Schlesinger, Dr. Bella (née Olkanizki)

Bella Schlesinger (née Olkanizki) was born on 18.5.1898 in Vilnius and died in 1977 in Tel Aviv. She was married to Dr Yaakov Schlesinger, and had a sister, Nyuta Arzichovski, who probably lived in Israel as well. Between 1918 and 1919 she studied Law at the University of Char'kov, and between 1919 and 1921 she studied at the Seminar for Wohlfahrtspflege in Munich, between 1920 and 1923 in Berlin, and between 1923 and 1925 in Jena (Economics). She graduated with the title Dr. rer. pol. Between 4 May 1926 and 31 October 1935, Bella worked at the Zentralwohlfahrtsstelle der Deutschen Juden (Central Welfare Bureau for Jews in Germany, ZWST) with Dr Giora Lotan (Georg Lubinski), Dr Friedrich Ollendorff, and Rabbi Dr Leo Baeck. She was highly active in the Jüdische Wohlfahrtspflege und Sozialpolitik Journal. In Berlin, she lived at Opitzstrasse 2, and in 1933 she moved in with Anni Samuelsdorff. In 1935 she emigrated to Palestine, initially working as a secretary for WIZO in Jerusalem. In 1940 she founded the Tel Aviv Social Work School. During the 1940s she also worked as a central social worker in the Tel Aviv social work department. In 1949 she was awarded a UN scholarship for a course in Switzerland.