Avram Hershko

Avram Hershko (Hebrew: אברהם הרשקו, Avraham Hershko; born 31 December 1937) is a Hungarian-born Israeli biochemist renowned for his discovery of the ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation system, a fundamental cellular process that regulates protein turnover and has profound implications for understanding diseases such as cancer.

Born in the small Hungarian town of Karcag to a Jewish family, Hershko survived the Holocaust with his parents, having been confined to ghettos in Karcag and Szolnok before being transported to a labor camp in Austria, from which they were liberated by Soviet forces in 1945 (his maternal grandparents perished during the war). In 1950, at age 12, his family emigrated to Israel, settling in Jerusalem, where he adapted to a new language and culture while excelling in school. He began studying medicine at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem in 1956, but his passion shifted toward biochemistry during his studies, leading him to pursue research rather than clinical practice.

Avram Hershko was born on December 31, 1937, in Karcag, a small town of approximately 25,000 inhabitants located 150 kilometers east of Budapest, Hungary, into a Jewish family. His birth name was Ferenc Herskó, later changed to Avram Hershko upon emigration. His father, Moshe Hershko, worked as a schoolteacher, while his mother, Shoshana (also known as Margit or "Manci"), was educated and musically talented, offering lessons in English and piano. He had an older brother, Chaim, born in 1936, and the family enjoyed a happy early childhood in a home with a garden, marked by parental affection and stability within Karcag's modest Jewish community.

World War II profoundly disrupted this life, beginning with the conscription of Hershko's father in 1942 for forced labor on the Russian front, where he was captured by Soviet forces and held until his release in 1946. In spring 1944, amid the Nazi occupation of Hungary, the family—along with other local Jews—was confined to the Karcag ghetto and soon transferred to the larger ghetto in Szolnok. From there, they were deported to labor camps in Austria, narrowly escaping transport to Auschwitz, and endured harsh conditions until liberation by Soviet troops in spring 1945. Hershko survived alongside his mother, brother, paternal grandparents, and aunts, but his maternal grandparents were among the victims of the Holocaust, which claimed approximately 360,000 Hungarian Jewish lives, including nearly two-thirds of Karcag's Jewish population of about 1,000.

As new immigrants, the family encountered significant challenges, including economic difficulties and cultural adjustment in the young state of Israel. Hershko, then a teenager, had to learn Hebrew, a process that proved less arduous for him—being under 13 years old—compared to his parents, though it still marked a profound shift from his Hungarian upbringing. Despite these obstacles, he excelled academically, attending a private school in Jerusalem and demonstrating strong performance across subjects.