In June 1941, five thousand Jews of Brest-Litovsk, Russia were marched to the city limits by the Nazis where each one was shot or drowned. Menachem Begin’s father was among those Jews. Begin’s mother died in Brest’s Jewish hospital and his brother Herzl disappeared, only to perish in the Holocaust. The Brest ghetto was liquidated in 1942. By that time, Menachem Begin was 29 years old. He had studied law at the University of Warsaw, had been the leader of the Zionist Betar organization, imprisoned in the USSR, released by the Sikorski-Mayski Agreement, and joined the Polish army. In that same year of 1942, the Jews were unofficially released from the Polish army. Menachem Begin joined the Irgun Zvai Leumi, the Jewish underground, and assumed its leadership.

From that moment, Begin began planning a Jewish uprising against the British Authority that controlled Palestine. Interestingly, the Polish government secretly supported the Irgun and their quest for the establishment of a Jewish state in the hopes that Poland could rid their country of Jews. The Irgun received weapons, ammunition, and military training from the Polish army. Begin personally ordered many Irgun operations, including the Akko prison breakout, and the controversial bombing of the British administrative offices in the King David Hotel.

In 1948, following the establishment of the State of Israel, Begin disbanded the Irgun and formed a political party, the Heurut (Freedom) Party. In every Israeli election since the first one, Begin held a seat in the Knesset. Begin was known for his frequently quoted speeches on political and legal issues, and his hostile debates with David Ben Gurion. In the 1950s he was best known for leading the fight against reparations from West Germany to victims of the Holocaust, considering it blood money. Begin was suspended from the Knesset for three months during the stormy protests over these restitutions.

In 1965, the Heurut Party merged with other parties, eventually forming the Likud bloc and later the Likud Party. The crisis prior to the 1967 Six-Day War drove the establishment of a National Unity Government, which finally gave Begin a position at the Cabinet. In 1977, the Likud Party gained a majority in the Knesset and after three decades of being a strong, loud minority voice, Likud took over leadership of Israel with Begin as Prime Minister.

Menachem Begin had a number of achievements during his six years as Prime Minister. His greatest, of course, was the negotiation and signing of Israel’s first peace treaty. He and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat shared a 1978 Nobel Peace Prize. In 1982, despite widespread protests within Israel, Begin ordered the withdrawal of citizens from the Sinai Peninsula in preparation for turning it over to Egypt as required by the treaty.

Another significant accomplishment as Prime Minister was ordering the bombing of the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq. Though universally condemned by the international community at the time, it is now recognized as reducing the significant world threat of a nuclear Iraq. Begin also ordered the controversial invasion of Lebanon to stop PLO rocket attacks from across the border. The invasion eventually divided the country and resulted in tragedies like the massacre of civilians in the villages of Sabra and Shatila, carried out by the Christian Lebanese Militia during occupation by the IDF.

In 1982, Begin’s wife Aliza died while he was on a speaking tour in the United States. It is said that his love for his wife was stronger than even his strongest convictions, and less than a year later he resigned his position and faded from public life. In 1992, Begin died of heart failure and, according to his wishes, had a “simple Jewish funeral” without the fanfare normally accorded a head of state. He was buried on the Mount of Olives beside his wife Aliza.