Samuel Merlin Israeli politician Date of Birth: 01.01.1910 Country: Israel

1. Early Life and Zionist Activism
2. Underground Activities
3. Committee Work
4. Return to Palestine
5. Political Career

Early Life and Zionist Activism

Shmuel Merlin was born and raised in Kishinev, where he completed his gymnasium studies and joined the youth Zionist organization Betar. In Paris, where Merlin studied at the Sorbonne University, he formed a close relationship with Vladimir Jabotinsky and joined the executive committee of the World Union of Revisionist Zionists. From 1933 to 1938, he served as its chief secretary.

Underground Activities

In Warsaw, Merlin published the Yiddish newspaper "Di Tat" (The Deed), which became the official mouthpiece of the underground military organization Etzel in Palestine. Before the war, he returned to Paris to continue his studies at the Sorbonne. In 1940, he moved to the United States and continued to work in the Yiddish Zionist press.

Committee Work

In the US, Merlin co-founded the Committee for a Jewish Army of Stateless and Palestinian Jews (1941) and the Emergency Committee to Save European Jewry (1944). From 1947 to 1948, he served as editor of the weekly "Answer" for the Hebrew Committee for the Liberation of the Nation.

Return to Palestine

In 1948, Merlin returned to Europe as an emissary of the Hebrew Committee for the Liberation of the Nation and arrived in Palestine aboard the "Altalena." He became a founding member of the political movement Herut and was elected to the first Knesset after the establishment of the State of Israel.

Political Career

Following his term in the Knesset, Merlin served as general secretary of Herut and editor-in-chief of its official newspaper. From the early 1960s onward, he taught political science at several universities in the United States as a professor.