David Wolffsohnby Wikipedia
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David WolffsohnDavid Wolffsohn (born October 9, 1855 in Dorbiany, Kowno Governorate, died September 15, 1914 in Homburg vd H.) was a leading figure in the early days of political Zionism and the successor to Theodor Herzl, president of the World Zionist Organization.Life David Wolffsohn was born in Dorbiany, Kowno Governorate, the son of a teacher and received religious education. As a thirteen-year-old he came across the Russian border to Memel, then border town of the German Reich, and entered, without previous education and with minimal knowledge of German, in a wood business. In Memel, Rabbi Isaac Rülf, a Zionist rabbi, took care of the bright boy and gained control over him.
Wolffsohn moved to Lyck in East Prussia in 1872 for a commercial apprenticeship and lived in the house of the writer David Gordon, the publisher of the Ha-Magid, who inspired Wolffsohn for national Jewish ideas. In 1873 he was sent to his brother to avoid being drafted into the Tsarist army. A
fter a few years of great material misery, he moved to Papenburg in Friesland, where he was for the first time successful in entrepreneurial activity and became co-owner of the flourishing timber trading company Bernstein (A. Bernstein, who then became the Bernstein & Wolffsohn firmierte); There he also donated a synagogue.
In 1888 Woffsohn relocated the company headquarters to Cologne, settled there himself and became very wealthy through his restless work. In Cologne he joined the Chowewe Zion movement and founded in 1893 together with Max I. Bodenheimer the "Cologne Association for the Promotion of Agriculture and Crafts in Palestine" and in 1894 the Jewish National Association. Wolffsohn's inclination to Zionism grew with the appearance of Theodor Herzl's book Der Judenstaat. In 1896 he met Herzl, immediately promised his support and became his companion and friend. Their relationship was so strong that he even became the guardian of Herzl's children.
Already at the organization of the first Zionist Congress in 1897, he took lively part and since then counted among the most active champions of the Zionist idea. He became particularly useful to Herzl with his commercial skills in setting up the Jewish Colonial Trust in London, and Wolffsohn's psychologically not always skilful heart helped to take the lead of his leadership and to act as a balancing act among the national and international Zionist leaders.
Wolffsohn then became chairman and supervisory board member of the bank during Herzl's lifetime.He accompanied Herzl on his travels to London, Constantinople and Palestine and also attended the reception by Wilhelm II in 1898 before Jerusalem. Wolffsohn Herzl's companion and advisor was also on further journeys. Herzl's early death plunged Wolffsohn into a deep depression, which he sought to balance by all the stronger, tireless activity for the Zionist cause. At the grave Herzls Wolffsohn spoke the words:
"You did not want to talk on your grave. Your will is sacred to us. We want to swear, however, that we will continue the work you have begun with all our powers, we swear that we will always keep your name holy and never forget you while a Jew lives on earth. "
- and then he swore with a raised hand:
"May my rights wither if I forget yours, Jerusalem."
David Wolffsohn (2nd from left). Pictured is the delegation of the Zionists, who had come to Palestine at the end of October 1898 to meet with Kaiser Wilhelm II. From left to right: Bodenheimer, Wolffsohn, Herzl, Moses Schnirer, Joseph SeidenerWolffsohn soon afterwards -- initiated and prepared by Herzl -- issued an appeal to the Jewish people, who appealed to all Jews, and especially to all Zionists, with the request "to give the children of Herzl what their fathers gave us to deprive of love and benefit". The result was pathetic, only after many admonitions came together smaller sums. Wolffsohn took over Herzl's legacy and arranged the estate with Leon Kellner and Johann Kremenezky, arranged the first edition of the Collected Writings of Herzl, became its executor, guardian of his children and provided for them.
After Herzl's death there was a vacuum in the leadership of the movement. Several candidates were in the discussion as Herzl's successor, and finally, at the seventh Zionist Congress in 1905, three agreed to be nominated as presidential candidates of the World Zionist Organization: Wolffsohn (who vehemently opposed it), Nordau and Otto Warburg.
At the eighth Congress in 1907 Wolffsohn was elected President of the Zionist Organization, and Wolffsohn tried from then on, a "position of the middle" between purely political Zionism (obtaining the "charter" according to Herzl specifications) and the camp of the "practical", led above all from Ussischkin, to protect. However, the opposition to this path became increasingly stronger, apart from Ussischkin, also by Weizmann, not to mention the "territorialistic" special path Zangwill and his followers were aiming for.Wolffsohn worked restlessly at home and abroad, several trips to Constantinople (where negotiations with the Sultan were promising, but the Young Turks revolution again thwarted all plans) were the propaganda and political mediation of the Zionist idea.
