First Steps
ne month after the First Zionist Congress authorized the
establishment of JNF, Kremenezky was appointed to
head it and he set to work with a will.
Born in Odessa in 185% Kremenezky had left Russia
at an early age for Vienna, where he studied the then
new field of electrical engineering and started a factory
for electrical products that soon did very well, when
word of Hibat Zion reached Vienna, he was among the
earliest members of the local chapter. He was also one
of the first people before whom Herzl, also of Vienna,
propounded his idea for a world Zionist movement.
Indeed, an entry in Herzl's diary in 1896 notes three
of Kremenzky's proposals: that a chemical industry be
set up on the shores of the Dead Sea, that the country
be supplied with electricity from hydro-electric plants,
and that afforestation be undertaken as part of a broad
national endeavor.
Kremenezky embodied the fervor of East European Jewry
and the practicality of western Jews. He had been very
taken with Schapira's idea of a Jewish national fund and
his first act as chairman was to set up a head office in
Vienna and look for ways to publicize it among Zionists
and make it a popular mass institution to raise funds for
the implementation of its aims.
He initiated the Golden Book which records special
moments in the lives of inscribers, or those they wish
honored - paid inscriptions which to this day remain
a coveted badge throughout the Jewish world.
He also began publishing JNF stamps, the proceeds of
which went to the fund. These stamps were affixed to
official Zionist documents as well as personal letters,
to business letters and even love letters, and many
people collected them. The first stamp was issued in
1902 and showed the Star of David and the name "Zion."