Alex Aronson

Not to be confused with Alex Aronson (author).

Alexander Leendert Aronson (20 December 1934 – 15 December 1975) was a Dutch aid worker who was executed in Iraq.

Alex Aronson
Born	Alexander Leendert Aronson (1934-12-20)20 December 1934 Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Died	15 December 1975(1975-12-15) (aged 40) Baghdad, Iraq
Cause of death	Execution
Nationality	Dutch
Occupation	Aid worker
Criminal status	Deceased
Spouse	a wife
Children	a son
Criminal charge	Espionage, criminal possession of a weapon, possession of classified documents
Penalty	Death

Aronson, who was of Jewish descent, was imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during World War II. After the war, he studied in London to become a nurse. He migrated to Israel in 1955 and traveled the world for six years as an aid worker, before returning to Amsterdam in 1962. He married in 1964 and fathered a son the same year. In the late 1960s, he worked in service of the Red Cross in several countries in Africa and later in India.

From August 1974 onward, he organized aid for the Kurds in northern Iraq. On 25 March 1974, he was arrested by the regime of Saddam Hussein and charged with espionage on behalf of Israel, criminal possession of a weapon and possession of classified documents. The Revolutionary Court found him guilty of these accusations. On 3 November, news broke that Aronson had been hanged, but this proved false. In March 1976, it was announced that he had been executed on 15 December. He was buried on the Jewish cemetery of Muiderberg on 21 May 1976.

References

• Aronson, Alexander Leendert (1934 - 1975), VPRO.nl (in Dutch)
• , McMaster
• From Bergen-Belsen to Baghdad - The letters of Alex Aronson, read online or download for e-reader
• (in Dutch and English)
• Mulder, Robert; Siepe, Lejo De dood in Bagdad: het leven van de Nederlander Lex Aronson, Amsterdam: Arena, 1993. ISBN 9069741040