Shevah Weiss

Shevah Weiss (; 5 July 1935 – 3 February 2023) was an Israeli politician who served as Knesset Speaker under Yitzhak Rabin. He was Israel's ambassador to Poland and chairman of Yad Vashem. Biography Shevah Weiss was born in Borysław, Poland to Gienia and Meir Wolf Weiss. During the Holocaust, his father built a hiding place for the family behind the wall of their store. He built bunk beds, one on top of the other, up to the ceiling. Weiss lived in this tiny space with his parents, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, cousin and neighbor. Later they lived in the basement of a children’s orphanage. Neighbors provided them with food and water. Weiss recalls: "My father cooked a soup consisting of one potato and water for our whole group. But in the end, we were reduced to chewing book covers made of genuine leather." Weiss later expressed his gratitude to the families who saved him, whom he described as “amazing people, my heroes…[who] will always be in my heart”. Weiss immigrated to Palestine in 1947. He graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with a BA in International Relations in 1961. He went on to earn an MA in Political Science and contemporary Jewish studies and a PhD. Weiss was married to Esther, with whom he had two children. Dr. Esther Weiss died of cancer in 2005.