29 Facts About Nahum Goldmann

Nahum Goldmann was a founder of the World Jewish Congress and its president from 1951 to 1978 and was president of the World Zionist Organization from 1956 to 1968.

Nahum Goldmann was born in Vishnevo, Russian Empire, a shtetl in the Pale of Settlement, the son of a teaching and writing Litvak family, whose father was an ardent Zionist.

Nahum Goldmann was falsely denounced by the Nazis as a secret communist agent shortly after the Beer Hall Putsch.

In November 1934, Nahum Goldmann petitioned Mussolini's support in relation to the Jews of the Saar, a region about to reunite with what was then Nazi Germany.

Nahum Goldmann is credited with early prediction of the threat posed by Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Nahum Goldmann was buried in Jerusalem's Mount Herzl National Cemetery in the section reserved for leaders of the World Zionist Organization.

Nahum Goldmann's funeral was not attended by then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and no official statement of grief was issued by the Israeli government.

Nahum Goldmann was a Jewish statesman of a unique personality.

Nahum Goldmann fought for justice and legitimate rights for all peoples.

Nahum Goldmann attended as an observer for the World Jewish Congress.

Nahum Goldmann called for an extraordinary Zionist conference in 1942 to form a cohesive strategy to attenuate the devastating effects of Nazi policies on European Jews, and the outcome was the Biltmore program, which called for, among other things, unrestricted Jewish immigration to Palestine.

At the May 1943 American Emergency Committee meeting Nahum Goldmann, along with Abba Hillel Silver, was an advocate of the rationale that the struggle against the MacDonald White Paper was a step in the establishment of the Jewish commonwealth.

In January 1945, Nahum Goldmann was instrumental in the creation of a committee combining the efforts of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency for the rescue and rehabilitation of the remnants of the Jewish people in Europe.

Nahum Goldmann had long supported the creation of two states in Palestine, one Arab and one Jewish; his view was that independence was more important than controlling specific territory, and his definition was that the aim should be to create 'a viable Jewish state in an adequate area of Palestine'.

Nahum Goldmann was concerned that an Arab-Israeli war would break out after the British left their Mandate and the State of Israel was proclaimed.

Nahum Goldmann served as president of the World Jewish Congress, the coordinating body for many Jewish organizations outside Israel.

Nahum Goldmann supported Israel in other countries, even though he was a profound critic of official Israeli policies.

From 1956 to 1968, Nahum Goldmann served as the President of the World Zionist Organization.

In that capacity Nahum Goldmann was openly critical of the Israeli Government's actions in the abduction of Adolf Eichmann, and urged referring the matter to an international court.

Nahum Goldmann became a citizen of Israel in 1962, and of Switzerland in 1969.

Nahum Goldmann never took up permanent residence in Israel, dividing his time between Israel and Switzerland.

The Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture was founded in 1964 by Nahum Goldmann who negotiated reparations with Federal Republic of Germany Chancellor Dr Konrad Adenauer.

In total, Nahum Goldmann received over 20 million dollars from the government of West Germany government to promote Jewish cultural life globally.

Nahum Goldmann was concerned about Jewish assimilation, and fought to strengthen Jewish education, culture and institutions outside of Israel.

Nahum Goldmann was critical of Israel for what he saw as its over-reliance on military might, and for not making more concessions after the 1967 Six-Day War, advocating a position that the only chance of long-term survival for Israel was to accept the rights of the Palestinians as a people.

In 1977, Nahum Goldmann expressed his frustration with Israel's approach to the peace process:.

Nahum Goldmann has rejected every settlement plan devised by her friends and by her enemies.

Nahum Goldmann has seemingly no other object than to preserve the status quo while adding territory piece by piece.

Nahum Goldmann's vision was to make Israel the spiritual and moral center for all Jews, a neutral state somewhat on the model of Switzerland, with international guarantees of its security, existence and borders, and perhaps even a permanent symbolic international presence.