Emil Grunzweig

Emil Grunzweig ( _he. אמיל גרינצווייג) (December 1 1947, in Cluj, Romania - February 10 1983 in Jerusalem) was an Israeli educator and a peace activist, one of the prominent members of Peace Now (Shalom Akhshav) movement. He became a symbolic figure of the center-left democratic forces in Israel after having been killed during a peace rally in Jerusalem on February 10, 1983.

Emil Grunzweig was born in the town of Cluj-Napoca in Transylvania, Romania, as the son of a mother (Olga), survivor of the Nazi extermination camp Auschwitz. The family emigrated to France and to Brazil. In 1963 on the way to Israel, the father Samuel died in France. In Israel the mother and her two sons, Emil and Eliezer, settled in Haifa.There Emil learned at the Real high - school and then enrolled to an army's agricultural unit based in the kibbutz Revivim in the Negev desert. As paratrooper in the Israeli Defence Forces he took part to the Six Days War, then as reserve officer to the War of Attrition, to the Yom Kippur War and to Lebanon War in 1982.

After the discharge from the regular service settled in the kibbutz Revivim where worked in the orchards, then studied mathematics and philosophy at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Later he worked as a teacher of maths and responsible for social activities at Maaleh Bessor high school in the kibbutz Maggen. He was involved in many educational projects including role playing games with the students in negotiations on issues as the Israeli - Arab conflict, work relations, and connexions between religious cults and the state.

He then went to Jerusalem to complete his master's degree in the history, philosophy and sociology of sciences and worked in educative projects at the Van Leer Institute. In this quality he organized common summer camps for better understanding between Jewish and Arab youth.

Grunzweig was killed when Yona Avrushmi lobbed a grenade into the crowd of demonstrators. [cite news
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date = 1983-02-12
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title = A crude shrine rises at spot where bomb halted protest
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date = 1983-02-16
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title = Israel begins to note Jewish terrorism
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date = 1984-01-29
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archivedate = ] Avrushmi was convicted and sentenced to 27 years in prison. In 2005 Avrushmi was denied early release; he is currently slated to be released in 2010. [ [http://www.peacenow.org/about/press.asp?rid=&cid=1812 Court rejects appeal for early release from jail by killer of Peace Now activist] , "Haaretz", quoted by Peace Now, November 24, 2005.]

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