About Ruth Bondy
Lived 1923 – 2017 (aged 94). Ruth Bondy was a Czech and Israeli writer, journalist, translator, historian, columnist and author.
Ruth Bondy (; 19 June 1923 – 14 November 2017) was a Czech-Israeli journalist and translator. Bondy was a Holocaust survivor who wrote for the Israeli newspaper Davar and translated books written in Czech to Hebrew. She was awarded the Sokolov Award in 1987 and the Tchernichovsky Prize in 2014.
Early life and education Bondy was born on 19 June 1923 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. She studied literature and journalism in Czechoslovakia and was a member of a Zionist group as a teenager.
Career Bondy began her career as a translator for the UP News Agency in the 1940s. During the Holocaust, Bondy was sent to Theresienstadt in 1942 and Birkenau in 1943.
Outside of journalism, Bondy translated Czech books into Hebrew and wrote multiple biographies including ones about Jakob Edelstein and Pinchas Rosen. Her 1976 book The Emissary: The Life of Enzo Sereni won the Yitzhak Sadeh Prize. Other awards Bondy was given include the Jiri Theiner and Gratias Agit awards.
Personal life Bondy had one daughter with her husband and remained married until their divorce in 1981.
Works The Emissary: The Life and Death of Enzo Sereni (1973) Small Comforts (1975) Felix: Pinhas Rosen and his Time (1980) Chaim Sheba: Physician for All People (1981) Signed and Sealed: A Guide to Journalistic Writing (1982) Elder of the Jews: Jacob Edelstein of Theresienstadt (1989) Whole Fragments (1997) Uprooted Roots (2002) Trapped: Essays on the History of the Czech Jews, 1939–1945 (2008) Not just Kafka and the Golem : In Names, Food and Language: The History of Czech Jews with a Personal Perspective (2014, in Hebrew)
Translations The Good Soldier Schweik, by Jaroslav Hašek (1980) Immortality, by Milan Kundera (1991) Life with a Star by Jiří Weil (1991) Call Me Friend: The Children's Newspaper "Kamarad" from the Theresienstadt Ghetto, 1943–1944 (1998)
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Important facts
People in Ruth Bondy's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Ruth Bondy's
Frequently asked questions
Who was Ruth Bondy?
Czech-born Israeli writer and translator (1923–2017)
When was Ruth Bondy born?
Ruth Bondy was born on 19 June 1923 in Prague.
When did Ruth Bondy die?
Ruth Bondy died on 14 November 2017 in Ramat Gan.
What was Ruth Bondy's occupation?
Ruth Bondy was a writer, journalist, translator, historian, columnist and author.
What nationality was Ruth Bondy?
Ruth Bondy was Czech and Israeli.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Ruth Bondy. https://biography.guide/ruth-bondy/
MLA: "Ruth Bondy." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/ruth-bondy/.
Chicago: "Ruth Bondy." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/ruth-bondy/.
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