{"id":852,"date":"2025-08-09T12:27:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T09:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viberrun.com\/?p=852"},"modified":"2025-08-09T17:39:56","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T14:39:56","slug":"rozdil-1-golda-meyir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/viberrun.com\/en\/vydatni-osoby-ukrayiny\/rozdil-1-golda-meyir\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 1. Golda Meir"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Golda Meir: from Ukrainian roots to the top of world politics<\/h1>\n

On a dark evening in the early 20th century, a little girl named Golda hid in her family home on the outskirts of Kyiv, holding her breath.<\/span><\/span> Her father hastily boarded up the front door with rough wooden boards – rumors of an imminent pogrom are circulating, and only thin walls separate the Jewish family from a possible invasion of attackers.<\/span><\/span> The girl sits quietly next to her sisters, trying not to make a sound while the shadows of hatred roam outside.<\/span><\/span> This fear is forever etched in the memory of Golda Mabovich, a native of Kyiv in 1898, who later became known to the world as Golda Meir – one of the most outstanding female leaders of the 20th century.<\/span><\/span> Her path is an incredible story of strength of spirit and devotion to a dream that began under the low sky of Ukraine and led to the top of Israeli politics.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Kyiv roots: childhood under the shadow of pogroms<\/h2>\n

Golda Mabovich was born on May 3, 1898, to a Jewish family in Kyiv, which at that time was part of the Russian Empire.<\/span><\/span> Her parents, Bluma and Moishe Mabovich, came to Kyiv from Pinsk, Belarus, in search of a better life.<\/span><\/span> The family lived in poverty;<\/span><\/span> five of the Mabovich children died in infancy, and only three daughters survived \u2013 the eldest, Sheyna, the middle, Golda, and the youngest, Tsipka.<\/span><\/span> Little Golda grew up in a world where tomorrow was never certain: in that era, Jewish pogroms broke out suddenly, bringing death and horror.<\/span><\/span> Her earliest memories are of fear and a sense of danger, when her father, together with a neighbor, fortified the door to protect the family from \u201chooligans\u201d who planned to kill them.<\/span><\/span> The girls \u2013 Golda, her sisters, and a neighbor\u2019s child \u2013 sat quietly, afraid to even breathe, lest they be heard by the angry attackers behind the wall.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

These terrible childhood memories certainly left a deep mark on Golda\u2019s soul.<\/span><\/span> Later, she often told her children and grandchildren about those times, emphasizing how lucky it was to live in a country where you don\u2019t have to be afraid just because of who you were born.<\/span><\/span> She was glad that for her descendants, those Kyiv horrors remained only a history lesson \u2013 something distant, something they would never have to face personally.<\/span><\/span> Yes, from an early age, Golda Meir learned the value of security and dignity, and this bitter lesson later fueled her determination to fight for a country where the Jewish people could live without fear.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It is not surprising that Golda\u2019s father, Moishe Mabovich, saw the family\u2019s future overseas.<\/span><\/span> After particularly difficult years and news of new unrest, he set off for the United States of America to seek work and shelter for his family.<\/span><\/span> In 1906, having saved enough money for tickets, the father transported his wife and daughters to New York, and from there the family reached the city of Milwaukee, in the Midwest of the United States.<\/span><\/span> Six-year-old Golda crossed the ocean, leaving behind Ukraine \u2013 the land where her early years were spent, filled with both the warmth of family and the cold horror of persecution.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Golda

Golda Meir childhood<\/p><\/div>\n

New World: Youth in Milwaukee and Denver<\/h2>\n

In America, the Mabowicz family started life from scratch.<\/span><\/span> They settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in a modest Jewish neighborhood.<\/span><\/span> Her mother opened a small grocery store, and from the age of eight, Golda helped her, staying behind the counter when her mother had to go get the goods.<\/span><\/span> The girl early showed leadership qualities and a sensitive heart: seeing that not all her classmates could afford textbooks, ten-year-old Golda organized a charitable society called the American Youth Sisterhood to raise money for books for poorer students.<\/span><\/span> The young activist independently rented a hall and called people to a meeting – quite a bit of courage for a child.<\/span><\/span> This first action was a success, and Golda at an early age felt what it was like to change the life of a community for the better with her own hands.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

