Shlomo Sand

Shlomo Sand was born in 1946 in Linz

Shlomo Sand was born in 1946 in Linz, Austria, to Polish Jewish Holocaust survivors. After time in a displaced persons camp, the family moved to Jaffa in 1948. His father worked as a night porter at the Communist party headquarters, and both parents refused compensation from Germany.

At 16 he was expelled from high school. He worked in a radio business by day and studied electronics at night. He joined the Communist youth movement Banki.

He was drafted in 1965 and served with a communist Nahal group, including at kibbutz Yad Hanna. He fought in Jerusalem in the Six-Day War, and his experiences pushed him toward the radical left. In 1968 he joined the anti-Zionist group Matzpen and left it in 1970.

He earned a BA in history from Tel Aviv University in 1975. In Paris he completed an MA and a PhD on Georges Sorel and Marxism, and taught at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences. He joined Tel Aviv University in 1985 and was a full professor from 2002 until he retired in 2014.

His books include Film as History, published in 2002. His 2008 book The Invention of the Jewish People appeared in English in 2009 and caused a heated controversy. He is married with 2 daughters.