Facing the Glass Booth

Haim Gouri was born Haim Gurfinkel in Tel Aviv, in British-ruled Palestine on October 9, 1923. He studied at the Kadoorie Agricultural High School and later at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Sorbonne in Paris. As a young man he served in the Palmach, the elite strike force of the Hagana underground, from 1942 to 1947 and was an officer during the War of Independence. In 1947, the Hagana sent him to Hungary to help Holocaust survivors in displaced-persons camps reach Palestine.

Gouri was a journalist, author, poet, and documentary filmmaker. He began his journalistic career writing for left-wing party newspapers before moving on to Davar. In 1961, he covered the trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann. He published over 20 works of fiction and poetry including The Chocolate Deal and Though I Wished for More of More. In 1987, he received the Israel Prize for Literature. His documentary films included The 81st Blow, which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1974; The Last Sea; and Flames in the Ashes. He died on January 31, 2018 at the age of 94.

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