Joel Brand Eugen Band. He cabled the Jewish Agency in Istanbul to say he was on his way, and arrived by German diplomatic plane on 19 May. Paul Rose writes that Brand had no idea at this point that the deportations to Auschwitz had already begun. Brand had been told by the Jewish Agency by return cable that "Chaim" would meet him in Istanbul. Convinced of the importance of his mission, he believed this was Chaim Weizmann, president of the World Zionist Organization, later the first president of Israel. In fact the man who had arranged to meet him was Chaim Barlas,
Meyer Weisgal Weizmann Institute and are buried there, near the Chaim Weizmann House. Meyer Weisgal Meyer Wolf Weisgal (November 10, 1894 – September 29, 1977) was a Jewish American journalist, publisher, playwright, fundraiser, and Zionist activist who served as the President of the Weizmann Institute of Science and as the founding President of Beit Hatfutsot (the Jewish Diaspora Museum). Born in the Pale of Settlement, he emigrated to New York City, US with his parents at age 11, where he finished high school and studied journalism at Columbia University. He married Shirley (née Hirshfeld) in 1923. In 1926, he published the first