Documents and Photographs – Declaration of Independence of Israel / Final Draft of the Scroll of Independence of ...

Documents and Photographs – Declaration of Independence of Israel / Final Draft of the Scroll of Independence of Israel / Invitation and Entrance Ticket to the Declaration of Independence Session – From the Estate of Shlomo Kaddar
Seventeen documents, tickets and photographs from the estate of Shlomo Kaddar, one of the organizers and photographers of the ceremony of the Independence Declaration of Israel. Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem, 1948-1953 (most of the items are from 1948).
Diplomat and public figure Shlomo Kaddar (1913-1987) was born in Münster, Germany, to a liberal Jewish family. In his youth, he was attracted to the Zionist movements that flourished in Germany at the time. In 1933, he immigrated to Palestine with "Aliyat HaNo'ar" and was accepted as a member of Kibbutz Na'an. In the early 1940s, he joined the Haganah underground movement where he was appointed a senior guide and served as a commander in the Jerusalem zone. In 1948, prior to the declaration of independence, Kaddar held a senior position in the government secretariat. As such, he was involved in planning and implementing some of the most important events in the early history of the State of Israel: flying the coffin of count Folke Bernadotte to Rhodes, organizing the first IDF military parade and more. The most significant event with which he was involved was the Declaration of Independence of Israel. Kaddar was responsible for preparing and designing the hall in which the ceremony took place, printing the Scroll of Independence for the ceremony participants, and organizing the ceremony itself. When the ceremony ended, Kaddar took the signed vellum Scroll of Independence and deposited it in the safe at the Anglo-Palestine Bank on Herzl Street.
After the establishment of the State of Israel Kaddar turned to a diplomatic career, serving as an Israeli representative in several foreign countries and cities (Paris, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Prague and more) and in senior positions in the Jerusalem Municipality. Kaddar died in 1987 at the age of 73.
The collection includes important documents from the Kaddar Archive, related both to the Declaration of Independence itself and to the period in which it took place:
Documents and photographs from the Declaration of Independence ceremony
1. Draft of the Scroll of Independence, typewritten and duplicated, with four corrections in handwriting (all of which appear in the final version of the scroll) and one interesting typewritten correction: in paragraph 13, concerning the provisional institutes, the text "the provisional state council, and the executive council" was revised and changed to emphasize the hierarchy among the institutes: "The Provisional State council will act as the state council and its executive institute." [3] pp (typewritten on three separate leaves).
2. "Declaration of the Provisional Council, Iyar 5, 5708, May 14, 1948." Brochure with the final version of the text of the Scroll of Independence. Apparently, this document was prepared only a few hours prior to the declaration ceremony by Dorit Rosen, secretary of Ze'ev Scharf, and distributed to participants in the ceremony. (See: Mordechai Naor, "Great Friday, 5 Iyar, 5708", published by "Mikve Israel", 2015, pg 83). 3 pp.
3. Entrance ticket to the ceremony hall, in the name of Shlomo Kaddar, dated May 13, 1948 (one day before the ceremony), with his photograph, ink stamp of the "Haganah" and signature of the authorizing officer.
4. Official invitation to the "Declaration of Independence Session" on behalf of "Minhelet Ha'am" (the Provisional Government), printed on May 13,1948: "[...] We are honored to send you an invitation […] Please keep the content of this invitation secret […]."
5. "Mo’etzet Ha'am, Declaration of Independence Session, Tel-Aviv, May 14, 1948." Entrance ticket to the ceremony, in the name of Shlomo Kaddar. A note is attached with the seat assigned to Kaddar (row 5, seat 3, in the middle).
6-13. Eight black and white photographs from the ceremony, taken, most probably, by Shlomo Kaddar. The photographs are slightly different from the ones taken by the professional photographers who were officially invited to the ceremony (Rudi Wiesenstein, Benno Rothenberg, Hans Pinn and others). They document the ceremony from a different, original and possibly unique perspective: two (different) photographs of David Ben Gurion reading the declaration; Moshe Sharet and David Ben Gurion shaking hands; Golda Meir signing the Scroll of Independence; David Remez signing the Scroll of Independence; Israel Galili and Moshe Sneh during the ceremony; a crowd gathering at the entrance to the Tel-Aviv Museum where the ceremony took place; photographers waiting in the street for the end of the ceremony. Pasted to thick leaves. Enclosed: original cardboard folder.
Items related to later public activities of Shlomo Kaddar:
1. First Knesset, entrance card to the Knesset offices, in the name of Shlomo Kaddar. Ink-stamped: "State of Israel, First Knesset, Secretariat." Handwritten inscription on the upper margins noting the seat assigned to Kaddar in the hall.
2. Membership card in the "Central Elections Committee of the Constituent Assembly" in the name of Shlomo Kaddar, dated January 23, 1949. With portrait photo of Kaddar, ink-stamp of the committee and the signature of the general secretary Moshe Brachmann.
3. Letter dated December 18, 1949, typewritten on official State of Israel letterhead, sent by Avraham Biran (Bergman), district of Jerusalem officer, to Shlomo Kaddar at the Israeli legation in Paris. Ink-stamped by the legation.
4. Letter of greeting from Moshe Sharet to Shlomo Kaddar; handwritten on official Foreign Ministry stationery, dated July 13, 1953.
Total of 17 items. Sizes and conditions vary. Good overall condition.
Provenance: Private collection, Israel; purchased at Ben-Ami Endres Auctions, Israel, April 1998.