Kurt Blumenfeld (; May 29, 1884 – May 21, 1963) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

-born

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

from Marggrabowa,

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

. He was the secretary general of the

World Zionist Organization The World Zionist Organization (; ''HaHistadrut HaTzionit Ha'Olamit''), or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the Zionist Organization (ZO; 1897–1960) at the initiative of Theodor Herzl at the F ...

from 1911 to 1914. He had served as secretary of the Zionist Federation of Germany from 1909 to 1911 and later served as president of that organization from 1924 to 1933, when he fled the rising tide of antisemitism in Nazi Germany for Palestine, after they had searched his Berlin home. He was a good friend of

Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (born Johanna Arendt; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a German and American historian and philosopher. She was one of the most influential political theory, political theorists of the twentieth century. Her work ...

. Blumenfeld opposed the Anti-Nazi boycott saying “The boycott harms German Jews first and foremost. The boycott has no favorable results for us.” He died in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, Israel, in 1963 at the age of 79.

Works

* Kurt Blumenfeld und Hans Tramer: ''Erlebte Judenfrage. Ein Viertel-Jahrhundert deutscher Zionismus''. Stuttgart 1962 * ''Im Kampf um den Zionismus. Briefe aus fünf Jahrzehnten''. Stuttgart 1976 * Hannah Arendt und Kurt Blumenfeld: ''... in keinem Besitz verwurzelt.'' Die Korrespondenz, hrsg. von Ingeborg Nordmann und Iris Pilling, Hamburg 1995,

References

Sources

* * * Laqueur. ''History of Zionism''. p. 156. 1884 births 1963 deaths People from Olecko Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine German Zionists People from East Prussia {{Judaism-bio-stub