Lou Keidar

Lou Kaddar (; 23 June 191310 April 2006) was an Israeli political staffer, diplomat, interpreter, and social worker. From 1948 to 1978, she served as Golda Meir's private secretary and confidante. Kaddar worked for Meir when she was Minister of Labor, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Prime Minister of Israel.

Career

Meir and Kaddar began working together in 1948, at the time of Meir's service with the Israeli legation in Moscow. Kaddar told a reporter in 1971 that Meir had the third diplomatic passport ever issued by Israel, and she had the seventh.

Kaddar worked on and off as Meir's private secretary for many years, including while she was prime minister. Kaddar told a reporter in 1984 that she had left Foreign Minister Meir's service after three years in order to spend more time with friends and family, but, "Then came Prime Minister Eshkol's death in February 1969. Golda was called out of retirement and nominated as his successor. I agreed to join her for six months until the next Knesset elections. Thus, as I used to put it, 'we' became Prime Minister. And the six months together extended into years. We went through the war of attrition, and terrorists' attacksat Lod airport, where dozens of Catholic pilgrims from Puerto Rico were killed; at Avivim in the north, when a school bus was attacked and children killed; at Kiryat Shmona; and the murders at the Munich Olympics. And the Yom Kippur war."

In Kaddar's later life, she contributed to the Golda Meir Archive at the Israel State Archive.

Personal life Lou Kaddar was born in Paris, France to a family of Russian-Jewish immigrants. Kaddar worked as a social worker for impoverished Jewish families in Paris before immigrating to Mandatory Palestine in 1935. She was employed by the Jewish Agency. Kaddar said of Meir in 1982, "I don't consider her like a boss. She was a very, very good friend." Kaddar was present with the family when Meir died in 1978.

Kaddar was divorced and had no children.

In popular culture

Kaddar appeared as a character in two Meir biopics. She was played by Anne Jackson in A Woman Called Golda, the 1982 telefilm starring Ingrid Bergman. She was played by Camille Cottin in Golda, the 2023 theatrical film starring Helen Mirren.