Chaim Weizmann’s story, the story of a Polish Jew who, working in the basement chemistry laboratory of the University of Manchester, discovered the deadliest of war explosives and then traded the formula of the explosive to the British government in exchange for a promised land for the Jews, will at last be given to the public, according to an announcement made here today by Victor Gollancz, publisher. Following his resignation as president of the World Zionist Organization and of the Jewish Agency, Weizmann has agreed to write and publish his memoirs.
They will reveal the career of the man who received, after Theodore Herzl, the title of “A King Without a Country.” For Weizmann, although he discouraged the suggestion as had Herzl, was often popularly hailed as “King of the Jews.” Born November 27, 1874, in Grodno, Poland, the child Chaim Weizmann was educated to be a Jewish scholar. Then he became a chemist, and, under Herzl, a Zionist leader. His discovery of T.N.T. and other explosives during the war were said to have influenced Great Britain to promise Palestine to the Jews.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.