Comments on: Fashion and Politics – ATA Exhibition at the Eretz Israel Museum

By: Chaim Sokolowsky

Chaim Sokolowsky — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 01:27:36 +0000

My father worked for a division of Moller, called “Moller D”, a factory in Nahariya. (Does anyone remember it?) He had a small fleet of semi trucks transporting raw textile material from Tel Aviv to Nahariya. As a child I have fond memories of the trips in the truck (late 1950′s).

Chaim

By: Meirav Seifert

Meirav Seifert — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:28:54 +0000

Thanks Suzanne.

Mike- Erich Moller in his memoir tells the history of the company name. His Hebrew at the time that he registered the name was not very good. Erich didn’t have enough time to find out the correct spelling of ATA in Hebrew – עתה – and registered his company as אתא. Later on, he met the writer Shai Agnon who asked about the misspelled name. Erich disclosed his mistake, and Agnon came to the rescue and invented a meaning for the acronym.

By: Suzanne Selengut

Suzanne Selengut — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 12:10:09 +0000

Great article Meirav. Mike, for the answer to your question, check out my article on ATA in this coming issue of The Jerusalem Report (or on the J Post website).

By: mike livingston

mike livingston — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 11:51:41 +0000

A very good exhibit–a microcosm of Israeli culture in one company. Although the first comment is def. true, it is not entirely a sad story. One question–I overhead a guide saying ATA was an acronym for “ariga tozeret ha’aretz”–but if so why was it called Kfar Ata before the company started?

By: Rivka Hermelin

Rivka Hermelin — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 07:32:14 +0000

The factory went bankrupt and 2800 employees were left dry BUT someone made a fortune from the LAND. A Shopping Centre and Hundreds of flats were built on the the properties – it was very PROFITABLE to go bankrupt – property development makes much more money than TEXTILE