ZeevBenShlomo
Multilingual JC journalist and historical researcher
WI T H H I S wild, curly hair and f u n d o f p o l i t i c a l s t o r i e s , Zeev Ben S h l o m o , who passed away in Barnet at the age of 88, was one of the great, and most charming characters of the past.
For25yearsthepaper’sEastEuropean correspondent, Ben-Shlomo was a key member of its editorial team during the Soviet Communist era, as Jews campaigned for exit visas to Israel.
HewasbornWilhelmBergmaninthe small Polish town of Otynia, originally in the Austrian province of Galicia, then Poland and now located in Ukraine.
His father Shlomo was a general practitioner, which played a crucial role in their survival. When he was 15 the Nazis marchedintotheirvillageandhismother Berta Chaya was murdered.
Amazingly he and his father survived, hidden by one of his father’s patients and then spent over a year hiding in the forest. He did not talk about his Holocaustexperienceuntilhisstorywaspublished in the when he was 68. Those years clearly left an indelible scar on the rest of his life.
In its May 5,1995 issue, the published his full page article, “From December to May,” in which he recounted how, during the Shoah he and his father planned a suicide pact rather than face capture or another winter in the forests of Poland.
In a two page article he wrote in the literary supplement in September of that year, entitled he criticised religious scholars who failed to grasp the nettle of Auschwitz. He fearlessly took on the great and the good, including the then Chief Rabbi Sacks as well as Elie Wiesel and the wider Jewish theological community, in their collective failure to comment on or understand the atrocity of the Holocaust within a religious framework
He came to then Palestine in 1947 with his father, making Youth Aliyah (HaNoar) and was originally placed in Mikveh Yisrael, an agricultural training college. But he wanted to start a new life and lose his German name, which he changed to Zeev Ben-Shlomo (after his father).
Despitehislimitedformalschooleducation, he studied at the Hebrew University, and at the age of 21 years he fought in the 1948 War of Independence.
After meeting Leah Lev, his wife, they married in Jerusalem in 1951 and had three children, Smadar, Miri and Yoav.
He worked in Israel as a journalist for several Israeli newspapers including Haaretz.
In October, 1965 the whole family moved to London. Given his multilingual skills in Polish, German, Yiddish, Russian, Ukrainian, Hebrew and English, he was commissioned to help the eminent Jewish historian Walter Laqueur with research for one of his many books.
His work as research assistant is acknowledged in several of Lacquer’s books for having found and translated some of the primary research materials used. Soon after this he found employment as the East European correspondent for the for the next 25 years.
Sidney Lightman, former Assistant Foreign Editor, said: “Zeev Ben-Shlomo was a loyal friend and colleague. His warmpersonalityandsenseof humour were endearing, and his strong character enabled him to rise above his horrificexperiencesasaHolocaustsurvivor, andpreventthemfromruiningtherest of his life.
“His linguistic abilities, scholarship and expertise with regard to Eastern Europe in general and the Soviet Union in particular were nothing short of superb.”
His greatest love, apart from his family, was books, newspapers and reading. He found it almost impossible to pass a second hand book or charity shop without buying at least one paper- back. He is survived by his wife, children and 7 grandchildren. Born August 21,1927: died July 24, 2016