Hugo Bergmann

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Hugo Bergmann
Bergmann, 1939
Born
Samuel Hugo Bergmann

(1883-12-25)December 25, 1883
Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary
DiedJune 18, 1975(1975-06-18) (aged 91)
Jerusalem, Israel
NationalityIsraeli
OccupationPhilosopher
ChildrenMartin S. Bergmann
RelativesMichael Bergmann (grandson)
Pavel Bergmann (nephew)

Hugo Bergmann (Hebrew: שמואל הוגו ברגמן; December 25, 1883 – June 18, 1975) was an Israeli philosopher, born in Prague. He was an early Zionist leader who was close friends with Franz Kafka and Martin Buber.[1] Bergmann was twice a recipient of the Israel Prize: in 1954 he was awarded the prize for humanities, and in 1974 for his special contribution to society and the State of Israel.[2]

Biography[edit]

Hugo Samuel Bergmann was born and raised in Prague, Austria-Hungary. He was a member of the Prague intelligentsia visiting the salon group that met at the house of Berta Fanta. Bergmann married her daughter Else Fanta.[3]

Bergmann was the first of his circle to turn to Zionism. He was a founding member of the Maccabi Association and the Organization of Jewish Students in Prague, later the Bar Kochba student association. Bergmann and his cohort in Bar Kochba were influenced by the cultural Zionism of Ahad Ha-Am, as opposed to the Zionism of Theodor Herzl. The Prague Zionists are credited with having played an important role in mediating East and West European rethinking of Jewish identity. Under Bergmann’s leadership, Bar Kochba sponsored a cultural program encouraging the acquisition of Hebrew language and the study of traditional Jewish texts.[4]

Bergmann and his wife immigrated to Palestine in 1920.[5] They lived in the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem.[6] Bergmann served as the director of the Jewish National Library between 1920 and 1935. He brought Gershom Scholem from Germany to serve as the head of the Judaica Division.

Together with Martin Buber, he founded Brit Shalom, an organization espousing a binational solution for promoting the co-existence of Jews and Arabs in the State of Israel.

Bergmann was the father of Martin S. Bergmann, professor of psychology at New York University, the uncle of the Czech philosopher and historian Pavel Bergmann and the grandfather of the American director, writer and producer Michael Bergmann.

Academic career[edit]

Hugo Bergmann, 1959

He became a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and later on the dean of the university. He was friends with Franz Kafka, who was a schoolmate of his, the philosopher Felix Weltsch, who later worked at the Hebrew University Library in Jerusalem, and Max Brod, whom he introduced to Zionism before 1910.

He wrote on the nature of quantum mechanics and causality where he interpreted spontaneity in nature with the psychological idea that the closer we come to elements in nature or components in the individual, the less tenable is strict causal determinism and the more freedom we must grant to decisive personal elements: "In corresponding areas of physics, the statistical law of averages takes on the same functions in determining temporal position and in prediction and reconstruction that the strict law of causality previously covered, but with the distinction that the individual case could be temporally located and predicted or reconstructed before, whereas now we deal only with the average." (1929)

He translated several of Rudolf Steiner's books about Threefold Social Order into Hebrew.

Awards and recognition[edit]

  • Bergmann was twice a recipient of the Israel Prize:
    • in 1954, for the humanities[7]
    • in 1974 for his special contribution to society and the State of Israel.[8]
  • He was a recipient of the Yakir Yerushalayim (Worthy Citizen of Jerusalem) award in 1967, the year of the award's inauguration.[9]
  • He is also a recipient of the Tchernichovsky Prize for exemplary translation.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ [1], Encyclopaedia
  2. ^ [2], Encyclopaedia
  3. ^ "YIVO | Fanta, Berta". Yivoencyclopedia.org. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  4. ^ [3], Encyclopaedia
  5. ^ Spector, Scott. "Bergmann, Hugo." YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe 27 July 2010. 2 February 2014 link
  6. ^ Ghosts of Rehavia's Zeitgeist, Haaretz
  7. ^ "Israel Prize recipients in 1954 (in Hebrew)". Israel Prize Official Site. Archived from the original on March 7, 2012.
  8. ^ "Israel Prize recipients in 1974 (in Hebrew)". Israel Prize Official Site. Archived from the original on March 7, 2012.
  9. ^ "Recipients of Yakir Yerushalayim award (in Hebrew)". Archived from the original on 2011-06-17. City of Jerusalem official web site

Further reading[edit]

  • Hugo Bergmann: Das philosophische Werk Bernard Bolzanos, Halle s. S.: Max Niemeyer, 1909 (reprint: Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1970).
  • Miriam Sambursky: Zionist und Philosoph. Das Habilitierungsproblem des jungen Hugo Bergmann. Bulletin des Leo Baeck Instituts 58
  • Miriam Sambursky (Hrsg.): Schmuel Hugo Bergmann: Tagebücher und Briefe. Band 1: 1901–1948.
  • Dietmar Wiechmann: Der Traum vom Frieden: das bi-nationale Konzept des Brith-Schalom zur Lösung des jüdisch-arabischen Konfliktes in der Zeit von 1925–1933, 1998, ISBN 3-87920-416-0

External links[edit]

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