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the establishment of the state cannot afford to miss. In this archive, which came to Jerusalem from Berlin in 1934, millions of items are – and continue to be – gathered: Documents, minutes, newspaper, photographs, maps etc. For 53 years, the archive was located in the basement of the Institutions Building and even served as a "hiding place" for the "Haganah's" secret documents. During the "Black Sabbath", the British woke up the archive Director Dr. Georg Herlitz early in the morning, brought him to the archive and demanded that he open all the closets and vaults. Dr. Herlitz took advantage of the British's well-known punctuality, and while the soldiers and officers who "took over" the archive had gone out for breakfast at 09:15 precisely, he hurried to hide away the "Haganah's" secret documents and transfer them to a safe place.
The "Haganah" had hiding spots in secret places in the building. It turns out that they were well hidden since all attempts by the British to discover them on "Black Sabbath" and on the following days in which they controlled the Institutions Building, failed.
The book's chapters tell about the National Institutions Building, the entities that were located in it and the events and decisions that occurred within it. An extensive chapter titled "Fateful Decisions, Deeds Great and Small," relates to the stories and events that took place in the building or in other places which originate from this large-sized building in Jerusalem. Two examples relating to Ben-Gurion, who was a "permanent resident" at the Institutions Building – 13 years before the establishment of the state and for 10 more years afterwards. The first example deals with the encrypted letter that was sent to him from the Political Department of the Jewish Agency in the Summer of 1937, which describes the situation in Eretz Yisrael and the Middle East by way of a "riddle." The second example tells of a fascinating episode that took place many years later, when Ben-Gurion served as Prime Minister and his office was in the rear part of the Institutions Building, at the beginning of Ibn Gabirol Street in the Rehavia Neighborhood.
In 1958, he formulated a plan to turn Israel into the "State of Literature." The method – to translate dozens of books into Hebrew, from generations of the world's best literature, and make them accessible to the Israeli reader. For two years, scholars such as Martin Buber, authors and public personalities went up and down the stairs in the Prime Minister's office, and passionately debated with Ben-Gurion which books to publish and whether it was important to prioritize the Indian and Chinese books over the Greek and Roman books.
Every morning, Ben-Gurion would walk on foot, accompanied by a policeman, from his home on Sderot Ben Maimon to his office in the Institutions Building. The policemen that accompanied him by a rotating roster did not have an easy time, as he would constantly try to convince them to leave him alone, since "you certainly have more important things to do..."
These are just some examples for the book's chapters and the stories they tell, and as was once said on the radio news broadcasts: "Here ends the summary of the news. And now for the news
in detail."
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