Walter Zadek - A collection of rare Photographs from the funeral of Chaim Nachman Bialik and the burial ceremony

Walter Zadek - A collection of rare Photographs from the funeral of Chaim Nachman Bialik and the burial ceremony

A rare collection of 22 photographs taken by Walter Zadek documented the bringing of the coffin of the national poet Haim Nachman Bialik for burial and the funeral ceremony held on the day of his burial in Ohel Shem - July 16, 1934 (twelve days after his death in Austria). In addition, there is a rare entrance ticket to the funeral procession (ticket no. 5, line no. 278).

In the collection, rare photographs of the ship 'Italy' carrying Bialik's coffin on its way to the port of Jaffa and the honor guards who accompanied the coffin on its arrival from Cyprus, young people in front of the huge ads announcing Bialik's death and funeral, Bialik's coffin on the streets of Tel Aviv on his way to Ohel Shem - Bialik's own cultivation enterprise (where he led and conducted weekly Kabalat Shabbat), the general public arrives at the entrance to 'Ohel Shem' which opens to the public from 9:00 am, in one of the photographs that has become very famous over the years, a group of teenagers appears - ' The Guard of Honor (in shorts, long socks, and Australian hats) inside Ohel Shem a tent next to Bialik's coffin with a Menorah on it, and the inscription: "And his life's song ceased in the middle ..." - according to one of Bialik's poems: "אחרי מותי ספדו לי ככה; היה איש וראו איננו עוד; ... ושירת חייו באמצע נפסקה" - The photograph itself was made artistically and blurred into pieces of intent to illustrate the fracture in Bialik's death. There are also photographs of the coffin on its way from Ohel Shem to Beit Bialik accompanied by the masses, as well as several photographs of the masses accompanying the coffin from different angles. One of the photographs in the Trumpeldor cemetery where Bialik is buried, shows Bialik's wife - Mania.

The entire Jewish community was swept away by the last way of "Pe'er Israel" Chaim Nachman Bialik. Builders and consuls, poets and firefighters, waited a dozen days to accompany the coffin of the national poet, who died in Vienna. A delegation from the settlement went to Cyprus and accompanied his coffin from there. 12 days passed from his sudden death to his burial. Bialik's death caught the settlement "unprepared". Bialik himself once asked that if he died in the Diaspora, his body should not be brought to Eretz Israel by plane, and at his request, his body was brought on a ship that bore the name "Italy." On July 16, 1934, Bialik's coffin was moored in the port of Jaffa, and his glorious funeral began with the participation of more than 100,000 people (if this estimate is correct, it was about a third of Israel's residents at the time). From the port of Jaffa, the coffin was taken in a car to Ohel Shem, where tens of thousands passed by, who "They pressed their painful gaze to him out of reverence. The eyes of the many shed tears, there was a soft whimper." (from a report in the newspaper "Davar"). At the funeral itself most of the audience was not allowed to approach his coffin, and three escort circles were set up.

On the same day, July 16, 1934, the newspapers also reported a memorial service for the thirtieth anniversary of Theodor Herzl's death held in Berlin, and since then for years they have used to jointly mark the memorials of the two.

The photographer Walter Zadek [1900-1992]: Born in Berlin. When the Nazis came to power he was arrested, but managed to be released on bail and fled to the Netherlands. With the help of his sister who lived in Eretz Israel, he managed to obtain an entry visa and immigrated in 1933. Zadek began photographing the developing community in Eretz Israel without any formal training in photography. In the years 1934-1948 he worked as a freelance press photographer and used mainly a Leica camera. In May 1939, he founded the Professional Photographers Association in Eretz Israel in Tel Aviv, of which the best photographers in Eretz Israel were members - most of them from Germany and Central Europe. Zadek's photographs are characterized by clean compositions, light and shadow, and directed in the spirit of the "new photograph" that was prevalent among photographers in the Land of Israel in the 1930s and 1940s.

To a video of the funeral ceremony (where you can compare many of the photos that appear here) see here

[22] photographs + entrance ticket to Bialik's funeral. The photographs are signed on the back with the signature of Tzadek's wife.

Different sizes: Six photographs in size: 23x17 cm. Eight photographs in average size: 18x12 cm. And the rest smaller. general condition very good.