Page 295 - ISRAEL'S CRADLE

Dr. Herlitz, who managed the archives for decades, personally examining folders
Dr. Bein was careful to update his senders every few days in letters he sent to Israel.
The Journey had several important achievements: Mapping the materials present in the Jewish and Zionist archives that survived the war – some of which were hidden in Anglo-Palestina bank vaults and survived the Blitz on London; an agreement to transfer the Nordau Archive to Jerusalem and the transfer of additional personal archives, including that of Israel Zangwill; The transfer of the parts of archives of the Zionist offices in Paris and London as well as the archive of the Jewish Agency that returned to London from Canada; photographing documents in the British archive regarding the el-Arish and Uganda plans, and more.
In 1951, a year and a half later, Dr. Bein set out on another journey. This time it was a focused journey, intended to locate suitable systems for backing up materials on microfilm. At the end of
the journey, two devices for photographing on and reading microfilm arrived in Israel, along with complementary equipment and materials. These details served the Archive with great success for several decades. Paul Alsberg was responsible for their intake at the initial stages.
Over 1951, construction of the new wing in the National Institutions Building for the Prime Minister's office was completed and its basement floor (parterre) was dedicated to the Zionist Archive. The move to the new and spacious location brought relief, but only temporarily, as the archive received a large amount of material from the Yishuv period. The Jewish National Council handed off responsibility for its duties, and with them the relevant departments, to the state. Many departments that operated within the Jewish Agency's framework ceased to exist, while some of them – The Political Department, the Trade and Industry Department and others became government ministries while other were re-designated. Therefore, a huge amount of materials was packed up and sent to the Zionist Archive. About 30 thousand files were received in the Archive
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