24 Facts About Hashomer Hatzair

Hashomer Hatzair is a Labor Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary, and it was the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 Mandatory Palestine.

Hashomer Hatzair, along with HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed of Israel, is a member of the International Falcon Movement – Socialist Educational International.

Hashomer Hatzair came into being as a result of the merger of two groups, Hashomer a Zionist scouting group, and Ze'irei Zion which was an ideological circle that studied Zionism, socialism and Jewish history.

Hashomer Hatzair is the oldest Zionist youth movement still in existence.

Hashomer Hatzair believed that the liberation of Jewish youth could be accomplished by aliyah to Palestine and living in kibbutzim.

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Hashomer Hatzair's educators sought to shape the image of the child from birth to maturity; some were aware of the work of the Soviet educator Anton Makarenko who propounded collectivist education.

In 1927, the four kibbutzim founded by Hashomer Hatzair banded together to form the Kibbutz Artzi federation.

The movement formed a political party that shared the name Hashomer Hatzair, advocating a binational solution in mandatory Palestine with equality between Arabs and Jews.

That is why, when a small group of Zionist leaders met in New York in May 1942 in the Biltmore Hotel, Hashomer Hatzair representatives voted against the so-called Biltmore Program.

In 1936, the kibbutz-based Hashomer Hatzair party launched an urban political party, the Socialist League of Palestine, which would represent non-kibbutzniks who shared the political approach of the members of Hashomer Hatzair kibbutzim and the youth movement in the political organizations of the Yishuv.

Hashomer Hatzair was the leader of the infamous Gestapo-sponsored Jewish organisation Zagiew, which was formed in February 1943 at the beginning of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Hashomer Hatzair continues as a youth movement based in Israel, and operates internationally.

Once a huge movement inside the large Argentinian Jewish Community, Hashomer Hatzair Argentina suffered from decay common to all Zionist youth movements in Argentina during the last decades, as well as several military dictatorships in the country's history that directly or indirectly led to the closure of several of its kenim.

Hashomer Hatzair Australia is a member of the Australasian Zionist Youth Council.

The Hashomer were among the earliest members of the Osterreichischer Pfadfinderbund in 1914.

In Bulgaria, Hashomer Hatzair has been active for more than 20 years and has two branches - Sofia and Plovdiv.

Hashomer Hatzair has collaborated with Habonim Dror and other left-wing Zionist groups to form the Union of Progressive Zionists campus network.

In October 2011, Hashomer Hatzair participated in Occupy Toronto and built a sukkah at the site of the protest.

Chilean branch of Hashomer Hatzair was founded more than 60 years ago and it continues educating young Jewish Chileans with the values of social justice, fraternity, Judaism and love for Israel.

Hashomer Hatzair Germany is the youth movement in Germany, that operates Ken Berlin.

Hashomer Hatzair was the first Jewish youth movement to be re-established in Hungary after the fall of Communism.

Hashomer Hatzair operates four kenim in Italy—in Rome, Milan, Florence, and Turin.

Hashomer Hatzair Mexico was founded by Avner Aliphas, a Hebrew professor at the Yiddish school of Mexico and later founder of the "Tarbut" Jewish day school in 1942.

Around the world, Hashomer Hatzair members have founded a life movement to pick up where the youth movement leaves off.