1859 - 1936.
Nahum Sokolov was a writer, journalist, and Zionist leader.
Born in Poland, he received a traditional Jewish education as a child. He later acquired a broad general education and mastered several languages, including Polish, Yiddish, Hebrew, English, and French.
At age 17, he started writing for the newspaper "Hatzifira", the first Hebrew newspaper in Poland published in Warsaw. In the early 1880s, Sokolov was appointed editor and turned it into a daily newspaper. At age 23, he published his first work, "Eternal hatred for the Eternal People" ("Si'nat Olam leam Olam").
Nahum Sokolov attended the First Zionist Congress in 1897, where he met Theodor Herzl, and supported political Zionism.
Since then, he has been a Zionist activist, and in 1906, he was appointed as the general secretary of the World Zionist Congress.
Nahum Sokolov was the first to translate Herzl's book "Altneuland". He was looking for a fitting Hebrew translation for the book's title, which means "old-new land", and found it in the name "Tel Aviv", Spring Hill.
Years later, in 1910, the name "Tel Aviv" was given to the first Hebrew city, previously called Ahuzat Bait, under Menahem Sheikin's proposal.
For four years (1931-1395) he replaced Dr. Chaim Weizman as president of the Zionist Organization and continued to serve alongside Weizman as its honorary president.
Together with Weizmann, Sokolov worked to achieve the Balfour Declaration. Weizmann worked in Britain, and Sokolov in France. He met with government members and even received a sympathetic letter of support from French diplomat Jules Cambon. The letter was unpublished and supported the Zionist project in the Land of Israel.
He died in London in 1936, and his body was transferred to Jerusalem on Mount Herzl.
Kibbutz Sde Nahum, "Beit Sokolov" (the journalists' house in Tel Aviv on Kaplan Street), and streets all over the country are named after him.
The Sokolov Award, also known as the Sokolov Prize, is an Israeli journalism award, awarded by the Tel Aviv municipality, in memory of Nahum Sokolov.
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