David Ben-Gurion is born in 1886 in the Russian-Polish shtetl of Plonsk.
He becomes active in a Zionist-socialist party in his teens and leaves for the Land of Israel on September 7, 1906, not yet 20.
His political activities bring him to the attention of the Ottoman authorities who exile him from the Holy Land with the outbreak of World War I despite his offer to help their war efforts.
Ben-Gurion returns with the Jewish Legion and takes as his mission the unification of all Zionist labor parties.
Photo credit: Central Zionist Archives
