Brandeis Louis

Louis Brandeis ALS to American Zionist David Freiberger; fifteen days later Adolf Hitler was named Chancellor of Germany

1pp bifold ALS on “Supreme Court of the United States, Justice’s Chambers” letterhead inscribed overall and signed by Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) as “Louis D. Brandeis” in lower right corner of first page. The remaining pages are blank. In very good condition, with minor soiling on the first page and more weathering on the last page. Expected paper folds, each page measures 4.875” x 7.875”.

On January 15, 1933, Louis Brandeis penned this note to fellow American Zionist David Freiberger (1876-1947). “Dear Mr. Freiberger”, Brandeis wrote. “I have seen Cornfeld’s letter of 16th including carbon … of 8th to the Governors of Z.O.A. You, Mr. Cornfeld and Mr.  Germain (?) are to be congratulated on the progress reported – and after the speech here on Palestine land values. These should enable the collection of necessary (?) from them and on formerly alienated (?) especially from George Rosenblatt. I hope you are (?) the health of this attached”.

Louis Brandeis was the son of Jewish Czech immigrants. He grew up secular, but became increasingly involved in supporting Jewish repatriation through Zionist organizations after 1912. The American Zionist movement gained momentum during the 1920s, but was split over the issue of internal reforms in 1930. Brandeis resigned from the Zionist Organization of America over the question of leadership. The so-called “Brandeis Group” thought that sitting Z.O.A. president Louis Lipsky (1876-1963) did not belong in the newly configured organization; Brandeis’s correspondent David Freiberger disagreed. Brandeis’s resignation was devastating to the movement, as he was easily the most high-profile Zionist in America.

28th U.S. President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) nominated Louis Brandeis as the first Jewish Supreme Court justice in 1916; Brandeis would serve until his retirement twenty-three years later.

David Freiberger was a New York lawyer and enthusiastic Zionist activist. A circa 1931 list of Jewish National Organizations in the United States, for example, notes that David Freiberger served as the President of the American Zion Commonwealth, the Treasurer of the American Relief Society for the Yemenite Jews of Jerusalem, Palestine, Inc., and an Admissions Committee officer on the American Committee of the Universal Yeshivah of Jerusalem. Freiberger and the American Zion Commonwealth raised money for the acquisition of Palestinian land for resettling Jews. The letter’s reference to “Palestine land values” underscored how the buying power of charitable organizations like the Z.O.A. were affected by local land prices.

The state of European politics in the 1930s made the question of Jewish settlement in Palestine more important with every passing year. Two weeks after Brandeis sent this letter to Freiberger, Der Fuhrer (1889-1945) was elected Chancellor of Germany. The systematic persecution of European Jews would intensify under his leadership.

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