Gershon Gera

Gershon Gera was the son of Yehudith (nee Altushler) and Gera Krishboski. His family has roots in the Chabad Chassidic group and one of his fore-fathers donated all his money to this group. His grandfather- Dr. Gershon Itzchak Krishboski- was a doctor in Jerusalem, in the settlements of the First Aliyah and in the Ottoman Army. His maternal grandfather- Itzchak Ze'ev Altshuler (1866-1934) was one of the founders of Rehovot. (1890). Gershon was born in 1922 in Nazareth. He father was, at the time, the Governor of the province under the British rule. He studied at the Re'ali school in Haifa, The Kaduri Agricultural Schhol and the American University in Beirut. He served in the engineering corps in the British Army for four years. Afterwards he was drafted into the intelligence unit of the Haganah, joined the Negev Brigade of the Palmach, was wounded fighting in the battles in the Northern Negev during the War of Independence. At the end of the war he was the liaison officer with the UN Forces in Israel. In 1949 he was a member of a military delegation to collect money in the United States. In later years he served as the Consul General of Israel in the Embassy in South Africa. Gera was married to the historian and researcher of art, Dr. Shlomit Gera. They had two children. Gershon Gera was a graphic artist, painter, researcher of the early Israeli settlements and a photographer. His artistic talents were manifested in exhibitions of his drawings in Israel and abroad, and in his designs of banners, packaging etc. He wrote some 30 books including; memoirs, albums that were published by the Ministry of Defense, and books that document the history of the early settlements in Israel. Some of his books are devoted to the period of the Second Aliyah and its people: The' Kinneret Courtyard', a House in Tel-Aviv and the Shomer movement. From the 1970's Gera was in close contact with the Chabad movement in Israel. He documented and photographed the Chabad communities and institutions in Israel and published them in the "Chabad Album in Israel". For his books Gera collected unique materials, including many photographs, from archives. These were collected from the early settlers. Gera's collections have been divided among different archives, including, Yad Ben Zvi, Beit Hashomer in Kfar Giladi, Michlelet Emek Hayarden, the Tel-Aviv Archives ;and the archives in Kiryat Arba, Zionist development projects and others. The Gera Collection at Yad Ben Zvi includes photographs off the first Aliyot, to Israel, the early settlements and their settlers, Israeli cities in the beginning of the 20th century, the pogroms of 1929, early factories and more. The collection was donated to Yad Ben Zvi, in 2002, by his widow, Dr. Shulamit Gera. Read more