WOW: Hanna (Helena) Tahon

Today, March 31, we want to conclude March’s monthlong celebration of Women’s History with a blog post about a remarkable WIZO woman who paved the way for women in Israel in various fields. This month’s WOW, “woman of WIZO,” is Hanna (Helena) Tahon.

Hanna Tahon was born in Germany under the name Helena Cohen and became a well-known journalist in Germany as well as a social worker, educator and publicist. When WIZO was founded, she was 34 years old, and she became one of the founders of the organization. She was later chosen to be the first chairwoman of WIZO Germany.

After a year, she was sent to Palestine to build the foundations of WIZO Israel, and since then, for about three decades, she was active and dominant in the Hebrew settlements in the land, as a social worker, journalist, and researcher. She was, among other things, the editor of the first women’s newspaper in Israel – “Ha’Isha,” which means “The Woman.”

Exactly 70 years ago yesterday (March 30), Hanna passed away. Today is the last day of Women’s History Month, and we commemorate a woman who was a significant part of WIZO’s history as well as the history of Israel.