David Wolfsohn
| David Wolffsohn | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
9 October 1856 Darbėnai, Russian Empire |
| Died | 15 September 1914 (aged 57) Homburg, German Empire |
| Cause of death | Heart disease |
| Home town | |
| Parent(s) | Isaac Wolffsohn Feiga Wolffsohn |
David Wolffsohn (Yiddish: דוד וואלפסאן; Hebrew: דוד וולפסון; 9 October 1856 in Darbėnai (Polish: Dorbiany), Kovno Governorate – 15 September 1914) was a Lithuanian-Jewish businessman, prominent early Zionist and second president of the Zionist Organization (ZO).
Wolffsohn was born in Darbėnai, Lithuania, to religious parents, Isaac and Feiga. He received an observant religious education from his parents and in 1872 was sent to Germany to avoid conscription into the Russian army. He settled in Memel, East Prussia where he met Rabbi Isaac Rülf, who accepted him as a student. Rülf taught Wolffsohn the German language and mathematics, and introduced him to the Hovevei Zion movement.
Wolffsohn became a merchant and toured eastern Germany. There he met A. D. Gordon, from whom he borrowed many of his ideas regarding Zionism.
At the start of the 20th century, Wolffsohn accompanied Theodor Herzl in his travels to the Palestine and Istanbul.
Wolffsohn was elected as the vice president of the World Zionist Organization in the World Zionist Congress of 1905, and in 1907 became its president.
Before he died, he provided a short synopsis of his life for Nahum Sokolow, another Zionist leader of the time. In it he notes the following:
...
Wikipedia