Nahum Goldmann

Zionist activist Nahum Goldmann was born in the Lithuanian shtetl of Visznevo (now Belarus). His family moved to Frankfurt when he was six years old, and he studied law and philosophy in Germany. Goldmann first visited Palestine in 1913 while working for the Jewish division of the German Foreign Ministry. He became a fervent Zionist and tried to enlist the Kaiser’s support for the movement. Goldmann was forced to flee Germany in 1934 and subsequently served as the liaison officer with the League of Nations for the Jewish Agency in Palestine. In 1940, he moved to the United States, where he directed the Jewish Agency in Washington, D.C. After the war, Goldmann returned to Europe and divided his time between Israel and Paris. He was involved in negotiating reparations with West Germany.