Commerorating Centennial of Birth of First President of Israel Chaim Weizmann: His Zionist Vision and Philosophy Chaim Azriel hen Ezer Weizmann was born, the third of 15 children, in the small hamlet of Motol, in the Grodno province of White Russia on 18 Kislev 5634, corresponding with 27 November 1874; Despite the humble cir- cumstances of their parents, all the Weizmann children received a university education and, with one exception, eventually'became scientists, physicians, dentists, engineers and educators. Upon matriculating in 1891, when almost 18, Chaim went to Germany and Switzerland to study chemistry, and obtained the Ph.D. magna cum laude at Fribourg University in 1900. In that same year he met his future wife Vera Chatzman, whom he married six years later. They had two sons. Weizmann taught chemistry in England un- til he settled in Manchester in 1904 on taking up a science appointment at Victoria University. In World War I he gave valuable assistance. to the British munitions industry (1916) which was in dire need of acetone, a vital ingredient of cordite. His attachthent to Jewish nationalist ideals began in his youth, and throughout his student and teaching years he came into increasing prominence in the Zionist movement. He was in the forefront of the opposition to Theodor Herzl and his supporters over the Uganda settle- ment plan in the early 1900s. Weizmann assumed a leading role in the CHAIM WEIZMANN negotiations with the British government in the First World War years that led up to the Balfour Declaration favoring the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine (November 1917). In his efforts to secure wide inter- national recognition for the plan, he met the Emir (later King) Faisal of Hedjaz in June 1918, and attended the San Remo Conference of Allied Powers (1920) which confirmed the intent of the Balfour Declaration. He was elected president of the World Zionist Organization in 1920. Over the next two decades, whether in or out of public office, Weiz- mann was the supreme leader of the world Zionist movement. During the Second World War it was his persistence that brought about the formation of the Jewish Brigade Group in the British Army. In this period the Daniel Sieff Research Institute at Rehovot, of which he was the head since its creation in April 1934, rendered valuable service to the Allied industrial war effort in the Middle East, especially in the production of pharmaceutical and other chemical requirements. His younger son Michael, a flight-lieuten- ant in the Royal Air - Force, was posted missing in action over the Bay of Biscay M 1942. The aftermath of the Second World War found Weiz'mann no less em- broiled in partisan politics within the Zionist movement and negotiations with the British and U.S. governments. It was early in 1948, while out of any official post that he secured important concessions from the U.S. govern- ment, and Harry Truman in particular, which accelerated the proclamation of the Jewish state. In September 1948 he was elected president of the Provisional State Council and in February 1949, the first president of the state of Israel. After a long illness he passed away at Rehovot on Nov. 9, 1952, and Was given a state burial on the grounds of his home, where the remains of his wife (1881-1966) are also interred. Extracts from the Writings and Speeches of Dr. Chaim Weizmann "LET MY PEOPLE GO" When I am asked these days to 'use my restraining influence' my mind goes back some 40 years or more to the day when a poor Jewish tailor shot the Governer-General of Vilna. We were called in by Plehwe, and com- manded to 'restrain' our young men. lest Worse things befall us. And we told Plehwe that, much as we deplored such acts of violence, they were the inevitable result of the impossible conditions which Russia had herself cre- ated for the Jewish population, and which deprived the leaders of the community of any influence they might otherwise have possessed. Looking back now, I see that that single shot fired by a little Jewish taller, was the first shot of the 'Great Revolution'. Nothing could be further from m; id than to suggest comparisons between the Czarist regime and the government of today — but one's memory - is sometimes irrational .. . I appeal to the British people, and its government: Stay your hand! There is still time to undo the wrong you have done us. You are keeping behind bars, in Latrun and Buchenwald, those who, in the hour of your greatest need, -when you stood alone, helped you in the great struggle for survival. Ours is no less a struggle. Let my people go! • (From a speech in the Zionist General Council, Jerusalem, July 1946) WHAT IS A JEW We ask today: 'What are Poles? What are Frenchmen? What are Swiss?' When that is asked everyone points to a country, to certain institutions, to parliamentary institutions, and the man in the street will know exactly what it is. If you ask what a Jew is, well, he is a man who has to offer a long explanation for his existence. And any person who has to offer an explana- tion as to what he is, is always suspect, and from- suspicion there is only one step to hatred or contempt. Palestine is in the process of upbuilding, with a thriving community here, yet even today there are Jews in the world, I do not know how many, but quite a few, who would deny (a) that there ARE Jews; - (b) that THEY are Jews; (c) that there is Palestine; (d) that it is necessary to have Palestine. All this confuses the Gentile mind, which does not understand. And, if you do not understand somebody, you begin to suspect him, and from that there is, as I have said, but one step to hatred. It was thought that this position must be remedied by normalizing the position of the Jews and by rendering them - as normal as anybody else, and giving them those props and those material attributes which they lack. Hence the attempt and ardent desire of a great part of Jewry to build up a normal life of their own. And where could we do it except in Palestine? (From the address before the UNSCOP- United Nations Special Committee on Palestine-Jerusalem, July, 1947) I. The historical meeting between mann and the Emir (later King)_ Of Iraq, at Aqaba in 1918. IL Dr. Weizmann taking the presidential oath administered by Joseph Sprintzak, Speak- er of the Knesset. The historic meeting took place in the Assembly Hall of the Jewish Agency, Jerusalem. 72 Friday, Dec. 6, 1974 — f/Tor THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS HI. Dr. and Mrs. Weizmann in the library at their home in Rehovot. To the extreme right is Meyer Weisgall, chairman of the board of the Weizmann National Memorial. IV. Dr. Weizmann addressing a meeting of the Jewish Agency Executive in Jerusalem in May 1945. Seated at the table to Dr. Weiz- mann's right is David Ben-Gurion, then chair- man of the Jewish Agency Executive. Moshe Sharrett (then Shertok), who headed the political department of the Jewish Agency in those days, can be seen at the extreme left of the picture. V. Dr. Weizmann interested in an experiment carried on in his laboratory at Rehovot.