She studied diligently at school, although she was often late because of her work in the family store, but still managed to graduate with honors.<\/span><\/span> But her rebellious spirit did not give her peace.<\/span><\/span> Her mother wanted to marry her daughter off as soon as possible so that she could live \u201cproperly,\u201d but Golda dreamed of education and independence.<\/span><\/span> In 1913, the fifteen-year-old girl decided on a desperate step – she ran away from home to her older sister Shayna in another city, Denver (Colorado).<\/span><\/span> In Denver, Shayna and her husband Sam Korngold organized evenings for intellectuals and like-minded people in their home.<\/span><\/span> Sitting in a corner of their living room, young Golda listened for the first time to passionate discussions about politics, women’s rights, trade unions and, most importantly, about Zionism – the idea that Jews should return to their historical homeland and create their own state there.<\/span><\/span> Those nights of lively conversation remained in her memory forever.<\/span><\/span> \u201cIt was there, in Denver,\u201d Golda later recalled, \u201cthat my future beliefs were first outlined and strengthened,\u201d so strong was the influence of those conversations on the formation of her worldview.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A year later, she returned to her parents in Milwaukee, having reconciled with them and gained the right to finish high school.<\/span><\/span> Golda not only made up for her studies, but also immersed herself in the youth Zionist movement – she joined the youth organization “Poale Zion”, where she passionately campaigned for the idea of \u200b\u200bthe revival of Jewish statehood in the land of Israel.<\/span><\/span> Even as a teenager, she learned to inspire others with her words: she spoke at rallies, defending socialist and Zionist ideals, dreaming of a country where her people would be free.<\/span><\/span> During these years, Golda met a young man, Morris Meyerson – a socialist and a fellow supporter of Zionism.<\/span><\/span> They were united by a common dream of life in their historical homeland, so when Morris proposed marriage, Golda set a condition: they would marry only if they went to live in Palestine together.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On the threshold of a new life: the path to the land of Israel<\/h2>\n

In 1921, Golda and her husband Morris Meyerson packed their bags and fulfilled an old promise \u2013 they left America to settle permanently in the land of their ancestors, then the British-administered Mandatory Palestine.<\/span><\/span> For her, it was not just a change of country, but the fulfillment of a youthful dream, the realization of an idea for which she had lived in recent years.<\/span><\/span> Her parents blessed this step: although Moishe and Bluma Mabovich themselves did not plan to emigrate to Palestine, they supported their daughters\u2019 desire to build a new life in their historical homeland.<\/span><\/span> Her sister Shayna and her family also went to Palestine with Golda at that time \u2013 Zionist fervor engulfed the entire younger generation of the family.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The first steps on Israeli soil were not as they had dreamed.<\/span><\/span> Golda was in for a hard landing: instead of a \u201cparadise of milk and honey,\u201d she found the harsh reality of an arid land, a life of hunger and hard work.<\/span><\/span> At first, the young couple settled in Tel Aviv and quickly spent the savings they had brought from America.<\/span><\/span> To survive, Golda got a job teaching English, but their real dream was to join a kibbutz, a collective farming commune where Zionist pioneers jointly built a new society.<\/span><\/span> The kibbutz the Meyersons aspired to was called Merhaviya in the north of the country.<\/span><\/span> However, the kibbutzniks were in no hurry to accept the newcomers: first, they were wary of the couple as potential parents (extra children are an additional burden in difficult conditions), second, they were distrustful of their “foreign” origin (Americans were considered too soft for physical labor), and third, when they learned that Golda taught languages instead of field work, they decided that she was not used to dealing with dirty work.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But Golda was not one to give up easily.<\/span><\/span> After a few months, the determined newcomers finally managed to gain acceptance into Kibbutz Merhaviya.<\/span><\/span> There, Golda took on any job she could: she worked as a cook, milked cows on the farm, planted trees \u2013 all with equal dedication and pride.<\/span><\/span> The kibbutz community lived by strict socialist principles: everyone had to wear the same simple clothes, eat together in the dining room, children were raised in groups, and there was almost no private space.<\/span><\/span> For a city girl from America, it was a culture shock, but at the same time an exciting experiment, an opportunity to participate in creating a new world of equality and mutual assistance.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Working in the kitchen, Golda even started a small \u201crevolution\u201d in everyday life: she taught the harsh pioneers to cook oatmeal for breakfast \u2013 hot porridge, in her opinion, was necessary for exhausted workers (at first this idea was ridiculed as an \u201cAmerican fad\u201d, but its usefulness was quickly appreciated).<\/span><\/span> She also insisted on removing the skin from herrings before serving so that people would not grease their clothes, and she introduced tablecloths on the festive table on Shabbat \u2013 ordinary sheets, but clean, to emphasize the solemnity of the dinner before the Sabbath.<\/span><\/span> Such little things made life a little more comfortable even in harsh conditions, and this was all Golda was: practical, caring and capable of convincing steps that made the life of the community easier.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Life on the kibbutz tempered Golda Meir not only physically.<\/span><\/span> She quickly emerged as a natural leader among the settlers.<\/span><\/span> Back in 1922, Golda was elected representative of her kibbutz at the general meeting of the kibbutz movement.<\/span><\/span> The young Meyerson couple (the surname \u201cMeir\u201d would later appear as the official Hebrew version of the surname) continued their path into politics and public activity.<\/span><\/span> They were noticed in the leadership of the Jewish labor movement.<\/span><\/span> Golda gradually moved to work in the trade union organization \u201cHistadrut\u201d – the general federation of Jewish workers, where she dealt with labor and social security issues.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

