author
Jacob Israël de Haan
1881–1924
A Dutch writer, poet, and journalist whose life moved from literary scandal to fierce political controversy, he remains one of the most striking Jewish intellectual figures of the early 20th century. His work and death in Jerusalem in 1924 have kept his name alive in literature, journalism, and Middle Eastern history.
1 Audiobook
Jerusalem
by Jacob Israël de Haan
About the author
Born in Smilde, the Netherlands, in 1881, he became known as a gifted and provocative man of letters. He wrote novels, poetry, and journalism, and is especially remembered for Pijpelijntjes (1904), an early Dutch novel centered on a homosexual relationship. Trained in law as well, he also wrote about social and legal issues, including conditions in Russian prisons.
In the years after World War I, he moved to Jerusalem and became deeply involved in political life under the British Mandate. There he worked as a journalist and emerged as a spokesman for parts of the Orthodox Jewish community, while taking an increasingly anti-Zionist political position and seeking contacts with Arab leaders.
His life ended violently in Jerusalem on June 30, 1924, when he was assassinated. That killing made him one of the most debated figures of his era: a poet and outsider, a public intellectual, and a man whose personal convictions placed him at the center of some of the sharpest conflicts of his time.