May 27, 1911
Teddy Kollek is born in a Budapest suburb. He is named Tivadar in Hungarian after Theodor Herzl, the founder of the modern World Zionist Organization.
Kollek’s early life is spent in Vienna. In 1934, the Kollek family immigrates to Palestine to escape the spread of Nazism in Austria. In Palestine, he settles in the north and helps establish Kibbutz Ein Gev on the shores of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). Living near the water has a negative effect on his health, and after a bout with typhus, he moves to Jerusalem to recover. This is the beginning of his relationship with the capital city he will later transform.
In 1938, Kollek is sent to England by the Habonim movement to promote Zionist activities and to encourage aliyah. While there, the affable Kollek befriends several British politicians, who help him obtain 3,000 British entry visas for Jews in concentration camps. In 1939, Kollek meets with Adolf Eichmann in Vienna. He later recalls, “I walked through a large, elegant, wood-paneled room up to a desk and there he was: a neatly dressed, clean-shaven young man in a brown uniform with the swastika on his arm. … He kept me standing throughout the interview.” Despite keeping Kollek standing, Eichmann agrees to Kollek’s request, and 3,000 young Jews are transferred from concentration camps to England. Working in the Jewish Agency from 1940 to 1947, Kollek continues to help Holocaust survivors illegally immigrate to Palestine through the Jewish underground in Europe.
In 1940, Kollek meets David Ben-Gurion in England. Ben-Gurion becomes his mentor and ultimately persuades Kollek to run for mayor of Jerusalem in 1965 after working in the Prime Minister’s Office for 13 years. Kollek wins the election, and over the next 28 years he modernizes and thoroughly transforms the city. He is an especially gifted fundraiser for city projects, raising money from donors worldwide for projects that include the Israel Museum, the Jerusalem Theater and the Cinematheque.
Kollek dies in January 2007 at the age of 95.