During these years, she gave birth to two children \u2013 a son, Menachem (1924) and a daughter, Sarah (1926) \u2013 and moved with her family to Jerusalem.<\/span><\/span> However, family life was overshadowed by incessant work and political struggle.<\/span><\/span> Golda belonged to those women who dared to put a social mission above the traditional role of wife and mother.<\/span><\/span> This was not easy: her husband Morris supported her, but in the end their marriage became a formality, they lived separately.<\/span><\/span> Later, Golda bitterly admitted that she had sacrificed family comfort for the sake of serving the people, regretting that she had not been a better wife and mother.<\/span><\/span> Such was her conscious choice \u2013 to lay herself on the altar of an idea.<\/span><\/span> And this self-sacrifice would soon come in handy for the people she sought to protect.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Golda

Golda Meir<\/p><\/div>\n

The Dawn of Israel: From Underground to Creative State<\/h2>\n

In the 1930s and 1940s, Golda Meir (then known as Meyerson) became a key figure in the Jewish Yishuv, the Jewish community in Palestine.<\/span><\/span> She was responsible for raising funds to support European Jews fleeing the Nazis and for illegal immigration to Palestine during the British restrictions.<\/span><\/span> During World War II, Golda worked for the Jewish Agency, the de facto government of the Jewish population, helping to rescue refugees and prepare the ground for future statehood.<\/span><\/span> She was able to convince wealthy Jewish businessmen to spend their money on a common cause: legend has it that in 1948, Golda managed to collect $50 million in donations in the United States in a few weeks for the defense needs of the newborn Israel – a colossal amount of money for those times, without which the state of Israel could not have survived its first war for independence.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

May 14, 1948 was a day of triumph: Golda Meir, the only woman among the leaders of the Jewish community, signed the Declaration of Independence of Israel, thus becoming one of the \u201cfounding fathers\u201d (or rather, \u201cfounding mothers\u201d) of the new state.<\/span><\/span> The proclamation of Israel was met with an attack from neighboring Arab countries, and the country immediately plunged into the maelstrom of war.<\/span><\/span> At this critical moment, Golda showed herself not only as a politician, but also as an unspoken \u201cgoodwill ambassador\u201d: a few days before the proclamation of the state, she secretly went to King Abdullah of Transjordan to negotiate that he would not go to war against Israel.<\/span><\/span> Although those negotiations did not bring the desired peace, the very fact that a female leader went to meet with an Arab monarch for the sake of peace became part of her legend.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After gaining independence, Golda’s abilities were sorely needed by the young state.<\/span><\/span> She joined the first Israeli government: in 1949 she was elected to the Knesset (parliament), and David Ben-Gurion appointed her Minister of Labor and Social Security.<\/span><\/span> Golda worked in this position for seven years – and later admitted that this was the most productive time in her career.<\/span><\/span> Indeed, during this time, hundreds of thousands of apartments were built from scratch in Israel for the mass repatriation of Jews from all over the world, a social insurance system was established, labor legislation was established – the foundation of the welfare state that Israel was proud of.<\/span><\/span> Meir personally traveled to the newly created settlement towns of immigrants, spent the night in tents among immigrants, listened to their problems.<\/span><\/span> She was a mother figure for thousands of newcomers – simply dressed, unpretentious, always with a patient smile and at the same time with a business acumen.<\/span><\/span> It was not for nothing that her compatriots later called her “Grandma Golda,” referring to her benevolence and strict character.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In 1956, Ben-Gurion entrusted her with the portfolio of Minister of Foreign Affairs.<\/span><\/span> In her new position, Golda showed herself no less brightly.<\/span><\/span> She changed her surname Meyerson to the short Hebrew “Meir” so that representatives of other countries would pronounce it more easily (and to comply with the then norm of “shortening” the surnames of Israeli leaders).<\/span><\/span> As a minister, she traveled a lot, establishing diplomatic relations with countries that had just freed themselves from colonialism in Asia and Africa.<\/span><\/span> In these countries, Golda Meir often found an unexpected response: they saw in Israel, surrounded by hostile states, a certain analogy to their own struggle for independence, and Golda knew how to win their sympathy with her sincerity.<\/span><\/span> One of the photographs from those years captured a historic moment: Golda in a sari meeting with Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi \u2013 two female leaders smiling warmly at each other, understanding the burden and uniqueness of each other\u2019s situation.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

