A short letter handwritten by Hans Herzl, on a printed card of "Hampden Club". London, September 9, 1930. English.
" the 9th of September 1930, Received this day from the Union of Zionists Revisionists the sum of 1.2.6 (one Pound two and six), with thanks, H. Herzl".
Hans Herzl, second son of Theodor Herzl was born on June 10, 1891. Herzl did not give him a Hebrew name, and did not circumcise him (after Herzl's death, the Jewish community organized for him a circumcision ceremony and gave him the name Shimon), when Theodor Herzl died Hans was 13 years old. According to Herzl's request, Hans was sent to a Jewish religious boarding school in England, and when his mother died he returned to Vienna, collapsed for not being with his mother during her last days, and hospitalized in a sanatorium. When he was discharged he returned to his studies in England and graduated with success. Hans was accepted to university; during WW I he joined the British army and when he was released in 1919 he made a living mainly on translating his father's writings. When Hans was 24 he converted to Christianity and joined the Baptist Church, converted several times (tried the Catholic Church, Protestant, Baptist, Unitarian and Quaker Church), finally he returned to Judaism. On September 8 1930 Hans's sister Paulina died in France, from an over-doze of morphine. Seven days later, on September 15, 1930 (and six days after writing the letter presented here) Hans committed suicide with a pistol shot. 9X15 cm. Good condition. Minor stains.
From the collection of Arnie Druck.