This is the childhood face of one of the most famous Ukrainians in history, the pro-Zionist, pro-labor, and former Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir.
Born Golda Mabovitch in 1898 to a carpenter father in the city of Kyiv, which was then part of the Russian Empire, Golda’s Jewish ancestry put her in company with those from a long Ukrainian history. At that time, a third of Ukraine’s urban population was Jewish, and even today, after the killings from the Holocaust, Ukraine still has the fifth-largest Jewish community in Europe.
In fact, like Ukraine generally, Ukrainian Jews originated from multiple ethnic groups with distinct histories. But anti-Semitism was unfortunately common to all Jews, and Meir’s earliest memories included her father boarding up her home out of fear of a pogrum.
Golda Meir’s legacy is famous — she emigrated to the United States as a child and had to fight with her parents to get an education. Her father once told her “it doesn’t pay to be too clever . . . . Men don’t like smart girls”. From a young age, she became devoted to the cause of Zionism, campaigning for the creation of Israel and settling in the area before it became a country.
Meir earned praise for her leadership in Israel, her support for the Labor movement, and her good relationship with developing countries in Africa, but was criticized for her position on Palestine and her lack of attention to women’s issues. Looking over some of her most famous statements, I found the following both poignant and timely: “There’s no difference between one’s killing and making decisions that will send others to kill. It’s exactly the same thing or even worse.”
Golda Meir died in 1978.
Sources: @Jewish Women’s Archive, _The Shall I/Human Encyclopedia of Jewish Women_ “Golda Meir,” by Letty Cattin Pogrebin. Wikipedia