However, the hard work took its toll on Golda\u2019s health.<\/span><\/span> She was diagnosed with lymphoma (cancer of the lymphatic system), and in 1966 she left the government, announcing her retirement.<\/span><\/span> It seemed like it was time to rest: after decades of struggle, she could devote herself to her grandchildren or write her memoirs.<\/span><\/span> But fate decreed otherwise.<\/span><\/span> Ahead of Golda Meir was the most difficult test of all \u2013 leading the country during a war of survival.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Israel’s “Iron Lady”: The Path to the Top of Power<\/h2>\n

On March 1, 1969, Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol died suddenly.<\/span><\/span> The ruling party was faced with choosing a new leader who could unite the people in difficult times.<\/span><\/span> To the surprise of many, 70-year-old Golda Meir \u2013 who at that time did not even hold office, having recently retired from politics \u2013 received support and headed the government.<\/span><\/span> Perhaps this was possible due to her undeniable authority among the \u201cold guard\u201d, a close associate of Ben-Gurion and a symbol of unity.<\/span><\/span> In any case, in her advanced years, Golda became the fourth prime minister of Israel and the first (and still only) woman at the head of the Israeli government.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At first, her appointment was perceived as temporary, but within a few months Meir had won a landslide victory in the October 1969 elections, cementing her mandate of popular trust.<\/span><\/span> Israelis loved Golda for her simplicity and straightforwardness.<\/span><\/span> She made no attempt to pretend to be someone else: she would go to work with an old, worn-out bag, smoke countless Marlboro cigarettes, and speak to the people almost like a grandmother with her grandchildren\u2014with humor and stern love.<\/span><\/span> The press dubbed her the \u201cIron Lady\u201d long before Margaret Thatcher, because behind her soft exterior was a steel core of character.<\/span><\/span> Meir firmly defended Israel\u2019s security on the international stage, and was not afraid of harsh statements and decisive actions.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time, her term came at an extremely troubling time.<\/span><\/span> After the Six-Day War of 1967, when Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights, there was no real peace in the Middle East.<\/span><\/span> The Arabs demanded the return of the lost territories, but the Meir government took the position that concessions were possible only in exchange for a real peace treaty, which was not offered at the time.<\/span><\/span> Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1971\u201372 gave signals that he was ready to negotiate if Israel withdrew from Sinai, but Golda Meir did not believe in the sincerity of these intentions and rejected such conditions.<\/span><\/span> She sincerely wanted peace – in her first months in office she visited several Western capitals, convincing world leaders to support a peace process based on recognizing Israel as a neighbor – but at the same time she did not want to put the country under attack by giving up strategic depth of defense without guarantees.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In September 1972, 11 Israeli athletes were killed by terrorists at the Munich Olympics.<\/span><\/span> This tragedy was a personal blow for Golda.<\/span><\/span> She appeared on television in tears, addressing the Israelis as a mother who had lost her sons.<\/span><\/span> And soon she made the difficult decision – to give the Mossad the task of tracking down and neutralizing the organizers of the terrorist attack, so that no one involved in the murder of the athletes would go unpunished.<\/span><\/span> This secret operation lasted for years and showed that behind Golda’s soft smile was a firm determination to protect her citizens at any cost.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But the greatest test lay ahead \u2013 the Yom Kippur War, which broke out in the fall of 1973 and shook the very foundations of the young state.<\/p>\n

