The Palestine Jewish Colonisation Association (PICA)

Baron Edmond de Rothschild and Palestine

Edmond de Rothschild (1845-1934) was the youngest son of James de Rothschild and Betty (née von Rothschild). He bore the Hebrew name Benjamin. He was born in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, and grew up in the world of the Second French Republic and the Second French Empire, and was a soldier 'Garde Mobile' in the first Franco-Prussian War. Edmond joined the Paris banking House in 1868.

A strong supporter of Zionism, Baron Edmond's most outstanding achievements were involved in responding to the threats facing the Jewish people in Europe in the late 19th century by supporting massive land purchases and underwriting Jewish settlements in Palestine and Israel. Edmond's large donations lent significant support to the movement during its early years, which helped lead to the establishment of the State of Israel. In the 1880s, in his goal for the establishment of a Jewish homeland, Edmond’s philanthropy funded Jewish settlements and encouraged the development of agriculture and industry. 'The Benefactor', as he was known provided support for Jewish colonists, overseeing dozens of new colonies. Rishon le Zion (the First in Zion) was followed by others bearing the names of his parents. Edmond stimulated the economic development of the settlements by investing in new crops, such as wine, grapefruit and avocado, and industrial enterprises such as silk production; he played a key role in Israel's wine industry. Under the supervision of his administrators in Ottoman Palestine, farm colonies and vineyards were established, and two major wineries were opened in Rishon le Zion and Zikhron Ya'akov. Edmond paid his first visit to the colonies in 1887, to inspect the progress that had been made in the first five years. On this first trip, he was accompanied by his wife Adelheid. Edmond's yacht moored at Port Said, then on to Jaffa, before travelling on to Jerusalem.

In 1899, responsibility for the Rothschild settlements was transferred to form the Palestine branch of the Jewish Colonisation Association, which had been founded in 1891 by the Bavarian philanthropist Baron Maurice de Hirsch to help Jews from Russia and Romania to settle in Argentina. Baron de Hirsch died in 1896 and thereafter the JCA began to also assist the Jewish settlement in Palestine. At the end of 1899, Edmond transferred title to his colonies in Palestine plus fifteen million francs to the JCA.

In 1924, the JCA branch dealing with colonies in Palestine was reorganised by Baron Edmond as the Palestine Jewish Colonisation Association (PICA), under the direction of his son, James de Rothschild (1878-1957). PICA acquired more than 125,000 acres (50,586 ha) of land and established a range of business ventures. As well as offices in Palestine, PICA had offices in Paris. After the 1929 Palestine riots PICA helped to rehabilitate agricultural colonies that had been damaged.

When Edmond died in Paris in 1934, he left a legacy which included the reclamation of nearly 500,000 dunams of land and almost 30 settlements. In 1954, his remains and those of his wife Adelheid were brought to rest at Ramat Hanadiv in Zikhron Ya'akov. After Edmond's death, his son James de Rothschild (1878-1957) presided over the affairs of PICA. In his will of 1957, James instructed that PICA should transfer most of its land in Israel to the Jewish National Fund. On December 31, 1958 PICA agreed to vest its right to land holdings in Syria and Lebanon in the State of Israel. Edmond and James' determination to continue to support Israeli institutions was carried out after their deaths by James' widow, Dorothy (1895-1988), who founded Yad Hanadiv. Jacob, 4th Lord Rothschild has followed the family's charitable interests in Israel and is the chairman of Yad Hanadiv, the family foundation which gave the Knesset and the Supreme Court buildings to Israel. 

Archive sources: The Rothschild Archive London

The Rothschild Archive London holds very little private correspondence of Baron Edmond de Rothschild, and very few papers relating to Edmond's activities in Palestine. Two files of correspondence and papers relating to Palestinian colonies will be found in the Lafite Papers (OC 155, draft contracts including for sale of oranges and sale of land etc, viticulture in Palestine, production of kosher wine by Société Cooperative Vigneronne at Grandes  Caves de Rishon-de-Zion) and (OE 532, sundry papers and reports, 1862-1919).

Sundry accounts relating to Rothschild Family expenditure and payments to Jewish colonies in Palestine will be found in the Account volumes in the Lafite Papers, (OB 40, OB 42, OB 44, OB 49, OB 48, OB 60, and OB 66). An Agreement terminating the administration and management of the Palestinian colonies, between Baron Edmond de Rothschild & the Jewish Colonisation Association, 1923 will be found in the Moscow Papers, (58-1-825). Sundry papers of the Jewish Colonisation Association 1891-1964 including Articles of Association will also be found in papers of NMR, Private Client Packets (000/142, Packet 700). Also listed below are other related papers to found in the Archive collection.

Archive sources: PICA records at Waddesdon Manor

Administrative records created by the Paris PICA office were transferred to Waddesdson Manor by James de Rothschild after the Second World War. They contain correspondence, financial records, censuses, photographs and publications relating to the management of the settlements, land ownership, individual settlers, and the politics of Jewish settlement in Palestine, as well as industry, vineyards, and agriculture. These records are now held by The Archive, Windmill Hill, Waddesdon Manor » 

Records from the PICA offices in Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are held by the Central Zionist Archive in Jerusalem.

Further secondary sources

• Baron Edmond de Rothschild: The Story of a Practical Idealist, David Druck, (New York, 1928)
• Edmond de Rothschild: Palestine Pioneer, Isaac Naiditch, (Zionist Organization of America, Washington, 1945)
• Two Rothschilds and the Land of Israel, Simon Schama (London: Collins, 1978)
• Edmond de Rothschild: l'homme qui racheta la Terre sante, Elizabeth Antebi (Monaco: Editions du Rocher, 2003)
• Rothschild and early Jewish colonization, Ran Aronsohn (Rowman & Littlefield, 2000)