Wiener, Alfred

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WIENER, ALFRED

WIENER, ALFRED (1885–1964), public figure. An Arabist by education, he served as secretary to Paul *Nathan from 1911 to 1914. After serving in World War i Wiener became active in the cv (*Central-Verein deutscher Staatsbuerger juedischen Glaubens) of which he became secretary general. He belonged to the pro-Palestine wing of the cv which, from 1929, collaborated in the non-Zionist part of the enlarged Jewish *Agency and the Keren *Hayesod. At the end of 1933, with the help of Professor David *Cohen, he founded the Jewish Central Information Office in Amsterdam which was brought over to London in 1939 and was later named Wiener *Library. The rest of his life was dedicated to this institute.

bibliography:

C.C. Aronsfeld, in: wlb, 18, no. 2 (1964), 13–14; idem, in: Theokratia, 1 (1967/69), 144–59; R. Weltsch, in: ylbi, 9 (1964), xxviii–xxx; A. Paucker, Der juedische Abwehrkampf (1967).

[Yehuda Reshef]