Yosef Bazil

Yosef Bazil was born in 1936 in Iași

Yosef Bazil was born in 1936 in Iași, Romania, and began drawing caricatures as a child. During the Iași pogrom he hid with his family in the basement of their home. In 1944 the family moved to Bucharest out of fear for their lives.

After World War II he studied architecture in Bucharest. In those years he also began publishing caricatures in a Romanian newspaper. In 1959 he immigrated to Israel with his family, who lived first in Kiryat Binyamin and later in Holon.

He joined the IDF in 1960 and served as an officer in the Paratroopers Brigade. As a reservist he fought in the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War. In 1974 he co-edited a book on the battles of Battalion 46 of Brigade 401 in the Yom Kippur War.

From 1965 to 1974 he drew political cartoons for HaOlam HaZeh, while also publishing cultural cartoons in the Romanian press. His design studio, Bisla, worked for companies such as Tadiran and Coca-Cola. In 2006 and 2009 he published 2 books of collage works.

He died on 17 September 2010.