Vladimir Jabotinsky(1880-1940)
- Writer
Russian-born Jewish advocate, author, and Zionist leader. Jabotinsky
began a career as a journalist, but following the Russian pogroms began
to devote himself to the cause of a Jewish homeland. He founded the
Jewish Legion of the British Army during World War I, and led the
struggle between the wars to gain acceptance of a Jewish right to the
lands of Palestine. He also struggled unsuccessfully to arrange the
exodus of the entire Jewish population of Poland in 1936, in view of
his belief that annihilation awaited Jews there. He wrote numerous
books, including a novel about Samson which served as the source for
the Cecil B. DeMille movie
Samson and Delilah (1949).
Jabotinsky, who had changed his first name from Vladimir to Ze'ev in
1903, died of a heart attack in New York City in 1940. Although
initially refused burial in Palestine and, later, the state of Israel,
his body was reinterred in Jerusalem in 1964.
