This is a photograph of Adolf Goldmann and his children, Moshe and Lotte, at the 17th Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland in 1931. They are standing in front of a sign, written in Hebrew, reading “The 17th Zionist Congress.” Adolf is wearing a suit and bow tie, and Moshe and Lotte, then in their early thirties, are standing next to him. According to Moshe’s wife, Erna, the Goldmanns were not permitted to participate in the congress since they did not have an invitation. Adolf took work clothes and brooms from the cleaning staff and told his children to put them on. Dressed as cleaners, they were able to enter the hall and even got good seats!
The Goldmann family were ardent Zionists, and all four children moved to Israel in the 1930s, with their parents arriving last. Moshe married, Erna Guggenheim, on December 25, 1937 in Tel Aviv.
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Zionist Congress – The Zionist Congress (today known as the World Zionist Congress) is the supreme organ of the World Zionist Organization (WZO). It elects the officers and decides on the policies of the WZO and the Jewish Agency. The first Zionist Congress was established by Theodor Herzl and took place in Basel, Switzerland in 1897. From 1897 to 1901 the Zionist Congress met annually and from 1903 to 1913 and 1921 to 1939 biennially. Its original goal was to build an infrastructure to promote Jewish settlement in pre-state Israel. At the 1935 Congress, various issues were discussed, many centering around the rescue of German Jewry and their immigration to pre-state Israel. Since World War II, meetings have been held approximately every four years, and since 1948 the meetings have been held in Jerusalem. Any Jew over the age of eighteen who belongs to a Zionist association is eligible to vote. There are 500 elected delegates, among whom 38% are from Israel, 29% from the United States, and 33% from the remainder of the Diaspora countries. The last Zionist Congress was held in 2015 in Jerusalem and the next Congress will convene in 2020.
