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Living History: A Memoir
Freedom fighter, army general, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations during the turbulent '70s, president of Israel from 1983 to 1993--Chaim Herzog's life has paralleled the life of Israel itself. Now he gives readers a candid and acutely observant account of that life in all its historic and personal richness. Uniquely qualified to put a human face on history, Herzog provides insights into the people with whom he has played a part in the creation of that history. b&w photos.
Hardcover
First published November 1, 1996
About the author
Chaim Herzog
29 books9 followersMajor-General Chaim Herzog was an Israeli military officer, attorney, politician and writer who served as the sixth President of Israel between 1983 and 1993.
He was born in Belfast and raised predominantly in Dublin, where his father, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, served as Ireland's Chief Rabbi. In 1935 he emigrated to Mandatory Palestine, then served in the Haganah during the 1936–39 Arab revolt. He volunteered for service in the British Army during World War II, and was commissioned as an officer of the Intelligence Corps in 1943. He left the British Army in 1947 as a major, and returned to Palestine. After the end of the British Mandate and Israel's Declaration of Independence, he served as an officer of the Israel Defence Forces during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. He retired from the IDF in 1962 with the rank of major-general.
After practising law for a few years, Major-General Herzog served as Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1975 to 1978. He was elected to the Knesset in the 1981 elections, and in March 1983 he was elected President of Israel. He served two terms in that position, and retired in 1993.
He was born in Belfast and raised predominantly in Dublin, where his father, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, served as Ireland's Chief Rabbi. In 1935 he emigrated to Mandatory Palestine, then served in the Haganah during the 1936–39 Arab revolt. He volunteered for service in the British Army during World War II, and was commissioned as an officer of the Intelligence Corps in 1943. He left the British Army in 1947 as a major, and returned to Palestine. After the end of the British Mandate and Israel's Declaration of Independence, he served as an officer of the Israel Defence Forces during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. He retired from the IDF in 1962 with the rank of major-general.
After practising law for a few years, Major-General Herzog served as Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1975 to 1978. He was elected to the Knesset in the 1981 elections, and in March 1983 he was elected President of Israel. He served two terms in that position, and retired in 1993.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 16, 2017
Chaim Herzog, one of Israel's greatest statesmen, served as President of Israel from 1983 to 1993, after a distinguished career in both the British Army during World War II, the Israeli Army during the War of Independence, a key mastermind behind Israel's intelligence services and Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, between 1975 and 1978.
Chaim's father Rabbi Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, was Chief Rabbi of Ireland from 1919 to 1937 (and later, of Palestine and Israel).
When Chaim was three years old he witnessed a man on a horse and cart being shot dead outside his house during the Irish Civil War. During his studies for a legal degree at London University College in the 1930s Herzog describes the hostility faced by both the Communists with their irrational hostility to Zionists who they labelled "exploiters", "aggressors", "Fascists" and "colonialists", and the hostility by the Fascists who supported Hitler and Nazi Germany.
Herzog also describes the pro-Arab policies and attitudes of the British colonial administration of Palestine, who clinging to Lawrence of Arabia fantasies, sided with the Arabs and prevented Jews entering Palestine, even during the Holocaust.
Herzog writes of his experiences as a soldier in the British army fighting the Nazis during World War II.
participated in the liberation of several concentration camps as well as identifying a captured German soldier as Heinrich Himmler.
After the war Herzog joined the struggle for Jewish Statehood in the Land of Israel, against the Arabs and their British colonial allies.
Herzog recalls how the law forbade both Arabs and Jews from carrying arms, but the British regularly arrested Jews for carrying arms and seldom apprehended or disarmed armed Arabs.
It is ironic to read of the co-operative co-existance between Iran under the enlightened Shah Reza Pahlavi, when we see that today Israel's most implacable and genocidal enemy is the Iranian regime of Khamenei and Ahamdinejad.
He also deals with allegations of racism against Israel reflecting "It's rather sad that there is distrust between American Blacks and Jews today and that many prominent Blacks seem anti-Semitic. Israeli society is definitely not racist: We have a large black Ethiopian population, and there is much intermarriage".
Herzog explains the Soviet role of encouraging Arab aggression during the Six Day War, and a United Nations that did nothing to stop Arab plans to annihilate Israel and her people but stepped in to stop Israel from completing her victory over the Arab aggressors once Israel was clearly winning.
