Avneri, Bruria (born Heymann, Bertha )

Bruria Avneri (née Bertha Heymann) was born on 10.4.1901 in Duisburg and died in 1974 in Haifa. Her parents were Yaccov and Rachel Heymann. Bertha was a member of the Blau-Weiß youth movement and trained for six months as a baby nurse in addition to studying for one year in a commercial school. Bruria then worked for five years as a clerk and also volunteered for five years as a secretary in the Jewish welfare office for foreigners and travelers. Between 1927 and 1929, she trained in social work at the Soziale Frauenschule in Berlin-Schöneberg. The topic of her final exam was "Welfare Work for Impaired and Developmentally Disabled Children" and she did her internship working with youth in Berlin’s Jugendamt, or children’s welfare department. Subsequently, she worked for three and a half years as a social worker in a home for at-risk girls. Bertha immigrated to Palestine in 1933 on her own, after her sister had gone to Palestine some time earlier to work as a midwife in Haifa. Bertha settled in Haifa as well. When she applied at the Vaad Leumi Department of Social Work in 1933, she received a very warm professional recommendation from Frieda Weinreich, another German-Jewish social worker who immigrated to Palestine, who knew her from the Zentralwohlfahrtsstelle der Juden in Deutschland (ZWST), or Central Office for Jewish Welfare, in Berlin. Later, Bertha headed a welfare office in Haifa and was in charge of the city's welfare department. Her husband was Dr. Zwi Avneri and they had two children, Yael Snapir and Shay Avneri.