Herzl Rosenblum

Herzl Rosenblum (Hebrew: הרצל רוזנבלום‎, also known as Herzl Vardi, 14 August 1903 – 1 February 1991) was an Israeli journalist and politician. A signatory of the Israeli declaration of independence, he worked as editor of Yedioth Ahronoth for more than 35 years.

Biography

Born in Kaunas in the Russian Empire (today in Lithuania), Rosenblum moved to Vienna after experiencing anti-semitism and being prevented from studying law. In Vienna, he studied law and economics, gaining a PhD.

He then moved to London, where he worked as an aide to Ze'ev Jabotinsky, a leader of the Revisionist Zionism movement. In 1935 he immigrated to Mandate Palestine and started working for the HaBoker newspaper, where he wrote under the pseudonym Herzl Vardi.

In 1948 Rosenblum signed Israel's declaration of independence as a representative of the Revisionist movement. When he stepped up to sign, Yishuv leader David Ben-Gurion told him "Sign Vardi, not Rosenblum", as he wanted more Hebrew names on the document. Although Rosenblum later legally changed his name to Vardi (hence his son being named Moshe Vardi), he never used it, and later admitted that he wished he had signed as Rosenblum.