About Tom Segev
Tom Segev (Hebrew: תום שגב; born March 1, 1945) is an Israeli historian, author and journalist. He is associated with Israel's New Historians, a group critical of many of the country's traditional narratives. == Early life and education == Segev was born on March 1, 1945 in Jerusalem. His parents, Ricarda (née Meltzer) and Heinz Schwerin, both Jewish, were artists who had met at the Bauhaus art school in Berlin, and had fled Nazi Germany in 1935 due to their Communist affiliation. His mother was a photographer; his father, an architect and toy manufacturer, died on February 3, 1948, after falling from a building during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. His mother never learned Hebrew beyond a basic level, thus his first language was German. Segev earned a BA in history and political science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, followed by a PhD in history from Boston University in Massachusetts in the 1970s. Segev did his mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces as a librarian at the National Security College in Jerusalem. Around that time, he hebraized his name from Thomas Schwerin to Tom Segev. According to Segev, a representative for the Mossad offered him the opportunity to study Chinese at Harvard University and join the intelligence agency.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.