NINO HERMAN

Herrmann Leo (1889-1945), Zionist activist and author, born in Landškroun (Landskorn in German), Bohemia (then part of the Austria-Hungary, now in the Czech Republic).

He studied law at the University of Prague, where he joined the Zionist organization Bar Kochba, serving as its chairman between 1908-1909. From 1907 to 1913 he edited the Prague Selbstwehr, a Zionist periodical. Herrmann moved to Berlin, Germany, in 1913, where he edited the Juedische Rundschau of Berlin from 1914 to 1919.

He was one of the promoters of the review Der Jude, founded in 1916. In 1916 he also edited Die Treue, a collection of essays on Jewish themes. He was a member of the delegation of Czechoslovakian Jews at the Versailles Peace Conference, and in 1919 was appointed Secretary General of the World Zionist Organization in London.

In 1926 he immigrated to the Land of Israel settling in Jerusalem where he became Secretary General of the Keren Hayesod (Palestine Foundation Fund) in Jerusalem. In 1934-1935 he wrote the scenario and produced the film, Towards a New Life, which was sponsored by the Palestine Foundation Fund.