\"Golda

Golda Meir meeting with Sadat<\/p><\/div>\n

The Doomsday War: Three Weeks That Changed Everything<\/h2>\n

On October 6, 1973, on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), when the country was frozen in prayer and fasting, a sudden blow fell on Israel.<\/span><\/span> Egypt and Syria simultaneously declared war, suddenly going on the offensive on the Sinai and Golan fronts.<\/span><\/span> For the Israelis, it was a shock: a number of factors led to the fact that the country’s intelligence and leadership completely underestimated the threat of a major war.<\/span><\/span> Only a few days before the attack, some reports began to arrive, but even on the morning of October 6, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan assured Golda Meir that the probability of war was low.<\/span><\/span> So when the sirens announced the start of the attack at noon, Israel was actually not on full combat alert.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The first hours and days of the war were perhaps the most difficult in Golda’s life.<\/span><\/span> The 75-year-old prime minister held endless meetings of the military cabinet in an underground command bunker, berating herself for not having launched a preemptive strike.<\/span><\/span> After all, the military had suggested striking the enemy in advance when it became clear that an attack was inevitable – but Golda refused, fearing to lose US support and appear as an aggressor in the eyes of the world.<\/span><\/span> She suffered greatly from this responsibility: “I could have prevented this war, but I didn’t,” she later repeated with bitterness.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, at the front, the Israeli army suffered heavy losses.<\/span><\/span> Egyptian troops crossed the Suez Canal and captured part of Sinai, Syrian tanks rushed almost to the shores of the Sea of Galilee.<\/span><\/span> Mortal danger loomed over Israel – it seemed that the enemies were about to break through the defenses.<\/span><\/span> General Dayan spoke in despair about the “end of the Third Temple”, hinting at the possible destruction of the state.<\/span><\/span> At these critical moments, Golda revealed all her inner steel character.<\/span><\/span> She did not panic.<\/span><\/span> On the contrary, she gathered her commanders and said: “Let no one even think about defeat. Our people have survived and not so – we will survive this too.”<\/span><\/span> On her instructions, even the last argument from the Israeli reserves was brought into high combat readiness – nuclear weapons (fortunately, they did not have to be used, but this step probably forced the major world players to more actively seek a way to end the war).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Meir appealed to the United States for help, personally telephoning Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and writing a desperate letter to President Richard Nixon.<\/span><\/span> The result was a massive airlift of American weapons and ammunition, which significantly strengthened Israeli defenses.<\/span><\/span> Meanwhile, Israeli reservists, mobilized and thrown to the front, showed wonders of courage.<\/span><\/span> Within days, the situation had been turned: in the north, the Israelis had thrown back the Syrians, and in the south, General Ariel Sharon had managed to quietly bring pontoons across the Suez Canal and transfer the war to the Egyptian coast.<\/span><\/span> When the fighting subsided, the Israeli army was already 100 kilometers from Cairo, encircling the Egyptian 3rd Army, and 40 kilometers from Damascus – but the price was terrible.<\/span><\/span> In three weeks of war, Israel lost about 2,600 soldiers killed and thousands wounded.<\/span><\/span> For a tiny country, these were unbearable losses, and almost every community mourned the dead.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Golda Meir often visited the wounded in hospitals, bending over each soldier, holding his hand like a mother.<\/span><\/span> There is a famous photograph: Golda strokes the head of a young soldier with bandaged eyes in a hospital bed – this woman with kind, tired eyes embodied Israel itself, mourning and at the same time comforting its defenders.<\/span><\/span> Her love for her people was boundless, and each loss echoed in her heart with personal pain.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Yom Kippur War ended with a shaky truce.<\/span><\/span> The world saw that Israel, although it had held out, no longer seemed invincible, as it had after the triumph of 1967. For Golda Meir, these three weeks were a turning point.<\/span><\/span> The people who had idolized her yesterday began to ask uncomfortable questions: why was the surprise attack allowed?<\/span><\/span> Who was to blame for underestimating the threat?<\/span><\/span> In the wake of post-war discontent in Israel, a commission (the Agranat Commission) was created to investigate the causes of the miscalculations.<\/span><\/span> The commission’s findings partially rehabilitated the leadership: Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan were not officially found directly guilty of intelligence failures.<\/span><\/span> However, public trust was undermined.<\/span><\/span> In the December 1973 elections, Golda’s party won the most votes, but lost many mandates and could no longer easily form a coalition.<\/span><\/span> She tried to lead the government, but her strength was not there.<\/span><\/span> In April 1974, just six months after the war, Golda Meir announced her resignation as prime minister, saying the famous phrase: \u201cFive years in this post are enough\u2026\u201d She was succeeded by her younger colleague Yitzhak Rabin.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Doomsday