In 1907 he also traveled to Russia, where he was received among others by the Prime Minister Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin and the Foreign Minister Alexander Petrovich Isvolsky in longer audiences. Afterwards he visited Hungary and had an audience with the Minister of the Interior, Count Andrassy. Wolffsohn's efforts in Russia and Hungary helped secure the continuation of the movement in both countries.
In 1909 Wolffsohn traveled again to Constantinople, this time accompanied by Sokolov, contacted the new political leadership and promoted the Zionist public relations by succeeding in buying a newspaper (Curier d'Orient), which could be used for propaganda purposes.
Wolffsohn was confirmed as President at the Ninth Congress, December 1909, although he faced a strong opposition that accepted only a "provisional" (reelection of the old leadership), after which he lost many powerful supporters to the opposition and at the tenth Congress In 1911, physically broken and nervously torn, resigned. Although he was able to win the majority again and could have remained President, but waived his health condition, so that the leadership passed to Otto Warburg. Wolffsohn remained active on the financial and economic side of the movement.
At the eleventh congress in Vienna in September 1913,
Wolffsohn again presided and successfully fought over not delivering the Zionist financial organizations to the "non-commercial cultural Zionist direction".Wolffsohn then had the intention to emigrate to Eretz Israel, bought a few months after the congress, a large property near Jaffa, but could not fulfill this desire: On the return journey from a spa stay in Switzerland died of heart disease Wolffsohn on September 15, 1914 in Bad Homburg before the height and was buried on September 18, 1914 at the Jewish cemetery in Cologne-Deutz in addition to his deceased in 1912 wife Fanny. In 1952, his remains were transferred with those of his wife to Jerusalem and in addition to those Theodor Herzls, on the Herzlberg, buried.
Even during his lifetime Herzls made Wolffsohn's religious background the suggestion that the flag of the movement should be blue on white, like a tallit. It was first shown to the public on 21 July 1891 at the inauguration of the Zion Hall in Boston. On May 14, 1948, it was first hoisted in Palestine and officially confirmed on 12 September 1948 as the flag of the Jewish state. Von Wolffsohn also suggested that the members of the movement should undertake to pay the shekel.
At the seventh congress in 1905, the Ugandan Plan was rejected and the Basel program, which agreed to increase settlement activity, was taken over. At this point, Wolffsohn was already trying to bridge the gap between "political" and "practical" Zionists. After the seventh congress Wolffsohn transferred all Zionist offices to Cologne. This also encouraged the Jewish National Fund to relocate its headquarters to Cologne.
Wolffsohn asked Nachum Sokolov to become secretary-general of the organization. In 1907 Wolffsohn (with Sokolov) founded HaOlam, the official newspaper of the movement.Although the debate at the Eighth Zionist Congress was partly heated, Wolffsohn proved to be a perfect mediator and insisted that all practical programs of the organization (including the activities of the Jewish National Fund and the new settlements) should be carried out in the spirit of Herzl. Although his health had already been attacked in 1906, he traveled to South Africa. This trip was a milestone in the history of Zionism as it resulted in the founding of the South African Zionist Federation. After his return Wolffsohn was confronted with a serious opposition. He agreed to a JNF bond for the first settlers in Ahuzat Bayit, the later center of Tel Aviv.
Wolffsohn's personality and work were really appreciated posthumously. His opponents also later admitted that he had been "a man of the people who had risen socially through decades of hard work." He was "a symbol of the synthesis of Eastern and Western Europe and unite in themselves the best qualities of both communities". Through Wolffsohn's considerable legacy, which he had designated for Zionist purposes (Wolffsohn Foundation, Chairman JH Kann), the financial resources for the construction of the Jewish National Library on the Skopus could be raised (Bet David Wolffsohn, inaugurated in 1930).
Herzl's pet name for Wolffsohn was Daade; one of Wolffsohn's nephews was the musician Juliusz Wolfsohn.
Literature• Abraham Robinson: David Wolffsohn. Berlin 1921.
• EB Cohn: David Wolffsohn. 1989th
• Ursula Reuter: Mediator between East and West. David Wolfssohn 1856-1914 . In: Kalonymos , 17th Gen 2014, H. 3, pp. 1-3. Online (PFD) .
• Ivonne Meybohm: David Wolffsohn. Rising star, frontier worker, mediator. A Biographical Approach to the History of the Early Zionist Organization (1897-1914) . Göttingen 2013.
Individual Proofs1. Hochspringen Ursula Reuter: Mediator between East and West - David Wolffsohn (1856-1914) , Kalonymos 17 (2014), Issue 3, p. 1-3.
Web links • Literature by and about David Wolffsohn in the catalog of the German National Library
• Wolffsohn's biography in the jewish virtual library (partially incorrect information!)