Chaim Posner papers
Extent and Medium
folders
8
Creator(s)
- Chaim Posner
Biographical History
Chaim Posner (1899-1981, also Haim Pazner or Pozner) was born in Kowal, Poland on January 4, 1899. He was active in the Hechalutz movement in the Włocławek area and he served as Vice-Principal of the Hebrew High School in Włocławek. He served as the director of the Committee of Assistance to Polish Refugees in Danzig from 1920-1922 and as the representative of the Jewish Telegraphic Association in Danzig from 1921-1923. He was a leader of the League for Working Eretz Israel in Włocławek, and he was elected as a representative to the 12th Zionist Congress in Karlsbad and other Zionist conventions. He was the head of the Labor Zionist Movement in Danzig in the 1930s. Posner served as the Director of the Eretz Israel Office in Danzig from May 1934 to late 1938, when he was forced to leave Danzig. He received a doctorate in Political Science from the University of Basel in 1939. He served as the Director of the Palästina Amt, the emigration office of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, in Geneva and as the representative of the Jewish Agency Finance Department in Europe during the 1940s. Posner is reported to have learned about plans for mass executions of Jews in gas chambers from University of Basel professor Edgar Salin in July 1942 and to have passed along the information to Chaim Barlas, the Jewish Agency representative in Istanbul. Posner served as Israel’s Finance Ministry representative in Europe from November 1948 until April 1953. He also served as a lecturer on Hebrew Language and Hebrew Literature of the Middle Ages at the University of Geneva from 1945-1953. Posner moved to Israel in 1953, assuming the position of Director of Revenue in the Foreign Currency Department of the Finance Ministry in Jerusalem, which he held until 1956. He served as the financial advisor for the Israeli Embassies in Argentina and Uruguay from 1957-1960 and as economic attaché at the Israeli Embassy in Sweden from 1960-1962. He also served as a member of the Secretariat for the Internal Auditing Unit and as a judge in the Mapai Party High Court.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection. The acquisition of this collection was made possible by the Crown Family.
Acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2017. The acquisition of this collection was made possible by the Crown Family.
Scope and Content
The Chaim Posner papers consist of correspondence and notes documenting Chaim Posner, his work as director of the Palästina Amt in Geneva in the 1940s, and his work for the State of Israel in the 1950s and 1960s. Correspondence comes from Basel, Geneva, Istanbul, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv, and correspondents include several offices of the Palästina Amt, the Jewish Agency for Palestine, Chaim Barlas, Richard Lichtheim, Edgar Salin, and Samuel Scheps. The collection also contains biographical materials including a student registration document for Posner from the University of Basel, Palestine immigration documents for Chaim and Regina Posner, and announcements for lectures by Posner. The collection further includes an undated photograph of a Hanukkah celebration, a 1940s report titled “Der Weg Nach Palaestina” about the difficulties of Jewish emigration to Palestine during World War II, and schedules for the World Jewish Congress in August 1945 in London.
System of Arrangement
The Chaim Posner papers are arranged in eight folders.
People
- Pazner, Haim, 1899-1981.
Corporate Bodies
- Jewish Agency for Palestine
Subjects
- Geneva (Switzerland)
- Palestine--Emigration and immigration.
- World War, 1939-1945--Jews--Rescue.
Genre
- Document
- Correspondence.
- Photographs.