Doomsday War<\/p><\/div>\n

The last years and legacy for posterity<\/h2>\n

After leaving big politics, Golda Meir finally allowed herself some rest.<\/span><\/span> She settled in a simple house in Tel Aviv, where she loved to receive guests – ordinary soldiers, young activists who came to listen to her grandmother’s advice.<\/span><\/span> In 1975, she published her autobiography “My Life”, which instantly became a bestseller in the United States.<\/span><\/span> In her memoirs, Golda sincerely spoke about the thorny path, about her mistakes and victories, about the price she paid for the right to serve the people.<\/span><\/span> The book touched the hearts of millions – the story of a simple woman from Ukraine who became a world leader inspired many.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In November 1977, Golda made her last public appearance.<\/span><\/span> It was a historic moment: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, the same man Golda had fought against four years earlier, came to Jerusalem on a peace visit.<\/span><\/span> Meir, 80, suffering from cancer, had come to the Knesset specifically to hear Sadat\u2019s speech and to say a few words to him.<\/span><\/span> In her speech, she thanked the Egyptian leader for his courage to extend a hand of peace and recognize Israel\u2019s right to exist.<\/span><\/span> \u201cThe road to peace may be difficult,\u201d she told Sadat, \u201cbut it is not as difficult as the road to war.\u201d<\/span><\/span> With these words, Golda seemed to sum up her entire life, full of struggle and hope.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Within a year, the disease took her.<\/span><\/span> On December 8, 1978, Golda Meir passed away at the age of 80. She was buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, in the pantheon of Israel’s great leaders.<\/span><\/span> Tens of thousands came to say goodbye to her – both old and young, former political opponents and ordinary kibbutzniks, for whom she once cooked the same porridge.<\/span><\/span> Everyone understood: Golda’s era was over.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But her legacy lives on.<\/span><\/span> In Israel, Golda Meir is forever remembered as one of the \u201cfounding fathers\u201d of the state and as a symbol of unwavering determination.<\/span><\/span> She has been called the \u201cleft\u201d of Israeli politics, along with Ben-Gurion and Rabin.<\/span><\/span> Although she received much criticism for her miscalculations in 1973, history has nevertheless given her a special place as a woman who was not afraid to shoulder the burden of war and peace.<\/span><\/span> And outside Israel, Golda Meir has become an inspiration to generations of female leaders around the world, proving that willpower and love for one\u2019s people know no gender boundaries.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The memory of Golda in her homeland, Ukraine, is especially touching.<\/span><\/span> For many decades, only historians knew that the Israeli prime minister was born in Kyiv.<\/span><\/span> But now Ukraine proudly remembers its outstanding compatriot.<\/span><\/span> In 2023, to mark the 125th anniversary of Golda Meir\u2019s birth, a square named after her was laid in Kyiv \u2013 \u201cGolda Meir Square\u201d \u2013 in the very heart of the city, in Podil, next to Andriyivskyi Uzviz.<\/span><\/span> This cozy corner will become a living monument: there they plan to erect a wall made of pink \u201cJerusalem\u201d stone, on which they will engrave quotes from Golda\u2019s wise sayings.<\/span><\/span> It is symbolic that the land where little Golda once experienced her first fear and dreamed of a safe home now honors her as one of the greatest figures in world history.<\/span><\/span> Ukrainians, Israelis, and people around the world remember and honor Golda Meir, a woman who went from a Kyiv girl hiding from a pogrom to a prime minister who earned respect and a place in history alongside the greatest leaders of her time.<\/span><\/span> This is a story about indomitable spirit, about faith in ideals, and about the importance of never forgetting where you come from, no matter how many peaks you reach.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Golda Meir proved to the whole world that even the most humble beginnings will not stand in the way of a great calling if love for one\u2019s people and a dream of justice burn in one\u2019s heart.<\/span><\/span> And although her life path was not easy, at the end of it she was able to say that she had not lived her life in vain \u2013 because her people learned to live \u201cin the midst of a sea of hatred, without hating those who sought to destroy them, and without renouncing their own dream of peace\u201d.<\/span><\/span> This science, according to Golda, became part of the very way of life of Israel.<\/span><\/span> And Golda Meir herself will forever remain a part of history \u2013 as a symbol of courage, wisdom and indomitability, which originate in her native Ukrainian land and reach the distant horizons of human memory.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Golda

Golda Meir<\/p><\/div><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Golda Meir: from Ukrainian roots to the top of world politics On a dark evening in the early 20th century,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vydatni-osoby-ukrayiny"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/viberrun.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/viberrun.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/viberrun.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viberrun.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viberrun.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/viberrun.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":866,"href":"https:\/\/viberrun.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852\/revisions\/866"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viberrun.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/viberrun.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viberrun.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viberrun.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}