Weizmann, Chaim

(1874–1952)

   Weizmann was instrumental in procuring the Balfour Declaration in November 1917 from the British, which promised the support of Great Britain for a Jewish home in Palestine. The Russian-born Weizmann went on to become one of the most influential Zionist voices in international affairs. As president of the World Zionist Organization during the 1930s, Weizmann attempted to use his position to combat the racial persecution of Jews in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. On the eve of World War II, Weizmann pledged to British prime minister Neville Chamberlain his organization’s full support against Nazi Germany. Apologists for Nazi Germany have seized on Weizmann’s words to prove that the Jews had declared war on Germany once hostilities commenced in September 1939. The argument was made, therefore, that Germany’s treatment of the Jews was justified because they were part of the Allied coalition against the Third Reich.

   Despite his diplomatic skills and faith in the goodwill of Great Britain, Weizmann failed to gain support for the suspension of the British White Paper of 1939, the Brand mission, and the bombing of the death camps. After the war, he was removed from the presidency of the World Zionist Organization by his Zionist opponents, who included David Ben-Gurion and Abba Hillel Silver. Nevertheless, when the State of Israel was established in 1948, he became its first president.

   See also Jewish Agency; Yishuv.