Haim Gouri

Haim Gouri

Haim Gurfinkel (later Gouri) was born in Tel Aviv.[1] After studying at the Kadoorie Agricultural High School, he joined the Palmach and completed a commander's course.[2] He participated in the bombing of a British radar station being used to track Aliyah Bet ships carrying illegal Jewish immigrants to Palestine. In 1947 he was sent to Hungary to bring Holocaust survivors to Mandate Palestine. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War he was a deputy company commander in the Palmach's Negev Brigade.[3]

Gouri studied literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Sorbonne in Paris. As a journalist he worked for LaMerhav and later, Davar. He achieved fame with his coverage of the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann.[3]

Gouri lived with his wife, Aliza, in Jerusalem.[4] Gouri died on 31 January 2018, at the age of 94.

Gouri's first published poem, Day Voyage, appeared in Mishmar, edited by Abraham Shlonsky, in 1945. His first complete volume of poetry, Flowers of Fire, was published in 1949 following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Some poems that Gouri wrote became an inseparable part of the Israeli ethos. One of his most famous poems, "Behold, here our bodies lie" (Hebrew: הנה מוטלות גופותינו), was written in the time of Israel's war for independence (1948-1949) to commemorate the 35 soldiers who were killed on their way to the besieged Gush Etzion (Hebrew: גוש עציון) settlements.[5] Gouri also wrote a few famous popular songs such as "The Comradeship" (Hebrew: הרעות) that became representative of Israel's war for independence.

Haim Gouri and his wife Aliza

• In 1961, Gouri obtained the Sokolow Award for Israeli Journalism.[6]
• The film The 81st Blow, which he wrote, co-produced, and co-directed, was nominated for the 1974 Academy Award for Documentary Feature. It is part of a powerful Holocaust trilogy that includes The Last Sea and Flames in the Ashes.[7]
• In 1975, Gouri was awarded the Bialik Prize for literature.[8]
• In 1988, he was awarded the Israel Prize, for Hebrew poetry.[9]
• In 1998, he won the Uri Zvi Grinberg award.[4]
• In 2004, he was awarded the Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works.
• In 2016, Gouri rejected an award from the Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sport of the annual 50,000 shekel prize for “Zionist works of art”.[10]

• The 81st Blow (Ha-Makah Hashmonim V'Echad, 1974), distributed with English subtitles by "American Federation of Jewish Fighters, Camp Inmates and Nazi Victims"
• The Last Sea (Ha-Yam Ha'Aharon, 1980)
• Flames in the Ashes (Pnei Hamered, 1985)

• Hareut
• Hebrew literature
• Sokolov Award
• List of Israel Prize recipients
• List of Bialik Prize recipients

• "Haim Gouri" (capsule biography and bibliography) at the Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature.
• Haim Gouri at IMDb 
• " Hebrew article about the poet in later life, retrieved from ynet 28 November 2012.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Haim Gouri.