Felicia Langer

Early life and legal career in Israel

Felicia Langer arrived in Israel from Poland in 1950 with her husband, who was a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps. After studying law she had her own legal practice in Tel Aviv from the mid-1960s.

Whereas Jewish settlers obtained grants of land at the expense of Arabs, Palestinian families were denied reunification and sometimes even any sort of nationality. As the only solution to this situation, Langer called for an end to the occupation and an independent Palestinian state on the West Bank.

Her secretary said that Langer could seldom walk down the street without suffering some form of verbal or physical abuse. A fellow lawyer has said that it is rare for an advocate to endure the harsh conditions of the military courts for more than three years: Langer’s more than two decades was unique.

Writing, activism, and relocation to Germany

In addition to her legal work, Langer wrote three books during her time in Israel: With My Own Eyes(1975), These Are My Brothers (1979) and An Age of Stone (1987). Since then, she has published several more books. She also undertook numerous speaking tours in Europe and the USA, exposing human rights violations in her country and mobilising support for the Palestinians and the Israeli peace movement.

In 1990, Langer moved to Tübingen in Germany to take up a university post. On leaving Israel she told the Washington Post in an interview: “I decided I could not be a fig-leaf for this system anymore. I want my quitting to be a sort of demonstration and expression of my despair and disgust with the system…because, for the Palestinians, unfortunately, we cannot obtain justice.”

After moving to Tübingen, Felicia Langer spoke at public meetings, all over Germany, Switzerland and Austria, trying to mobilize solidarity with the Palestinian people and the Israeli peace movement. In 2009, she received Germany’s Federal Cross of Merit, 1st Class.

Motivation and continued advocacy

Asked in an interview with Right Livelihood in 2005 about what motivated her, Langer said:
“Love, devotion, impossibility to live with injustice, compassion and the will to help those oppressed and dispossessed, the will to support just solutions like peace with justice for the Palestinian and the Israelis,” and continued:
“I feel quite powerful during my public meetings and lectures, she also said in the interview. I did not feel powerful in front of the discriminating Israeli judges, while the judicial system towards the Palestinians turned to be a farce.”