Ben Zyskowicz

Ben Berl Zyskowicz (born 24 May 1954) is a Finnish politician and member of parliament. Zyskowicz was chairman of the Finnish National Coalition Party's (Finnish: Kansallinen Kokoomus) parliamentary group from 1993 to 2006 and has been a member of parliament for the National Coalition Party since 1979.[1] He was the first person of Jewish ancestry to be elected to the Finnish parliament.[2] Following the parliamentary elections in April 2011, Zyskowicz was elected as the speaker of the parliament, for the duration of negotiations over the governing coalition.[3]

Ben Zyskowicz
Ben Zyskowicz (2017)
Member of the Finnish Parliament
for Helsinki
Assumed office
24 March 1979 (1979-03-24)
Personal details
Born (1954-05-24) 24 May 1954
Helsinki
CitizenshipPolish (1954-1959)
Finnish (1959-)
Nationality Finnish
Political partyNational Coalition Party
Occupationpolitician

Early life

Zyskowicz was born in Helsinki to Jewish parents. His father, Abram, was a Polish Sephardi Jew who had been in the Sachsenhausen and Majdanek concentration camp and moved as a refugee to Sweden, where he met Ben's mother, Ester, a Finnish Jew.

Abram and Ester Zyskowicz's first child Carmela was born in 1952, and the family moved to Finland the following year. Ben Zyskowicz was born in the following year. Abram Zyskowicz drowned on a swimming trip when Ben was six years old.[4]

Carmela and Ben had Polish citizenship until 1959 when they were naturalized as Finnish citizens. The Zyskowicz family spoke Swedish at home, and Ben spoke Finnish at the Jewish school he attended.[5]

Personal life

Ben Zyskowicz has been married to Rahime Husnetdin-Zyskowicz, a member of the Finnish Tatar community, since 1982 and has two daughters, Daniela (1983) and Dinah (1985). He also abstains from alcohol and is known to be a regular at Café Strindberg – a popular celebrity-spotting location on Pohjoisesplanadi in the Helsinki city centre.

Career

Zyskowicz is renowned for being the Finnish politician with the most difficult name to spell. In 2002, Ilta-Sanomat reported that only 16.6% of Finns knew how to correctly spell his name.[6] In 2011 he was elected as the acting speaker of the Finnish parliament. Despite spelling instructions for his name being sent by text message to elected members of parliament, two voting ballots were disqualified for misspelling his name.[7]

References
  1. "Ben Zyskowicz / National Coalition Party". Parliament of Finland. Archived from the original on 2010-03-06. Retrieved 2010-01-24.
  2. "The Virtual Jewish History Tour: Finland". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 2010-01-24.
  3. "Zyskowicz named interim speaker of Finnish Parliament". Helsinki Times. 27 April 2011. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012.
  4. Arvonen, Margit: Olimme hyvin köyhiä, Iltalehti 18 December 2006. Accessed on 18 August 2010.
  5. Ben Zyskowiczin lapsuuden muistoksi Iltalehti Perhe. Accessed on 19 April 2017.
  6. "Ben Tsyskovits, Zyztgovist, Zzyzkovizzits vai Chyskowitch?" (in Finnish). Ilta-Sanomat. 25 February 2002.
  7. "Eduskunta läpäisi kirjoitustestin" (in Finnish). Helsingin Uutiset. 1 May 2011.
Political offices
Preceded by
Sauli Niinistö		 Speaker of the Parliament of Finland
2011		 Succeeded by
Eero Heinäluoma
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