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Herbert Pundik (1927-2019)

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Herbert Pundik or Nahum Pundak (Hebrew: נחום פונדק) was a Danish Jewish journalist and author. He worked for the newspaper Information and as a correspondent for Danmarks Radio. From 1965-2019, he worked for the newspaper Politiken, from 1970 to 1993 as its executive editor. Under his leadership, Politiken went from sloping sales figures to becoming the largest daily newspaper in Denmark. Herbert was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1927. He escaped the German occupation of Denmark in World War II and in 1945 enlisted in the Danish Brigade in Sweden. From 1948–1949 he served in the Israeli Hagana. His son Ron Pundak was an Israeli historian, who played a vital role in establishing the diplomatic connections between the Israeli and the Palestinians which eventually led to the Oslo Accords. Ron died on 11 April 2014 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Herbert’s son Uri was killed during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. While executive editor, Herbert continued to live with his family in Tel Aviv, where they had lived since 1954. Until 2019 was still working for Politiken as senior foreign correspondent. In 2008, he was appointed as adjunct professor at Aalborg University. Together with Judith Goldstein, he co-founded Humanity in Action.

Herbert died on December 8, 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel at the age of 92.

Updated December 2019