Cohn-Reiss, Ephraim
COHN-REISS, EPHRAIM
COHN-REISS, EPHRAIM (1863–1943), Ereẓ Israel educator. In 1888 he was appointed principal of the Laemel School in his native Jerusalem. From 1904 to 1917, as the representative of the *Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden, he contributed greatly to the foundation and expansion of the network of modern Jewish education in Ereẓ Israel by planning and establishing the Hilfsverein's schools and kindergartens. He became a controversial figure during the language conflict (1913–14) when he supported the Hilfsverein's insistence on German as the language of instruction for technical subjects. Gradually his opposition to Zionism as a whole became so violent that during World War i he sent letters to the Hilfsverein in Berlin, through the German diplomatic service, denouncing the Zionists. In 1917 he went to Berlin, and did not return to Jerusalem, as the "German" Hilfsverein schools had been closed by the British Army authorities. He moved to France in 1938 and died there. In 1933 he published his memoirs, entitled Mi-Zikhronot Ish Yerushalayim.
bibliography:
Y.Y. Rivlin, in: E. Cohn-Reiss, Mi-Zikhronot Ish Yerushalayim (19672), 11–25 (first pagination).
[Moshe Rinott]