He also outlines the role of the Soviet Union in instigating and initiating Syrian and Egyptian aggression against Israel before the Six Day War.
He describes the religious respect that Israel showed towards Moslem and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, with Moshe Dayan even handing over control of the Al Aqsa Mosque built on the Temple Mount (Judaism's holiest site) to the Moslem religious authorities, the Waqf.
This in contrast to Arab desecration and destruction of Jewish holy sites after the Jordanians captured the old city of Jerusalem during the War of Independence.
But Herzog's finest hour was no doubt his heroic stand taken as Ambassador to the United Nations during the shameful proceedings the led to the totalitarian dominated United Nations equating Zionism with racism.
Herzog told truth to power and did Israel and the Jewish people proud when he told the UN when the committee met to vote on the evil resolution:
"We shall survive this shameful exhibition,...and I thank the delegates who have expressed themselves against this pernicious resolution. We shall not forget those who voted to attack our religion and our faith. We shall never forget."
If only Israel had such diplomatic representatives who could stand up for their nation today.
At the General Assembly Herzog pointed out that : "Zionism is the name of the national movement of the Jewish people and is the modern expression of ancient Jewish heritage...Zionism is to the Jewish people what the liberation movements of Africa and Asia have been to their own people. Zionism is one of the most dynamic and and vibrant national movements in human history. Historically it is based on a unique and unbroken connection, extending some four thousand years, between the People of the Book and the Land of the Bible...We put our trust in Providence, in our faith and beliefs, in our time hallowed tradition, in our striving for social advance and human values, and in our people wherever they may be. For us, the Jewish people, this resolution based on hatred, falsehood and arrogance is devoid of any moral or legal value".
He cover his role in preserving Israeli national unity and representing Israel to the world, as President of Israel from 1983 to 1993.
Sadly his optimism stated towards the end of the book about how the "peace process" with the PLO and Arafat would succeed because the Arabs know they are economically dependant onm Israel and that terrorist activity would militate against their political aspirations would prove to be wrong.
He did not reckon on the Amalek-like hatred that the Palestinian terrorist groups and their supporters have for Israel, a hatred that means they would rather destroy themselves and their own society than leave in peace.
It is tragic that Herzog did not live to see how wrong this false optimism was, he died in 1997, three years before Arafat launched the murderous intifada against the Israeli people, as a response to Barak's offers to accommodate their demands and aspirations.
The rise of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and their determination to murder Jews has again proved the futility of talking to terrorists or trying to accommodate those who want Israel destroyed.
I do however have hope that if Israel stands firm and demonstrates her will to survive and not be victimised, an accommodation can be reached with moderate Arab states like Egypt and Jordan, which will include the future and welfare of those Palestinian Arabs who do want peace and coexistence.
Chaim's father Rabbi Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, was Chief Rabbi of Ireland from 1919 to 1937 (and later, of Palestine and Israel).
When Chaim was three years old he witnessed a man on a horse and cart being shot dead outside his house during the Irish Civil War. During his studies for a legal degree at London University College in the 1930s Herzog describes the hostility faced by both the Communists with their irrational hostility to Zionists who they labelled "exploiters", "aggressors", "Fascists" and "colonialists", and the hostility by the Fascists who supported Hitler and Nazi Germany.
Herzog also describes the pro-Arab policies and attitudes of the British colonial administration of Palestine, who clinging to Lawrence of Arabia fantasies, sided with the Arabs and prevented Jews entering Palestine, even during the Holocaust.
Herzog writes of his experiences as a soldier in the British army fighting the Nazis during World War II.
participated in the liberation of several concentration camps as well as identifying a captured German soldier as Heinrich Himmler.
After the war Herzog joined the struggle for Jewish Statehood in the Land of Israel, against the Arabs and their British colonial allies.
Herzog recalls how the law forbade both Arabs and Jews from carrying arms, but the British regularly arrested Jews for carrying arms and seldom apprehended or disarmed armed Arabs.
It is ironic to read of the co-operative co-existance between Iran under the enlightened Shah Reza Pahlavi, when we see that today Israel's most implacable and genocidal enemy is the Iranian regime of Khamenei and Ahamdinejad.
