Judith Buber Agassi


Judith Buber Agassi was a German-born Israeli sociologist, who wrote about women, work and the experience of those imprisoned in Ravensbrück concentration camp. She also edited the work of her mother Margarete Buber-Neumann and her grandfather Martin Buber.

Life

Judith Buber was born in Heppenheim, Germany on 17 June 1924, at the house of her grandparents, Paula and Martin Buber. Her parents, Rafael Buber and his first wife, Margarete, lived there for a year, along with Judith's older sister Barbara. After the couple divorced, Rafael was awarded custody and the girls were raised at their grandparents' home in Heppenheim. She migrated to Jerusalem in March 1938.
She was educated at Beth Hakerem High School and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, graduating in 1951 with an MA in History. In 1949 she married the philosopher Joseph Agassi. She earned her doctorate at the London School of Economics in 1960, with a thesis on local government and parliamentary democracy.
Margarete Buber-Neumann spent four years as a political prisoner in Ravensbrück concentration camp. Judith Buber Agassi spent years interviewing women who had survived the camp, and recovered the identities of over 16,000 prisoners.

Works