Dr. Meir Klumel, former president of the Polish Zionist Federation, died today at the age of sixty. He had come here five years ago from Warsaw to spend the remainder of his life after liquidating a thriving paper business and turning over most of his fortune, estimated at hundreds of thousands of dollars, to the Polish Zionist cause.
During the war, Dr. Klumel organized and headed the Palestine Amt Bank in Warsaw, through which funds were transferred among Zionist organizations in neutral countries. Through the bank American Jews sent thousands of dollars to aid their relatives in European countries.
Prominent in Zionist and other Jewish organizations, he served for eight years as president of the Polish Zionist Organization and as President of the Jewish National Fund of Poland. He was also for a time member of the Executive of the Warsaw Jewish Community. Born in what is now Latvia, he spent most of his life in Poland. He received a Ph.D. degree at a German university.
He was intensely interested in the movement for reviving the Hebrew language as a speaking tongue of the Jews, serving as president of the Chovevei Sfas Ever (Lovers of the Hebrew Language) and contributing funds to Hebrew periodicals. Dr. Klumel was a familiar figure at Zionist congresses.
His collection of Jewish art was known throughout Poland. In addition, he wrote a number of articles on Zionism and 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.