He also deals with allegations of racism against Israel reflecting "It's rather sad that there is distrust between American Blacks and Jews today and that many prominent Blacks seem anti-Semitic. Israeli society is definitely not racist: We have a large black Ethiopian population, and there is much intermarriage".
Herzog explains the Soviet role of encouraging Arab aggression during the Six Day War, and a United Nations that did nothing to stop Arab plans to annihilate Israel and her people but stepped in to stop Israel from completing her victory over the Arab aggressors once Israel was clearly winning.
He also outlines the role of the Soviet Union in instigating and initiating Syrian and Egyptian aggression against Israel before the Six Day War.
He describes the religious respect that Israel showed towards Moslem and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, with Moshe Dayan even handing over control of the Al Aqsa Mosque built on the Temple Mount (Judaism's holiest site) to the Moslem religious authorities, the Waqf.
This in contrast to Arab desecration and destruction of Jewish holy sites after the Jordanians captured the old city of Jerusalem during the War of Independence.
But Herzog's finest hour was no doubt his heroic stand taken as Ambassador to the United Nations during the shameful proceedings the led to the totalitarian dominated United Nations equating Zionism with racism.
Herzog told truth to power and did Israel and the Jewish people proud when he told the UN when the committee met to vote on the evil resolution:
"We shall survive this shameful exhibition,...and I thank the delegates who have expressed themselves against this pernicious resolution. We shall not forget those who voted to attack our religion and our faith. We shall never forget."
If only Israel had such diplomatic representatives who could stand up for their nation today.
At the General Assembly Herzog pointed out that : "Zionism is the name of the national movement of the Jewish people and is the modern expression of ancient Jewish heritage...Zionism is to the Jewish people what the liberation movements of Africa and Asia have been to their own people. Zionism is one of the most dynamic and and vibrant national movements in human history. Historically it is based on a unique and unbroken connection, extending some four thousand years, between the People of the Book and the Land of the Bible...We put our trust in Providence, in our faith and beliefs, in our time hallowed tradition, in our striving for social advance and human values, and in our people wherever they may be. For us, the Jewish people, this resolution based on hatred, falsehood and arrogance is devoid of any moral or legal value".
He cover his role in preserving Israeli national unity and representing Israel to the world, as President of Israel from 1983 to 1993.
Sadly his optimism stated towards the end of the book about how the "peace process" with the PLO and Arafat would succeed because the Arabs know they are economically dependant onm Israel and that terrorist activity would militate against their political aspirations would prove to be wrong.
He did not reckon on the Amalek-like hatred that the Palestinian terrorist groups and their supporters have for Israel, a hatred that means they would rather destroy themselves and their own society than leave in peace.
It is tragic that Herzog did not live to see how wrong this false optimism was, he died in 1997, three years before Arafat launched the murderous intifada against the Israeli people, as a response to Barak's offers to accommodate their demands and aspirations.
The rise of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and their determination to murder Jews has again proved the futility of talking to terrorists or trying to accommodate those who want Israel destroyed.
I do however have hope that if Israel stands firm and demonstrates her will to survive and not be victimised, an accommodation can be reached with moderate Arab states like Egypt and Jordan, which will include the future and welfare of those Palestinian Arabs who do want peace and coexistence.
April 14, 2019
A fascinating insight into the history of the Middle East from the late 1930s to mid 1990s. After being born in Poland, Chaim Herzog's family moved to Ireland, where he grew up. Chaim moved to British Palestine as a teenager in 1935 to complete his classic Jewish education. But when World War II started, he returned to Great Britain to complete his education. Because of his fluency in multiple languages (English, Yiddish, Polish, Hebrew, and French), his participation in officers training at Cambridge University, and his law degree from the University of London, he became an officer in the British army Intelligence corps. During his service, he traveled across Europe, and witnessed the liberation of a small concentration camp near Bremen.
After the war, he moved to British Palestine and married Aura Ambache, an Egyptian Jew. His father, Rabbi Yitzchak Herzog, had been appointed Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Palestine by the British. After the founding of the State of Israel, Rabbi Herzog become the first Chief Rabbi of the country.
