Lost Birth Certificate Reveals David Ben-Gurion’s Twin

Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, had a twin brother who died soon after birth, according to a document recently found in Plonsk, Poland, his native town. The document — a birth certificate — was given last week to the head of Ramat Hanegev Regional Council, Shmuel Rifman.

Rifman was visiting Plonsk with a youth delegation from the Negev, the southern desert region where Ben-Gurion made his home after retiring from politics in the 1950s.

Neither Ben-Gurion nor his relatives ever mentioned a twin in the family. Nili Oren of Ben-Gurion University, who has been working on setting up a museum in Plonsk and was with the delegation, said:

This is a document that was requisitioned by Plonsk Municipality from the district archives. It is written in old Russian, but as far as we can understand, it says that on a certain day, a man by the name of Victor Green turned up and reported the birth of a son. As far as we understand, he was talking about one of the twins. In any event, it requires looking into. There is also a problem with the dates.

As far as is known, Ben-Gurion was born on October 16, 1886, but the document is dated February 1887. “Nevertheless, date discrepancies are common with such documents,” Oren said.

“The document is fascinating material from a research point of view,” said Rifman, the Negev official. “It raises the question — did Ben-Gurion know or not?”

A message from our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren

We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.

With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.

Become a member today and you'll directly support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

— Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief