BOEHM, ADOLF

BOEHM, ADOLF (1873–1941), Zionist and historian of the Zionist movement. When he was still a child Boehm's family moved from his birthplace in Teplitz-Schonau (Teplice), Bohemia, to Vienna where he received his early education. Boehm entered his father's textile factory, which he directed until 1938. His association with the Zionist movement began only after Herzl's death in 1904. Following his visit to Ereẓ Israel in 1907, he became a leader of the "practical" Zionists, whose interest lay primarily in the economic problems connected with Jewish settlement in Palestine. As a result he was particularly active on behalf of the Jewish National Fund. He served for ten years on its board of directors and wrote a book on its activities. During 1910–12, and again during 1927–38 Boehm edited the monthly Palaestina. His major effort, however, was Die Zionistische Bewegung (1922, enlarged two-volume edition 1935–37) which remains the most exhaustive history of the Zionist movement. In the second edition he brought the history up to 1925. Boehm collected extensive material for a third volume which, however, was never published. Boehm strongly objected to the excessive factionalism within the Zionist movement. At the same time he stressed the importance of the connection between Jewish national and universal human values in a series of articles in Juedische Rundschau (1934, nos. 43, 65, 67). Shortly after Hitler's occupation of Austria Boehm fell victim to a mental disorder. He is believed to have died in a Nazi extermination center in Poland.

bibliography:

Be'anakh ha-Binyan le-Zekher A. Boehm (1952).