Chaim spent most of his career in service to the country . He was active in the fight for independence, first from the British and then to secure the country in the war that followed the declaration of Independence, when armies from seven Arab countries attacked. He founded and developed the country's military intelligence system. During his long and varied career, he was Israel's ambassador to the UN and served two terms as President of the Israel.
The book is not a dry recitation of what he did--he offers many reflections on diplomacy, international relationships, and domestic politics, which in Israel are always very complex. Several times in course of discussing a problem that from the 1950s or 1980s, he remarks that the problem remains unresolved "to the present time," meaning until 1995 when this memoir was published. However, to the present time can also refer to today. I read Living History: A Memoir about 25 years after he wrote it, and the problems with Israel's election system, politics, relationships with Syria and some other Arab countries still remain unresolved.
The one problem with the book is that someone unfamiliar with Israeli history may have trouble following some of the episodes, especially in the last three or four years of his presidency. For example, he refers to the period after Prime Minister Rabin's assassination, without mentioning when it actually occurred, and it is without context. Since he wrote the book so soon after the event he may have refrained from writing some of the details because they would be in the recent memory of contemporary readers, but for those of reading it more than twenty years later, a few contextual clues would have been helpful.
All in all, it is a very interesting book, written by a man who was in the midst of history who is also a wonderful storyteller.
After the war, he moved to British Palestine and married Aura Ambache, an Egyptian Jew. His father, Rabbi Yitzchak Herzog, had been appointed Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Palestine by the British. After the founding of the State of Israel, Rabbi Herzog become the first Chief Rabbi of the country.
Chaim spent most of his career in service to the country . He was active in the fight for independence, first from the British and then to secure the country in the war that followed the declaration of Independence, when armies from seven Arab countries attacked. He founded and developed the country's military intelligence system. During his long and varied career, he was Israel's ambassador to the UN and served two terms as President of the Israel.
The book is not a dry recitation of what he did--he offers many reflections on diplomacy, international relationships, and domestic politics, which in Israel are always very complex. Several times in course of discussing a problem that from the 1950s or 1980s, he remarks that the problem remains unresolved "to the present time," meaning until 1995 when this memoir was published. However, to the present time can also refer to today. I read Living History: A Memoir about 25 years after he wrote it, and the problems with Israel's election system, politics, relationships with Syria and some other Arab countries still remain unresolved.
The one problem with the book is that someone unfamiliar with Israeli history may have trouble following some of the episodes, especially in the last three or four years of his presidency. For example, he refers to the period after Prime Minister Rabin's assassination, without mentioning when it actually occurred, and it is without context. Since he wrote the book so soon after the event he may have refrained from writing some of the details because they would be in the recent memory of contemporary readers, but for those of reading it more than twenty years later, a few contextual clues would have been helpful.
All in all, it is a very interesting book, written by a man who was in the midst of history who is also a wonderful storyteller.
October 17, 2020
Some passages REALLY need the services of a good editor. The transitions from subject to subject from paragraph to paragraph required quite a bit of concentration (find the passage about the zoo in Paris :-)) to follow his thinking. The last 10 chapters followed his terms as President, 10 years, one chapter per year, and at some point I realized I was reading an edited (maybe) version of his own diary for those years. In any case, to have lived through the times and events that he had, to be present as he was at such moments in time is awe inspiring. I almost envy and feel sorry for his own children to have to be in the shadow of such a father, grandfather and uncle.
November 2, 2022
The title accurately describes the narrative of the book. Chaim Herzog lived, and participated, in a number of key upheavals and developments of the 20th century. He veers somewhat towards self-congratulation, but history is in any case subjective.
Very interesting and well written.
Very interesting and well written.
June 20, 2021
Read this as remarkably the President of Israel was a Celt (Irish-born Gaelgeoir). I found some statements challenging but was capivated by his personal experiences.
October 4, 2015
Living History intertwines Chaim Herzog's personal life story from his childhood in Ireland as the son of a prominent rabbi to his service in the British Jewish Brigade fighting the Nazi's in World War II through the founding of the State of Israel and his eventual service to Israel's newly formed government as President. It is a history of the European Jewish community's tragic struggle for sanctuary and life during the Nazi era and after the war, but it is also the story of one man's life against the dramatic events of the time. Herzog was an excellent writer providing both meaningful description and a briskly moving story.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews