By
– April 24, 2012
Israel Through My Lens provides a birds eye view of the entire history of the State of Israel. If you’re expecting a dry accounting of facts and figures, think again. This is a fantastic tale of adventure, courage, and talent all wrapped up in the life of one amazing man.
Photojournalist David Rubinger was born in Vienna on June 29, 1924. After the German annexation of Austria took place and his family was torn apart, fifteen-yearold David sailed for Palestine. By age eighteen, he was already enrolled in the British Army, eventually serving in the Jewish Brigade. While still serving in the army, David became aware that his aunt Bertha and cousin Anni had survived the Holocaust and returned to Germany. It appeared that the only way to get Anni out of Germany was to marry her and they said their vows in September of 1946. David barely knew Anni at the time of their marriage and their relationship was to be long lived, but difficult.
David and Anni set up housekeeping in Jerusalem and only eleven days after the birth of their first child, the United Nations approved dividing Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state. David was right in the midst of both celebrations and riots with camera in hand. In 1947, David was inducted into the Haganah and the following year he was transferred to the Army Map and Photography Services. As David put it, “Since then I have been through seven more wars. I have always continued to shoot, but only through a lens.”
David Rubinger’s long career as a photojournalist took a number of twists and turns as he opened a photography shop and worked for various Israeli publications, always documenting the momentous events and larger than life personalities that molded Israel’s history. His career moved to the international stage when Time magazine asked David to cover the 1956 Sinai War. He was there when Ben-Gurion was injured in a grenade attack, he shot photos of Golda Meir when she was foreign minister, covered the Pope’s visit to Israel, and documented the 1967 Six Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War. David took photos of Begin and Sadat as they were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the treaty signing on the White House lawn. These are only a few examples of the depth and breadth of David Rubinger’s body of work. Israel Through My Lens, which includes many of David’s photos, is riveting from beginning to end.
I was privileged to have the opportunity to ask David Rubinger a few questions about his life and career and following are his responses:
Naomi Tropp: Do you believe that your work has led you to develop a different perspective on Israeli history and culture than most Israelis?
David Rubinger: Obviously journalists — and photojournalists— enjoy a grandstand view of events, a view that the average citizen does not have. This gives him a better perspective. It is therefore no wonder that the media, to a large extent, is more liberal, more to the left, let us say, than the street. I for my part, therefore view what happened to my country after 1967 as a disaster. The victory in the Six Day War was a catastrophe — only one thing could have been worse: not to win.
NT: Having been a witness to the history of Israel, from prior to statehood to the present day, how are you currently feeling about Israel’s chance to continue to thrive in such a hostile environment?
DR: Israel is very strong and no outside force can hope to overcome it by force. Despite the hostile environment — hostile for the last hundred years, not only since 1948 — Israel can and did thrive. To turn 600,000 people, which constituted the State of Israel on May 15, 1948, into a nation of 7 million, leading in sciences, in agriculture, in hi-tech, in medicine, all this in 60 years, is unprecedented in history.
NT: Most people save for and dream about retirement, yet here you are still going strong at age 83. Why haven’t you stopped?
DR: To stop working is to die. True, I cannot run with nineteen-year-old photographers to cover hot news, bombings, riots or the like, but I can be busy. I only feel the aches of an old body on days when I have absolutely nothing to do. Fortunately they are few.
Photojournalist David Rubinger was born in Vienna on June 29, 1924. After the German annexation of Austria took place and his family was torn apart, fifteen-yearold David sailed for Palestine. By age eighteen, he was already enrolled in the British Army, eventually serving in the Jewish Brigade. While still serving in the army, David became aware that his aunt Bertha and cousin Anni had survived the Holocaust and returned to Germany. It appeared that the only way to get Anni out of Germany was to marry her and they said their vows in September of 1946. David barely knew Anni at the time of their marriage and their relationship was to be long lived, but difficult.
David and Anni set up housekeeping in Jerusalem and only eleven days after the birth of their first child, the United Nations approved dividing Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state. David was right in the midst of both celebrations and riots with camera in hand. In 1947, David was inducted into the Haganah and the following year he was transferred to the Army Map and Photography Services. As David put it, “Since then I have been through seven more wars. I have always continued to shoot, but only through a lens.”
David Rubinger’s long career as a photojournalist took a number of twists and turns as he opened a photography shop and worked for various Israeli publications, always documenting the momentous events and larger than life personalities that molded Israel’s history. His career moved to the international stage when Time magazine asked David to cover the 1956 Sinai War. He was there when Ben-Gurion was injured in a grenade attack, he shot photos of Golda Meir when she was foreign minister, covered the Pope’s visit to Israel, and documented the 1967 Six Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War. David took photos of Begin and Sadat as they were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the treaty signing on the White House lawn. These are only a few examples of the depth and breadth of David Rubinger’s body of work. Israel Through My Lens, which includes many of David’s photos, is riveting from beginning to end.
I was privileged to have the opportunity to ask David Rubinger a few questions about his life and career and following are his responses:
Naomi Tropp: Do you believe that your work has led you to develop a different perspective on Israeli history and culture than most Israelis?
David Rubinger: Obviously journalists — and photojournalists— enjoy a grandstand view of events, a view that the average citizen does not have. This gives him a better perspective. It is therefore no wonder that the media, to a large extent, is more liberal, more to the left, let us say, than the street. I for my part, therefore view what happened to my country after 1967 as a disaster. The victory in the Six Day War was a catastrophe — only one thing could have been worse: not to win.
NT: Having been a witness to the history of Israel, from prior to statehood to the present day, how are you currently feeling about Israel’s chance to continue to thrive in such a hostile environment?
DR: Israel is very strong and no outside force can hope to overcome it by force. Despite the hostile environment — hostile for the last hundred years, not only since 1948 — Israel can and did thrive. To turn 600,000 people, which constituted the State of Israel on May 15, 1948, into a nation of 7 million, leading in sciences, in agriculture, in hi-tech, in medicine, all this in 60 years, is unprecedented in history.
NT: Most people save for and dream about retirement, yet here you are still going strong at age 83. Why haven’t you stopped?
DR: To stop working is to die. True, I cannot run with nineteen-year-old photographers to cover hot news, bombings, riots or the like, but I can be busy. I only feel the aches of an old body on days when I have absolutely nothing to do. Fortunately they are few.
Naomi Tropp recently retired after a long career in nonprofit management. She worked on the Ann Katz Festival of Books at the Indianapolis JCC for 9 of its twelve years and directed the festival for three of those years.
