קוק Kook, Hillel

Birth Name קוק Kook, Hillel [1a]
Birth Name קוק, הלל בן דב הכהן
Also Known As Bergson, Peter

    Peter Bergson was the pseudonym adopted by Hillel Kook, to protect his family in Palestine, which included his uncle, Chief Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Kook.

Also Known As ברגסון, פיטר
Call Name הלל
Call Name Peter
Call Name פיטר
Gender male
Age at Death 86 years, 23 days

Events

Event Date Place Description Notes Sources
Birth July 24, 1915 Krakės Kroki, Kėdainių rajono savivaldybė, Kauno apskritis, Aukštaitija, Lietuva  

 
Aliyah 1924   Rav Dov haCohen Kook, and his family, including son, Hillel, age 10 years, left Lithuania for Palestine

 
Education   ישיבת מרכז הרב ‎Yeshiva Mercaz HaRav, קרית משה, ירושלים, ישראל  

 
Military Service 1930 הגנה Haganah  

 
Military Service 1931 אצ"ל ארגון צבאי לאומי ITzL Irgun Tzvi Leumi Hillel Kook helped found ITzL אצ"ל, a militant group of Haganah dissidents

Event Note

In 1936, Hillel Kook served as a post commander, and later became a member of ETZL General Headquarters.

Place Note

By mid-1940, the war put a stop to most ITzL אצ"ל activities in Europe, and had severed the connections between Palestine and the group in the United States.
Hillel Kook Peter Bergson and his followers focussed on pressing for a Jewish army to fight in the war against Germany.

 
Membership   American Friends of a Jewish Palestine AFJP  

Place Note

In 1941, Yitzhak Ben-Ami, Hillel Kook Peter Bergson, Samuel Merlin, Alex Rafaeli, Arieh Ben-Eliezer, and Eri Jabotinsky replaced the American Friends of a Jewish Palestine AFJP with the Committee for a Jewish Army of Stateless and Palestinian Jews, which lobbied for creation of a Jewish armed force to fight alongside the Allies against the Nazis.
The Committee for a Jewish Army of Stateless and Palestinian Jews employed protest tactics unheard of in the American Jewish community at that time, placing full page advertisements in major daily newspapers, displaying the names of prominent political figures, intellectuals, and Hollywood celebrities who supported the Jewish army cause.
The Bergson Group’s newspaper advertisements, rallies, and lobbying in Washington, combined with behind the scenes efforts by the established Jewish organizations, persuaded the British to establish the Jewish Brigade הבריגדה היהודית, an all-Jewish military unit that was part of the British Army.

 
Membership 1946 American League for Free Palestine ALEF also see Bergson Group  

 
Death August 16, 2001    

 

Parents

Father קוק Kook, Dov haCohen
Siblings
  1. קוק Kook, Raphael haCohen

Gallery

Source References

  1. Escaping the Holocaust: Illegal Immigration to the Land of Israel, 1939-1944
    1. Page: 14

Pedigree

  1. קוק Kook, Dov haCohen
    1. קוק Kook, Raphael haCohen
    2. קוק Kook, Hillel

Ancestors