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WEIZMANN, CHAIM. (1874-1952). Russian-born chemist, Zionist leader and first President of Israel. TLS. (“Ch. Weizmann”). 1p. 8vo. London, August 29, 1941. On Jewish Agency for Palestine letterhead. To German-born philanthropist and financier P[AUL] BAERWALD (1871-1961) who led the American Jewish Distribution Committee. “May I invoke your good offices on behalf of some friends of mine? I attach details about Mrs. Matylda Jackerova, and her grand-daughters, Miss Katherina and Miss Marie Kindova, all Czech citizens at present living at Barbezieux, Charente, France. They are close relatives of an old friend of mine, Dr. Franz Kind, who has been engaged with me on Government research work here, and another relative, Dr. Katona, of New-York, has applied for their admission to the United States. The family is an excellent one, and the three ladies deserve every possible assistance. I wonder whether there is anything you can do to help? I shall be very grateful if there is. I have also written to Mr. Troper. With kind regards, and many thanks in advance, I am Very sincerely yours…” After teaching chemistry at the University of Geneva, Weizmann immigrated to England where he accepted a position at Manchester University. While there, he gathered a group of Zionists that came to be known as the Manchester School, and whose primary purpose was to disseminate information about Zionism through the publication of pamphlets, books and newspaper articles. As president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine and the World Zionist Organization, Weizmann was instrumental in convincing the British cabinet to support a Jewish settlement in Palestine and devoted much of his energy during the 1930s to settling Jewish refugees there. Our letter is an appeal to the American Jewish Distribution Committee for help settling in New York Czech refugees currently in Charent, a department in the southwestern area of then-Nazi occupied France which had become a haven for displaced persons after Germany’s May 1940 invasion of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Baerwald began his banking career in Frankfurt but eventually relocated to the United States. In 1917, he became treasurer of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee at the behest of his friend Felix M. Warburg. He eventually became its chairman and also served as a member of President Franklin Roosevelt’s Advisory Committee on Political Refugees while administering the disbursement of War Refugee Board funds to refugees. From 1938-1942, American attorney Morris Troper (1892-1962) headed the American Jewish Distribution Committee’s European headquarters in Lisbon. After the United States entered the war, Troper enlisted and headed the U.S. Army’s Office of Fiscal Direction, eventually earning the rank of brigadier general. At the war’s end, he resumed helping refugees resettle in Israel. In the upper right corner is an ink stamp reading “Gen. & Emerg” and several of the names mentioned in the letter written in an unknown hand. Light folding and creasing with a faint paperclip mark in the upper left corner; in very fine condition.