Martin Buber (Hebrew: מרטין בובר; German: Martin Buber, pronounced [ˈmaʁtiːn̩ ˈbuːbɐ] ; Yiddish: מארטין בובער; February 8, 1878 – June 13, 1965) was an Austrian-Israeli philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism centered on the distinction between the I–Thou relationship and the I–It relationship. Born in Vienna, Buber came from a family of observant Jews, but broke with Jewish custom to pursue secular studies in philosophy. He produced writings about Zionism and worked with various bodies within the Zionist movement extensively over a nearly 50-year period spanning his time in Europe and the Near East. In 1923, Buber wrote his famous essay on existence, Ich und Du (later translated into English as I and Thou), and in 1925 he began translating the Hebrew Bible into the German language. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature ten times, and the Nobel Peace Prize seven times.