Norman Bentwich

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
David Eldan : Norman Bentwich, 1950

Norman De Mattos Bentwich OBE MC (born February 28, 1883 in London ; died April 8, 1971 there ) was a British lawyer , legal scholar, Zionist and at times Attorney General in the British Mandate for Palestine .

Life

Norman Bentwich was a son of the British lawyer and leading Zionist Herbert Bentwich . After attending St. Paul's School in London, he studied at Trinity College (Cambridge) and was admitted to the Lincoln's Inn as a barrister in 1908 . Between 1907 and 1912 he was a delegate at the Zionist Congresses . From 1913 he worked as a lawyer in the British colonial administration in Cairo used and was in the First World War as a major part of the British army on the Palestinian front . Bentwich married Helen Franklin (1892–1972) in 1915 , a niece of the politician and first high commissioner in Palestine Herbert Samuel .

After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire , Great Britain received mandate rule over Palestine from the League of Nations . Bentwich had in the mandate administration from 1920 to 1931 the position of Attorney General and thus the leading lawyer. He ensured the codification of a British legal system in the mandate area. Although his policies were close to that of Brit Shalom , his actions led to resentment among the Palestinians, who saw his laws and administrative regulations as a preference for Zionist interests. In 1930 there was a terrorist attack on his life. The English government had already ousted him after the unrest of 1929 and in 1930 Bentley sought support in England for a new installation in Palestine, instead Mauritius or Cyprus were offered to him as locations. In 1931 he was dismissed from his position by the Colonial Ministry .

In 1932, Bentwich was Professor of International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem . After the handover of power to the National Socialists in Germany in 1933 he became director of the “Commission for Refugees from Germany” at the League of Nations , headed by James Grover McDonald . McDonald declared the failure of the commission in 1935. In 1938 he was honorary chairman of the Central British Fund for German Jewry (CBF) and his wife was involved in the organization of the Kindertransporte and, with David Cohen, ensured the children's transit through the Netherlands. During the Second World War, Bentwich worked in England for British government agencies. National Socialist Germany put him on the special wanted list GB

After the end of the Second World War he returned to Jerusalem University until 1951, he also taught in 1929, 1934 and 1955 at the Hague Academy for International Law . He became president of the United Restitution Organization , founded in 1948 , for which he made work easier through his ability to influence the British occupation administration in Germany .

Bentwich wrote a large number of books, including a biography of Judah Leon Magnes , and did various voluntary work, such as President of the Jewish Historical Society of England, co-editor of the Jewish Review and from 1944 to 1946 as head of the British National Peace Council . In 1958 he was still chairman of the Jewish community of the "North-Western Reform Synagogue" in London.

Fonts (selection)

  • Philo-Judaeus of Alexandria , Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1910.
  • The Declaration of London, with an introduction and notes and appendices , E. Wilson, London, 1911.
  • Students leading cases and statutes on international law , Sweet & Maxwell, London, 1913.
  • Josephus , Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1914.
  • Palestine of the Jews. Past, Present, and Future , Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd., London, 1919.
  • Hellenism , The Jewish publication society of America, Philadelphia, 1919.
  • The Mandates System , Longmans, London, 1930.
  • England in Palestine , Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd., London, 1932.
  • Palestine , Benn, London, 1934.
  • Fulfillment in the Promised land, 1917-1937 , Soncino Press, London, 1938.
  • "Perfidious Albion?" : England and the English . Tel-Aviv: Ed. By Hitachduth Olej Germania we Olej Austria , 1939
  • Judaea lives again , V. Gollancz, London, 1943.
  • The Rescue and Achievement of Refugee Scholars, the Story of Displaced Scholars and Scientists, 1933–1952 . The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1953.
  • For Zion's sake. A Biography of Judah L. Magnes. First Chancellor and First President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem , Jewish Publication Society, 1954.
  • The Jews in our Times , Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1960.
  • Israel Resurgent , Ernest Benn, London, 1960.
  • My 77 years: an account of my life and times, 1883–1960 , Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1961.
  • with with Helen Bentwich: Mandate Memories , The Hogarth Press, London, 1965.
  • Israel: two fateful years, 1967-69 , Elec, London, 1970.

literature

Web links

Commons : Norman Bentwich  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ High Commission for Refugees (Jewish and Other) Coming from Germany , at WorldCat
  2. ^ Rebekka Göpfert: The Jewish Kindertransport from Germany to England 1938/39. History and Memory Campus, Frankfurt 1999 ISBN 3-593-36201-5 , p. 66f
personal data
SURNAME Bentwich, Norman
ALTERNATIVE NAMES De Mattos Bentwich, Norman
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Zionist lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH February 28, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 1971
Place of death London