Edward Atler, the automotive columnist for Israeli newspaper Makor Rishon, died Friday in Tel Aviv at the age of 94.
Born Edward Grossbaum in Warsaw in 1931 to a Jewish family, Atler's early life was marked by the horrors of the Holocaust. Following Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland, he and his family were imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto.
In an interview with Makor Rishon, Atler recounted being separated from his father during the Holocaust. He managed to escape the ghetto and hide on the Aryan side of Warsaw, eventually reuniting with his mother and sister. His mother died near the war's end. As an orphaned youth, he was briefly attached to a Soviet military unit advancing westward after the Red Army entered the area.
For nearly two decades, Atler penned the automotive column "The Keys Inside" for Makor Rishon, a right-leaning Israeli newspaper. The column became one of the publication's most beloved and recognizable features, attracting a devoted readership over the years. In late 2017, he concluded his print column but continued writing on his blog, "The Car of the Soul."
Baruch Dayan HaEmet.
