Leo Motzkin (1867 - 1933)
Leo Motzkin was born at Brovari, near Kiev, and received a traditional
education. In 1881, he witnessed the pogrom in Kiev. In 1880,
Motzkin moved to Berlin, where he attended high school and was
accepted into University at the age of 16, studying Sociology
and Mathematics. He continued into doctoral studies, but then
devoted himself to the Zionist movement.
In 1887, he was among the founders of the Russian-Jewish Academic
Association, whose members were students from Russia and Galicia
and were close to the Hibbat Zion movement. He participated in
the first Zionist Congress (1897), became a member of the Zionist
Organization and advocated a clear and resolute wording of the
Basle Program. Before the Second Congress, Herzl sent him to Palestine.
In his report to the Congress, Motzkin criticized Baron Rothschild's
and Hovevei Zion's methods of settlement. He also called for a
political agreement with the Ottoman government.
Despite his political closeness to Theodore Herzl, Motzkin represented
the "Democratic Fraction" at the Fifth Congress, in
1901. He avoided the issues of the Uganda debate, because he was
close to Eretz Yisrael, but realized the need for a solution for
the suppressed Jewish people.
In 1905, Motzkin published "The Russian Correspondence"
anonymously . Most of his attention was devoted to the Jewish
problem and Antisemitism. In 1909/10, the Zionist Organization
commissioned Motzkin to write a book about the pogroms in Russia,
where he described the history of anti-Jewish violence and emphasized
the importance of Jewish self-defense. He also organized an information
service and demanded that public figures speak out against blood
libels.
In the pre-war period, Motzkin was also active in the German Zionist
Organization; the headquarters of the World Zionist Organization
were in Germany http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/100/concepts/cong10.html
During World War I, Motzkin presided over the Copenhagen office
of the Zionist Organization and worked as liaison between the
Zionist Organizations in the countries at war.
In 1915, Leo Motzkin went to the United States to collect funds
for Jewish refugees and to campaign for equal rights for Russian
Jews. After the end of the war, he demanded that the World Zionist
Organization address issues relating to the Jews in the Diaspora.
He also played a key role at the establishment of the Jewish delegation
at the peace conference in Paris, where he settled: he believed
that a World Jewish Congresss was needed to represent the Jewish
national minorities and their rights worldwide. This committee
became a permanent institution under the League of Nations and
represented Jewish communities on issues unconnected with Eretz
Yisrael. Motzkin presided over the committee, fought Antisemitism
and defended Jewish rights, but did not neglect his Zionist activities:
he became Chairman of the Central Zionist Council and of many
Zionist congresses.
Leo Motzkin was also active in the International Congress of National
Minorities, as an outcome of the First World War. When the National
Socialists were en route to power in Germany, Motzkin led the
anti-Nazi battle and brought the suppression of the German Jewry
to the League of Nations. However, the Congress of National Minorities
subsequently came under the pressure of Germans, who formed a
minority in various countries, and it refused to address the situation
of the German Jews. Motzkin then retired from the Congress.
Motzkin died in 1933, amidst his feverish activities to secure
political and financial aid for German Jews. He was reinterred
in the Mount of Olives Cemetery in Jerusalem, in 1934.
In 1939, the "Motzkin Book", a selection of his writings
and speeches, was published posthumously.
Online references:
Biography: http://wwww.wzo./org.il/home/portrait/motzkin.htm
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