Collection of Letters and Photographs Documenting the Activities of the Jewish Merchant and Philanthropist Yefim ...

Collection of Letters and Photographs Documenting the Activities of the Jewish Merchant and Philanthropist Yefim (Ephraim) Kirschner – Photographs of the Maritime School of Betar in Civitavecchia – Italy, 1930s / A Long, Interesting Letter by Ze'ev Jabotinsky – New-York, 1940
Collection of items documenting the philanthropic activity of the couple Yefim and Sarah Kirschner for various Jewish and Zionist organizations, and especially for the Maritime school of Betar in Italy and an aid organization for Jewish refugees in France. The collection contains letters sent to the couple, some thanking them for their activity and others requesting their financial aid, including an interesting letter handwritten by Ze'ev Jabotinsky (sent from the USA, several months prior to his death). Italy, France, USA, Palestine and elsewhere, the 1930s and 1940s (some of them from earlier or later years). Russian and French (several items in other languages).
Yefim (Ephraim) Kirschner, a fur trader, was born in Odessa in 1879. From Odessa he moved to Germany and from there, to Paris. Throughout his life, Kirschner was in contact with various Zionist leaders and Jewish organization, devoting his time and donating a considerable part of his fortune to support their activities. Several fundraisers were held in his house in Paris, organized by his wife Sarah, and many appealed to the couple with requests for donations and assistance.
Today, Kirschner is remembered mainly due to his contribution to the activity of the maritime school of Betar in Civitavecchia, Italy, during the 1930s. His contribution enabled, among others, the purchase of a training ship for the school (the ship was named "Sarah I" after Kirschner's wife). During this period of time, he was introduced to Ze'ev Jabotinsky and the two remained in touch during the following years. Kirschner's activity for the maritime school of Betar and for the Revisionist Movement were documented by Yirmiyahu Halpern in his book "The Revival of Hebrew Seamanship" (Hebrew) (Tel-Aviv, 1961). In the book, Halpern describes Kirschner as "One of the last of the Mohicans of his kind in our generation – a Jewish figure of Morozov [a Russian merchant who financially supported Russian literature and art], one of the characters commemorated by Jabotinsky, using his artistic imagination, in his book 'Piatero'".
The collection before us includes photographs of the school in Civitavecchia as well as letters, certificates and documents shedding light on the diverse philanthropic activity of Yefim and Sarah Kirschner, on their contacts with Jewish leaders around the world and their forgotten contribution to the Zionist enterprise.
The collection can be divided into several sections:
1. Items related to the maritime school of Betar in Civitavecchia
The maritime school for training Hebrew seamen and marine officers in Civitavecchia, Italy, operated during the years 1935-1938 and was the first institution in Modern History to train Hebrew marine officers. Yirmiyahu Halpern, a member of Betar and the Revisionist Movement, was the person to initiate the establishment of the school, which trained three years of students from Europe and Palestine. The school training ship, TS Sarah I, was purchased with Kirschner's money and served the school until its sinking in 1937 (the ship sank near the coast of Corsica after returning from a visit to Palestine).
Among the items:
• Photographs of the students and teachers of the school, including: group photographs taken on deck of the TS Sarah I (one of them depicting Kirschner); a photograph of a formation of the second-year students of the school; photograph taken during a student group visit to Palestine; and more. Some of the photographs are signed in the plate "Foto Fabiani Civitavecchia".
• A handwritten copy of a letter sent by Yirmiyahu Halpern to Ze'ev Jabotinsky, dealing with the TS Sarah I. October 1935. At the end of the letter it is noted that an additional copy was sent to Yefim Kirschner. The letter bears a Tel-Hai Fund stamp depicting the TS Sarah I.
• "Jewish Marine League" – a booklet issued by the Jewish Marine League established in order to support the maritime school in Civitavecchia and operating from New-York. The booklet contains photographs of the school and information about its activity and the league's activity.
2. Letters to Yefim and Sarah Kirschner dealing with their philanthropic activity
• Certificate of appreciation given to the Kirschners subsequent to a fundraiser that they held for an aid organization for Jewish refugees in France - Foyer des Israelites Refugies. The certificate is written on parchment, in neat script (in Russian) and signed by the members of the organization. November 1937.
• Two letters of appreciation to the Kirschners by the Union Pour la Protection des Israelites Emigres et de leurs enfants ("The Union for Protection of Jewish Refugees and Their Children"; presumably, the first name of the Foyer des Israelites Refugies).
• A letter to Yefim Kirschner, handwritten and signed by Ze'ev Jabotinsky (three and a half pages. Russian). In the letter, sent from New-York in May 1940, Jabotinsky asks Kirschner for a donation of $15,000 for funding his activity in the USA and achieving the goal of establishing a united Zionist front that will demand Jewish settlement in Palestine.
At the beginning of the letter, Jabotinsky writes about the situation in Europe and the apparent need for a new haven for Jewish refugees of war – Palestine: "I think that towards the end of the war there will be millions of homeless Jews, so homeless that we could only bring them back to a 'Jewish State'. The Great Powers will not find any other country for this purpose but Palestine (although it now seems that very soon they will be able to find)… England will not object, and no one will take the Arabs into consideration".
Later in the letter, Jabotinsky addresses the difficulties in recruiting the support of American Jews and establishing a united Zionist front, and the great importance of his mission: "This of course is the final great mission of my life. It is especially difficult since everyone here is in deep sleep, Zionist and those who have assimilated alike, and I am treated as people always and everywhere treat a person who is trying to awaken others… our people are dying in Eastern Europe, and now the last hour has come in which our generation will be able to fulfill its historical mission…".
At the end of the letter, Jabotinsky tells Kirschner about his son who is imprisoned in Palestine [in 1937, Eri Jabotinsky was imprisoned by the police of the British Mandate after being involved in a retaliation act against Arabs].
Jabotinsky came to the USA in 1940, as part of a delegation of the New Zionist Federation for establishing a Hebrew army. During his visit, he suffered a massive heart attack and passed away. In his final years, only he knew about his illness and he saw his mission in the USA as his final great enterprise, as is reflected in the letter before us.
• Additional letters sent to the Kirschners: requests for aid, invitations, letters of appreciation, and more. Among them, a French letter by the Tel Hai Fund, hand-signed by Johanna Jabotinsky; a letter hand-signed by Ezra Taubal, one of the leaders of the Jewish community of Argentine; baron Robert de-Rothschild's calling card, with several handwritten lines; and more.
3. Additional items from the estate of Yefim Kirschner
• Official documents of the Mandate Government – extract from the register of land indicating that land was purchased by Kirschner in the area of Tulkarm.
• Personal photographs; presumably from his wedding day.
• An identifying document, issued to Kirschner in France in 1939.
• And more.
A total of 55 items (35 letters and paper items and 20 photographs). Size and condition vary.