Photograph of the Twelfth Zionist Congress, Carlsbad, Sept. 1-14, 1921

(ZIONISM)

Carlsbad

September 9, 1921

A rare black and white photograph 8 3/4 x 11 1/4 inches, mounted on cardboard 13 1/2 x 16 1/2 inches, surrounded by Czechoslovak postage stamps, postmarked “Karlovy Vary, Kongres Sionisticky XII, 9.IX.31; Ha-Kongress ha-Tziyoni shneim ha-asar.” The plaque, as it were, is inscribed to Josef Selzer, delegate of the Congress

In the photo, one spies at the front podium, left to right: Menachem Ussishkin, Chaim Weizmann, and two over on the right, Vladimir (Ze’ev) Jabotinsky. To the immediate left of the speaker is Nachum Sokolow. The Twelfth Zionist Congress was the first congress since the outbreak of World War One.(The Eleventh Congress was held in 1913.) In the interim, momentous events had occurred, chief among them, the Balfour Declaration and the British conquest of Palestine. It should be noted that this was the last Zionist Congress attended by Jabotinsky. In January 1923, a combination of factors led to his fateful decision to leave the Zionist Organization, resigning his role as a member of the Zionist Executive. Jabotinsky would go on to found his own Revisionist Zionist movement. See EJ, Vol. IX, col.1180; Vol. XVI, col. 1171