Life and Career
Felicia Langer was born in Poland of Jewish parents. Her family emigrated 1939 to Russia, where her father died in one of Stalin's prisons. In 1950 she emigrated to Israel with her husband, Mieciu Langer, a survivor of Nazi concentration camps. In 1965 she obtained a law degree from Hebrew University. She briefly worked for a Tel Aviv law firm, until after the Six-Day War in 1967. She was opposed to the conduct of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and so established a private practice in Jerusalem defending Palestinian political detainees. Langer assisted Palestinians in cases involving land confiscation, house demolition, deportation, and torture.
While she only infrequently won cases in her 23-year career, she counts her successful defense in 1979 of Nablus mayor Bassam Shaka as the high point. Shaka had been a PLO supporter and outspoken critic of the Camp David accords, and was subsequently accused of inciting terrorism by his public statements and issued an expulsion order. Langer defended him successfully, having the expulsion order overturned. For many years Langer was vice president of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights. She was also a member of a communist party Rakah.
In 1990, Langer ended her law practice and left Israel to live in Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, accepting a teaching position at university. In an interview with the Washington Post, Langer said she is quitting because Palestinians no longer can expect justice in Israel. In Germany she continues to author books and be an outspoken advocate of the Palestinian cause.
In 1990, Langer received the Right Livelihood Award "for the exemplary courage of her struggle for the basic rights of the Palestinian people." In 1991, she was awarded the Bruno Kreisky Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Area of Human Rights. In 2005, Langer was awarded the "Erich Mühsam Prize" for her continuing struggle for the human rights of Palestinian people.
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