BEIN, ALEXANDER

BEIN, ALEXANDER (1903–1988), archivist and historian of Zionism. Bein was born at Steinach and studied at Erlangen and Berlin. From 1927 to 1933 he served on the staff of the German State Archives. In 1933 he settled in Palestine where he became assistant director of the General Zionist Archives in 1936. In 1955 he was appointed director, and in addition from 1956 was state archivist of Israel. Apart from studies in general history, Die Staatsidee Alexander Hamiltons in ihrer Entstehung und Entwicklung (1927), Bein devoted his efforts to the history of Zionism and modern antisemitism. Among his works are Toledot ha-Hityashevut ha-Ẓiyyonit (19452); The Return to the Soil (1952); his biography of Theodor Herzl (1934) which was translated into several languages; Die Judenfrage (1980; Eng., The Jewish Question, 1990). Bein also edited a new Hebrew edition of Herzl's writings in Hebrew which appeared in ten volumes in 1960–61. He contributed articles to scholarly journals on the history of modern antisemitism and Zionism. In 1987 he was awarded the Israel Prize for his contributions to Zionist historiography. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kressel, Leksikon 1 (1965), 230. (Isaak Dov Ber Markon)