Central Zionist Archives - History of The CZA

History of The CZA

The Central Zionist Archives was founded in 1919 in Berlin by the historian George Herlitz who was nominated to the position of the archivist of the Zionist Executive, by the member of the Executive, Arthur Hantke. At the start, files of the Central Zionist Offices in Vienna and Cologne were transferred to the new institution, and thereafter the files of the Jewish National Fund and the Central Zionist Office in London. Concurrently the Archives began to collect books, periodicals and photographs that documented the history of the Zionist Movement and Palestine in the modern era.

With the rise to power of the Nazis in 1933, Dr. Herlitz asked for permission from the German authorities to remove the Archives from Germany. When permission was received, the material was packed in boxes and transferred to Jerusalem. The Archives was housed in the basement of the National Institutions building in Jerusalem. It was opened to the public in the autumn of 1934.

With the Archives' transfer to Jerusalem, its collections expanded considerably; in addition to holding the material of the various Zionist bodies, it also undertook to be the historical archives for the institutions of the new Yishuv. Concurrently, the systematic collection of the private papers of the leaders of the Zionist Movement and the Yishuv was begun. After the Second World War, an increased effort was made to bring to Palestine/Israel the scarce archival material that had survived the War.