Arthur Ruppin

November 13, 1979

A commemorative postage stamp on Dr. Arthur Ruppin, father of Jewish sociology [part of the series ‘Historical Personalities (VI)‘] :

Issued by Israel

Issued on 13 Nov, 1979

Designer : The stamps were designed by Z. Narkiss, Tel Aviv

Type : Stamp, Mint Condition

Colour : Gray & Magenta

Denomination : 7 Pound

Name : Arthur Ruppin

Born on 1 Mar, 1876 at Rawicz, Province of Posen, Prussia, German Empire [now in Poland]

Died on 1 Jan, 1943 at Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine [now in Israel]

About :

ARTHUR RUPPIN, “father of Zionist settlement”, was born in Rawicz, Prussia, in 1876. For family reasons, he was obliged to leave school at the age of 15, and worked for eight years before entering Berlin University where he studied law, economics and natural sciences. After qualifying, Ruppin worked as a lawyer and directed the Jewish Statistical Bureau in Berlin from 1903 to 1907. His knowledge of Jewish sociology deepened, and in the course of his research he wrote several books on the subject.
Ruppin became identified with practical Zionism and in 1907 gladly accepted the Zionist Organization’s request to examine the possibilities of Jewish settlement in Palestine. From that time on Ruppin was part of the Zionist movement, his first appointment being to head the Organization’s Palestine Office in Jaffa in 1908.
Expelled by the Turks in 1916, Ruppin returned three years later, having kept constantly in touch with the Yishuv. From 1926 he taught sociology at the Hebrew University, in 1933 took charge of the Agency’s resettlement programme and from 1935 directed the Institute for Economic Research. Ruppin’s best work was in the field of settlement, for he brought in thousands of refugees from Nazism, and in the purchase and reclamation of land. He acquired much of the Jezreel Valley for the Palestine Land Development Corporation and the Jewish National Fund, encouraged land acquisition around the Tel Aviv area, bought large tracts of the Carmel for Haifa’s growth, and obtained properties from the Greek Church for the establishment of Jerusalem suburbs. Ruppin’s death at the age of 67 put an end to a brilliant career.
Sylvia Mann