Jump to content
Main menu
Main menu
move to sidebar
hide
Navigation
Main page
Recent changes
Random page
Help about MediaWiki
Special pages
Niidae Wiki
Search
Search
Appearance
Create account
Log in
Personal tools
Create account
Log in
Pages for logged out editors
learn more
Contributions
Talk
Editing
Golda Meir
(section)
Page
Discussion
English
Read
Edit
View history
Tools
Tools
move to sidebar
hide
Actions
Read
Edit
View history
General
What links here
Related changes
Page information
Appearance
move to sidebar
hide
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==Early life== [[File:Golda Meir-Y.jpg|thumb|left|Golda Mabovitch, before 1910]] Meir was born Golda Mabovitch on May 3, 1898, into a Jewish family<ref>{{Cite web|title=Golda Meir becomes Israeli Prime Minister {{!}} History Today|url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/golda-meir-becomes-israeli-prime-minister|access-date=2021-04-26|website=www.historytoday.com|archive-date=July 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724184319/https://www.historytoday.com/archive/golda-meir-becomes-israeli-prime-minister|url-status=live}}</ref> in downtown Kiev<!--Do NOT change spelling, see [[WP:KIEV]].--> (present-day [[Kyiv]]), Ukraine, then part of the [[Russian Empire]].<ref>{{Cite news|title="Мати Ізраїлю" з Києва: 120 років від дня народження Ґолди Меїр|url=https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/29204774.html|access-date=2021-05-27|website=Радіо Свобода|date=February 21, 2021|language=uk|last1=Костюк|first1=Богдана|archive-date=April 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230420162556/https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/29204774.html|url-status=live}}</ref> She was the daughter of Blume Neiditch (died 1951) and Moshe Yitzhak Mabovitch (died 1944), a carpenter. Meir wrote in her autobiography that her earliest memories were of her father boarding up the front door in response to rumours of an imminent [[pogrom]]. She was named after her great-grandmother, Golde, mother of her maternal grandfather.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chronology of Golda Meir |url=https://www.msudenver.edu/golda-meir-center/golda-meir/chronology/ |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=MSU Denver |language=en-US}}</ref> She had two sisters, Sheyna (born 1889) and Tzipke (later known as Clara; born 1902), as well as five other siblings who died in childhood.{{Source?|date=April 2025}} Moshe left the country to find work in [[New York City]] in 1903.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Golda Meir's American Roots |url=http://ajhs.org/scholarship/chapters/chapter.cfm?documentID=272 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110426080554/http://ajhs.org/scholarship/chapters/chapter.cfm?documentID=272 |archive-date=April 26, 2011 |access-date=June 27, 2016 |publisher=American Jewish Historical Society}}</ref> In his absence, the rest of the family moved to the city of [[Pinsk]] (within present-day Belarus) to join her mother's family. In 1905, Moshe moved to [[Milwaukee]], Wisconsin, in search of higher-paying work, and found employment in the workshops of the local [[railroad yard]]. The following year, he had saved up enough money to bring his family to the United States. Golda along with her mother and sisters landed in [[Quebec]] and traveled to Milwaukee by train.<ref name=chronology>{{Cite web |url=https://www.msudenver.edu/golda-meir-center/golda-meir/chronology/ |title=Chronology of Golda Meir |access-date=December 1, 2022 |archive-date=September 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230920103931/https://www.msudenver.edu/golda-meir-center/golda-meir/chronology/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Meir's mother ran a grocery store on Milwaukee's north side. By age eight, Meir was often put in charge of watching the store when her mother went to buy supplies. She attended the Fourth Street Grade School (present-day [[Golda Meir School]]) from 1906 to 1912. A leader early on, she and a close friend, Regina Hamburger, organized the American Young Sisters Society, a fundraiser to pay for her classmates' textbooks in 1908. As part of the organization's activities, she rented a hall and scheduled a public meeting for the event. Despite frequent tardiness due to having to work in her mother's store, she graduated as [[valedictorian]] of her class.<ref name=chronology/> In 1912, she began studying at [[North Division High School (Milwaukee)|North Division High School]] and worked part-time. Her employers included [[Schuster's]] department store and the [[Milwaukee Public Library]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jim Higgins |date=November 27, 2017 |title=Author recounts Golda Meir's career as a leader, which began as a schoolgirl in Milwaukee |work=[[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]] |url=https://www.jsonline.com/story/entertainment/books/2017/11/27/author-recounts-golda-meirs-career-leader-which-began-schoolgirl-milwaukee/892209001/ |access-date=November 27, 2017 |archive-date=January 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230107052659/https://www.jsonline.com/story/entertainment/books/2017/11/27/author-recounts-golda-meirs-career-leader-which-began-schoolgirl-milwaukee/892209001/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=March 15, 2017 |title=Goldie Mabowehz (Golda Meir), from the Milwaukee Public Library to Prime Minister of Israel |url=https://mpl.org/blog/now/goldie-mabowehz-golda-meir-from-the-milwaukee-public-library-to-prime-minister-of-israel?fontsize=bigfont |access-date=November 27, 2017 |publisher=[[Milwaukee Public Library]] |archive-date=January 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126220801/https://mpl.org/blog/now/goldie-mabowehz-golda-meir-from-the-milwaukee-public-library-to-prime-minister-of-israel?fontsize=bigfont |url-status=live }}</ref> Her mother wanted Golda to leave school and marry, but she declined.{{Source?|date=April 2025}} On 17 February 1913, Meir took a train to live with her married sister, Sheyna Korngold, in [[Denver]], Colorado.<ref>{{Cite web |title=North Denver's Most Famous Former Resident? – The Denver North Star |date=April 25, 2022 |url=https://www.denvernorthstar.com/north-denvers-most-famous-former-resident/ |access-date=2023-02-17 |language=en-US |archive-date=February 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230217230440/https://www.denvernorthstar.com/north-denvers-most-famous-former-resident/ |url-status=live }}</ref> There, Meir attended [[North High School (Denver, Colorado)|North High School]].<ref name="chronology" /> The Korngolds held intellectual evenings at their home, where Meir was exposed to debates on [[Zionism]], literature, [[women's suffrage]], trade unionism, and more. In her autobiography, she wrote: "To the extent that my own future convictions were shaped and given form ... those talk-filled nights in Denver played a considerable role."{{Source?|date=April 2025}} Around 1913, she began dating her future husband Morris Meyerson, a sign painter and socialist.<ref name="MSCD">[https://www.msudenver.edu/golda/goldameir/chronologyofgoldameir/ Golda Meir: An Outline Of A Life] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018081446/https://www.msudenver.edu/golda/goldameir/chronologyofgoldameir/ |date=October 18, 2012 }} Metropolitan State College of Denver, mscd.edu; accessed November 22, 2015.</ref><ref name="UWM">{{Cite web |title=Golda Meir (1898–1978) |url=http://uwm.edu/libraries/about/golda/ |access-date=December 8, 2017 |publisher=University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee |language=en-US |archive-date=October 15, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015111002/http://uwm.edu/libraries/about/golda/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to Niidae Wiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see
Encyclopedia:Copyrights
for details).
Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Search
Search
Editing
Golda Meir
(section)
Add topic