Honored Mayor
Many Successes and a Few Memorial Pages
On one of the days in June 1974, two fire trucks sped through the streets of Tel Aviv.
Instead of wailing sirens, the sound of ringing bells announced the election of Amnon Basson, an 11th-grade high school student, to the position of "Head of Youth City." A few minutes earlier, Basson had been elected to his position at a short meeting of the elected "Youth City Council," under the watchful eye of officials from the Culture, Youth, and Sports Department of the Tel Aviv Municipality.
This ceremony had been a tradition since the first year of Youth City's existence:
the Youth City Council, composed of high school students, convenes and elects its Mayor from among them. After his election, he would present himself to the actual Mayor, who would offer blessings in a respectful ceremony, and symbolically hand him the "key to the City." From the office of the adult Mayor, the young Mayor and his friends would depart in a convoy of fire trucks to the Exhibition Grounds to open the City.
The Tel Aviv Municipality, as the producer, showed respect to the heads of Youth City, who were all high school students and well-known activists in youth organizations.
The young elected officials became media stars. They were interviewed in newspapers, received symbolic keys and scrolls, and led impressive ceremonies. They felt immense responsibility to manage a "Council" that operated the "City," with the help of the Council whose members held symbolic administrative roles as "officials" in charge of culture, sports, entertainment, and so forth. They also had many volunteers at their disposal, including a "youth police" that supervised order throughout the complex in the early years.
The Youth City Council 1967 elects Mayor Roni Milikovsky
The first Youth City Councils were elected from among high school students active in youth movements and/or those who were members of the Tel Aviv "Youth Parliament" – a parliament that convened every few weeks for discussions on current local issues.
The members of the first Council chose Oded Hermoni to serve as the head of the first Youth City. Oded, a resident of Azor and a 12th-grade student at "Hadash High School," served as "Head of the Council," active in the "Working Youth" movement, a lover of literature and poetry, and was a well-known figure in the "Youth Parliament."
His deputies chosen were: Yaakov Flint, Nava Perlmutter, a student at "Hadash High School" who participated in the Famous radio play "Mishpachat Shimchon" as Nava, Shmuel Rodensky's daughter, and Gideon Remez, son of Major General Aharon Remez – all high school students and active in various youth frameworks in the city.
For the second Youth City Mayor, Kami Yahalomi was chosen, a student at Herzliya Gymnasia and head of its student council. A lover of poetry and fishing, active in the youth movement.
For the third Head of Council, Rafi Unger was chosen, also a student at Herzliya Gymnasia and head of its student council, a trainee and instructor in the "Maccabi Hatzair" movement.
In a rare and tragic coincidence, the first three Mayors passed away at a very young age: Oded Hermoni was killed in the Yom Kippur War, serving as an education officer with the rank of Major. His life story is detailed on the Yizkor website - here. (In Hebrew)/
Kami Yahalomi passed away from cancer. His life story is detailed on the Paratroopers Heritage website - here. (In Hebrew).
Rafi Unger was also killed in the Yom Kippur War. While fulfilling his role as a journalist for the Israel Broadcasting Authority. His life story on the Yizkor website. (In Hebrew)/
From right to left: Kami Yahalomi, Oded Hermoni, Rafi Unger
The fourth Youth City Mayor (in 1966) was Roni Milo (Milikovsky), who pursued a political career as a Knesset member, a minister in the government, and at the peak of his career was elected to serve as the actual Mayor of the large city of Tel Aviv.
The tenth Youth City Mayor was David Feigenblatt, who pursued a business career and became one of Israel's biggest high-tech entrepreneurs, and is better known by his current name: Davidi Gila.
Other Mayors were absorbed into Israeli society and continued to careers in various and diverse fields - among them are an insurance agent, a businessman, a sought-after lecturer, legal professionals, an IDF Colonel, personal trainers, and even one magician. Here is a partial list of them:
Meir Woronczberg-Netzer (1967), Yoav Ben Dror (1969), Ofra Persil (1970), Ofer Ettinger (1971), Shimon Manjoch (1973), Amnon Basson (1974), Dov Schwartz (1975), Uri Iram (1976), Tamar Zucker (Tilman) (1977), Aryeh Kalmanzon (1979), Ronen Sagi (1980), Eyal Baier (1983), Yoni Gera (1995).
As the character of Youth City changed, its young heads and their council members were relegated to a more symbolic status. The producers from the Municipality and the production companies led the event and took care of every detail.
The City of Youth Council 1967 Fifth from the right: (future) actor Shlomo Bar-Aba
1966 - Mayor of Tel Aviv, Mordechai Namir, presents the key to the city to the Mayor of The City of Youth, Roni Milikovsky (Milo)
Ofra Persil - Mayor of The City of Youth 1970
Amnon Basson, Mayor of The City of Youth 1974, and his council members
The Next (and last chapter, click on the link:
Youth city - The story of era
Here, with a click, is the full story about the Tel Aviv Youth City (IrHanoar), which was an integral part of what happened in Israel between the sixties and the eighties.
For the full Story with all the chapters, click here: