KLEE, ALFRED

KLEE, ALFRED (1875–1943), Zionist leader in Germany. He practiced law in his native Berlin, acting notably in cases defending Jewish honor (such as the case against *The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, etc.). With Herzl's appearance he became a foremost propagandist for Zionism in Germany. He was especially active in "the conquest of the communities," and after World War i he established the Juedische Volkspartei, a coalition of Zionist parties in Berlin; similar parties were also established in other cities. Representatives of the party "conquered" Jewish communities that until that time, and especially from 1926 to 1930, had been in the hands of the anti-Zionist liberals. At the party's initiative a Jewish national educational network was established, social work was improved, and the cultural institutions in Palestine were assisted. Klee served briefly as chairman of the Zionist Federation in Germany and represented the German Jewish community in the management of the *Jewish Colonization Association. With the rise of the Nazis he was active in representing German Jewry before the authorities. In 1938 he left for Holland, where he continued his activities until his internment in Westerbork concentration camp where he died in 1943. He was the father-in-law of Hans *Gosslar and Simon *Rawidowicz.

bibliography:

R. Lichtheim, Toledot ha-Ẓiyyonut (1951), index; E.G. Lowenthal, Bewaehrung im Untergang (1965), 9497; J. Meisel, in: Mezudah, 4 (1945), 426–8. add. bibliography: M. Brenner, in: yblbi 35 (1990), 219–43; Biographisches Handbuch der deutschsprachigen Emigration nach 1933, vol. 1 (1999), 368.

[Getzel Kressel]