Ezra Heymann


Ezra Heymann was a philosopher and university professor.
Born in the Austro-Hungarian empire to a German family of Jewish descent, during the 1940s his family avoided deportation to Transnistria while living in Czernowitz during his youth thanks to the protection of Traian Popovici. In 1946 Heymann began studies in Philosophy and Literature at the University of Bucharest, then to the University of Vienna and in 1947 to the University of Heidelberg where he completed his doctoral degree under Hans-Georg Gadamer. In 1953 he emigrated to Uruguay teaching at the "Instituto de Profesores Artigas" and at the University of the Republic until Juan María Bordaberry came into power. He was forced to leave the country after confronting local authorities regarding autonomy for the University. He then moved to Venezuela in 1974, teaching first at the Universidad Simon Bolivar and at the Central University of Venezuela until his retirement in 2006, although he kept his position as active professor for the rest of his life. His research focused on Kant and in classical German philosophy. His testimony as a Holocaust survivor was compiled in the book "Exilio a La Vida: Sobrevivientes Judíos De La Shoá".

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