Alex Hershaft facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alex Hershaft
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Hershaft's portrait
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| Born | 1 July 1934 Warsaw, Poland
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| Nationality | American |
| Education | Ph.D, Inorganic Chemistry |
| Alma mater | Iowa State University |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur, author, activist |
| Known for | Co-founding the U.S. animal rights movement Chair of Animal Rights National Conference author of theveganblog.org Holocaust survivor Founding President of Farm Animal Rights Movement |
| Children | Monica Larissa Hershaft |
Alex Hershaft was born on July 1, 1934. He is an American Holocaust survivor and a very important person in the animal rights movement. He helped start and leads the Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM). This is the oldest organization in the United States that works to protect animals, especially those raised for food. Before his work with animal rights, he had a long career in science and helped with environmental issues. He also supported movements for religious freedom and a cleaner environment.
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Alex's Early Life and Family
Alex Hershaft was born in Warsaw, Poland. His parents, Jozef and Sabina Herszaft, were Jewish. His mother, Sabina, was a mathematician, and his father, Jozef, was a chemist. Jozef worked on something called heavy water, which is used in nuclear reactors. He worked with another scientist, Jozef Rotblat.
Their research was very important, and both parents were offered visas to continue their work in other countries. Rotblat left for the U.K. just before World War II started in 1939. He later won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work against nuclear weapons. Alex's father wanted visas for his wife and young son, but they arrived too late.
During the war, Alex's family was forced to live in the Warsaw Ghetto. This was a small, crowded area where Jewish people were made to live by the Nazis. When the Nazis started sending people from the Ghetto to death camps, Alex, his mother, and his grandparents managed to escape. They hid on the Christian side of the city. Alex and his mother were freed by the Allies in the spring of 1945. After the war, they spent five years in a refugee camp in Italy. In January 1951, when Alex was 16, he came to the U.S. His mother, Sabina, moved to Israel.
Alex's Science and Consulting Work
Alex Hershaft went to the University of Connecticut and earned his first degree in 1955. He was very active there, working on the student newspaper and playing soccer. He then studied chemistry and earned his Ph.D. in 1961 from Iowa State University. He worked for the Atomic Energy Commission there.
After his studies, Alex taught science classes in Israel. He also managed a chemistry department. In 1963, he returned to the United States. He worked for the Center for Naval Analyses, studying naval operations.
In 1967, Alex joined Grumman Aerospace Corporation. He looked into new ways to help control air and water pollution and manage waste. In 1969, a year before the first Earth Day, he started a group to discuss environmental issues in the New York area.
In 1972, Alex moved to Washington, D.C. He joined a company called Booz Allen Hamilton. There, he studied how to manage water, the effects of power plants, and the costs of using data from Earth-observing satellites. He also directed environmental studies for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Later, from 1977 to 1981, Alex worked for the Mitre Corporation. He studied pollution from different heating fuels. He also helped create plans for cleaning up dangerous waste sites as part of the U.S. Superfund program.
Alex's Work for Social Justice
Alex Hershaft was always involved in student activities during his college years. He was on the Student Senate and the campus newspaper at the University of Connecticut.
In 1961, while in Israel, Alex led a big protest in Tel-Aviv. This led to the creation of a group that wanted to end religious control in Israel. He wanted more freedom for different types of Judaism and for people to marry freely. He passed on the leadership of this group in 1963 when he returned to the U.S.
Between 1965 and 1978, Alex was on the board of the American Humanist Association (AHA). This group believes that people can live good and ethical lives without needing to believe in a supernatural being.
Becoming a Vegetarian and Vegan
In 1961, soon after arriving in Israel, Alex stopped eating meat. In 1975, he became more involved in the vegetarian movement. He attended a big vegetarian meeting and met Jay Dinshah. In 1981, after being a vegetarian for 20 years, he decided to become a vegan. This means he stopped eating all animal products, including dairy and eggs.
In 1976, Alex started the Vegetarian Information Service (VIS). This group shared information about the benefits of a vegetarian diet. He also spoke to Congress about healthy eating and food safety laws.
Starting the Animal Rights Movement
Alex organized several meetings about promoting vegetarianism. Some people at these meetings were inspired by Peter Singer's 1975 book, Animal Liberation. They felt the meetings should also talk about animal rights.
So, in 1981, Alex organized a national meeting called "Action For Life." This event, held at Cedar Crest College, really kicked off the animal rights movement in the U.S. Many important animal rights leaders attended, like Peter Singer and Ingrid Newkirk. These meetings continued for several years in different cities.
Right after the 1981 conference, Alex founded the Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM). This organization works to promote a vegan lifestyle and protect animal rights.
As president of FARM, Alex started several important campaigns:
- World Farm Animals Day (1983)
- Great American Meatout (1985)
- Veal Ban Campaign (1986)
- Letters from FARM (1996)
- 10 Billion Lives (2011)
In 1997, Alex started a new series of Animal Rights National Conferences. These conferences brought together many people and inspired the animal rights movement in the U.S. every year.
In 2015, Alex began to think about how the Holocaust and the mass killing of animals for food were similar. He noticed things like the large scale of operations, how victims were transported, and the cruelty involved. He gave talks about this in Israel, Germany, Poland, England, and the U.S. He is also working on a book and a documentary about it.
In 2020, Alex handed over the daily operations of FARM to Eric Lindstrom. However, he remains an active president of the organization.
Alex has written many letters to newspaper editors about the benefits of a vegan diet. He has also been featured in news reports. At animal rights conferences, he has given talks on personal growth, leadership, and how to create social change.
Awards and Recognition
Alex Hershaft has been recognized in important books like Who’s Who in America. He was inducted into the U.S. Vegetarian Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2001, he was also inducted into the U.S. Animal Rights Hall of Fame.
He served on the governing council of the International Vegetarian Union from 1984 to 2000. From 2001 to 2009, he was on the board of In Defense of Animals, another animal rights organization.
Personal Life
Alex Hershaft married Eugenie (Genia) Krystal in Jerusalem in 1962. They later divorced in 1979. Their daughter, Monica Larissa Hershaft, was born in 1966. She now runs a health and nutrition center in Arizona.
Alex currently lives in Bethesda, MD. He became a vegetarian in 1961 and a vegan in 1981. He has always been active, playing soccer, running marathons, and more recently, enjoying folk dancing and swimming.
See also
In Spanish: Alex Hershaft para niños
- List of animal rights advocates
