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,
World Union of Jewish Students highlighting the plight of German Jewry, the opening session was presided over by the renowned British philosopher Samuel Alexander who finished his opening statement with the line "I have become a Zionist", which was met with wild applause. It was decided at the congress that Einstein would remain President alongside a group of Vice-Presidents that would include Chaim Bialik, Sigmund Freud and Chaim Weizmann. Maurice Perlzweig, a young, British Liberal rabbi, was elected chairperson at the 1933 Congress. By 1936, Perlzweig was also a leader of both the Zionist Organization and the World Jewish Congress, which he had helped to