira to the shekel and joined SWIFT. In April 1986 the Beisky Commission found that he had not properly used his supervisory powers, and it limited itself to stating his responsibility.

Later he advised Solel Boneh on finance and sat on boards including Solel Boneh and Rafael. He died in 2001. The Janco Dada Museum, which he helped found, gives a prize for young artists in his name.