Gerhard Jacobsohn Collection

Collection

Identifier: LBIJER 735

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Folders I and II contain German poems and drafts of poems by Jacobsohn (hand-written, typescript, print outs, copies, 1925-1972). The poems are arranged thematically: friends' birthdays, dedications to friends, chansons, politics, poems that appeared in the newspaper Juedische Rundschau, autobiographical topics, voyages, illness, and medicine.

Folder III contains Jacobsohn's correspondence. Much of this involves Rabbi Joachim Prinz of New York: copies of poems dedicated to Prinz and to his son Michael (1934-1966); copies of three letters from Jacobsohn to Prinz (1962-1972); a photograph and a pamphlet sent from Prinz's address concerning the human rights march of 1963; and Zur Einführung, Prinz's eulogy to Jacobsohn. Other correspondents are Kurt Blumenfeld (1950-1961); Irgun Olei Merkaz Europa, KJV, Felix Rosen, and L. Pinner. Their correspondence includes several poems written for Jacobsohn's birthdays (1945-1972). The folder also contains clippings from German Jewish newspapers pertaining to Jacobsohn (1950-1970), and photographs of Jacobsohn(?).

Dates

Creation: 1925-1972

Creator

Jacobsohn, Gerhard, 1900-1973 (Person)

Language of Materials

The collection is in German.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open to researchers.

Conditions Governing Use

The collection has been digitized.

Biographical / Historical

Gerhard Jacobsohn (1900-1973) was active in the Blau-Weiß and Kartel jüdischer Verbindungen (KJV) Zionist movements since his youth and migrated to Palestine as a pioneer in 1923, but returned to Germany two years later. He graduated as an agronomist but after 1933 worked in the propaganda department of the Zionist office in Berlin. In 1934 Jacobsohn re-emigrated to Palestine, and established one of Palestine’s first advertisement agencies, "Pirsum Dr Jacobsohn" (which became Tamir Cohen Jacobsohn) in Hertzeliya.