Yosef Porath

Yosef Porath was born in 1909 in Wrocław

Porath was born Heinz Josef Foerder in Breslau, Germany, on 7 June 1909. His parents were David and Toni, née Mittwoch. His father was a grandson of Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer.

As a young player he was a member of the German team and played at the 1928 Olympiad in The Hague. He won or shared first place in several Silesian Chess Congress events, and in 1930 he won at Bilina ahead of Salo Flohr. In 1933 he lost his job after the Nazis came to power and moved to Riga.

In 1934 he emigrated to the Land of Israel with his wife Grete and settled in the moshav Ramot HaShavim. There he took the name Yosef Porath. He played for the Palestine team at the Olympiads of 1935 and 1939, and won the Palestine Championship in 1937 and 1940.

After World War II he played for Israel in 9 consecutive Olympiads from 1952 to 1968. He received the International Master title in 1952 together with Moshe Czerniak. He won the Israeli Championship in 1953, 1957, 1959 and 1963, and in 1963 won the zonal tournament in Ulaanbaatar.

He died in Ramot HaShavim on 18 May 1996 and was buried in the local cemetery. He left 2 sons, Reuven and Michael.