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Born in Paris on 17 December 1903, Roland de Vaux studied at the Collège Stanislas, then at the Sorbonne. After his degree, he entered the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, where he was ordained priest on June 29, 1929. But, having resolved to enter the Order of Preachers, he entered the novitiate at Amiens in September 1929, made profession there on 23 September 1930 and immediately made his studies at the Saulchoir de Cain in Belgium, where he remained until 1933. He then turned particularly to medieval philosophy, which explains the research leading to his first publication, dedicated to Avicenna. But he also turned to orientalism, before being asked, in 1933, by the École Biblique to complete the team of teachers then famous but aging. He arrived in Jerusalem in September 1933.

Father de Vaux first studied there for two years, under the direction of the PP. Lagrange, Vincent, Abel or Savignac. He passed the Bible Commission exams in June 1935. Back in Jerusalem, he was appointed professor of biblical history and archaeology, two subjects that would also be his main fields of research for the rest of his life. He taught these two disciplines from 1935 to 1971 without interruption. He also taught Assyro-Babylonian from 1935 to 1940 and Old Testament exegesis from 1946 to 1949, while preparing his translations for the first Jerusalem Bible. His former students agree in praising his pedagogical sense and brilliant presentations, with the absolute honesty he demonstrated as a researcher.
From these teachings came out several important works, starting with the Jerusalem Bible fascicles on Genesis, the Books of Samuel and the Kings. He also played a major role in the one-volume edition of the Jerusalem Bible in 1956. The two volumes of his Old Testament Institutions were translated into many languages.

He began his work as an archaeologist with modest campaigns that followed his first archaeological exploration in the Salt region of Transjordan in the summer of 1937. That same year, he and Fr. Savignac excavated the church of Ma'în, near Madaba (Jordan). In 1944, he and Fr. Stève carried out the excavation of an old caravanserai near the biblical Qiriat Yearim (Abu Gosh). Still with Fr. Stève, he then worked (1945-1946) on the site of el-Ma'moudiyeh, a Byzantine sanctuary dedicated to St. John the Baptist, west of Hebron. In 1946, he attacked a more important site: the Tell el-Far'ah of the North, later identified as the ancient Tirça, the first capital of the northern kingdom, from which King Omri emigrated to Samaria. Nine campaigns were devoted to this site until 1960.

In the middle of these Tell el-Far'ah campaigns, the "Qumran affair" arose, named after the manuscripts discovered in caves on the Dead Sea in 1947. From 1949 to 1958, Fr. de Vaux was responsible for the excavations of the various caves for the Bible School, and then for those of the Qumran site itself. In 1952, de Vaux organized a campaign of excavations at the wadi Murab'baat, followed by an excavation of the Qumran site every winter until 1956. Father de Vaux was also in charge of the international team responsible for studying and publishing the manuscripts, which were stored in the scrollery of the Rockefeller Museum until 1967. The findings of his research were presented in reports published in the Bible Review and in the 1959 "Schweich Lectures", lectures published in 1961 under the title Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls. From this book, Kathleen Kenyon could say: "This publication of his lectures is an monument to his skill as an excavator, as a historian and as an authority on the scrolls themselves".

Shortly afterwards, Fr. de Vaux was associated by Miss Kathleen Kenyon with the Jerusalem excavations: he was in charge of the southern part of the Mosque Esplanade, in the el-Khâtoûnîyeh district, which he searched from 1961 to 1963. The search was then resumed by Professor Mazar.

At the École Biblique, he also had heavy responsibilities to fulfil, since he was director of the Rebue Biblique from 1938 to 1953, director of the School from 1945 to 1965, as well as prior of the convent from 1949 to 1952. Appointed Consultant of the Pontifical Biblical Commission in 1956, then Master of Theology in 1958, he was called to Harvard as Visiting Professor for the year 1964-1965. The honours also followed since he was appointed correspondent member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 1952, before becoming a non-resident free member in 1962. In 1961, he became a corresponding member of the British Academy, while subsequently being elected an honorary member of various scientific societies around the world. Several universities and colleges have also awarded him the title of Doctor honoris causa.

Struck by arteritis in early 1971, he gradually lost his health and died at St. Joseph's Hospital in Jerusalem on September 10, 1971. The funeral was held in Saint-Etienne on the 13th. His last work, Ancient History of Israel, was unfinished and was later completed and published by Fr. Langlamet.

The Central Zionist Archives preserves more than 1,500 personal papers of the leaders and activists of the Zionist Movement and the Yishuv. Some of these archives are very small (one or two files), but most of them are very large (tens of boxes). The list of personal papers includes well-known figures in Zionist history, such as: Theodor Herzl, Nahum Sokolow, David Wolffsohn, Max Bodenheimer, Henrietta Szold, Eliezer Ben Yehuda, Haim Arlossoroff and other functionaries and professionals, but also the papers of less well-known people who dealt with important aspects of Zionism and the development of the yishuv. The personal and public correspondence, diaries, family letters and photographs, are preserved in their archives and contribute to an understanding of their character and their work.

The collection of personal archives has been constantly growing. As the fields of study have changed over the years, so has the range of personal papers that the CZA is interested in collecting and preserving. Recently, the archives of men and women, who are perhaps less well known, but were active and influential in their specific areas of expertise, have been accepted for preservation by the CZA. For example, we are happy to have the papers Rudolfina Menzel, who developed the field of dog training in Palestine, and Sarah Bavli, who dealt with matters of nutrition, as well as the papers of people active in Zionist and Jewish affairs overseas, such as Yitzchak Harkavi, an active Zionist in South America, and Jean Halperin, a prominent activist amongst the Jews of France.

The Central Zionist Archives – the official archives of the institutions of the Zionist Movement (the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National Fund, and the United Israel Appeal) and the numerous institutions that were established by, or alongside, these bodies – permanently preserves the files that were created during the activity of these institutions.

In addition, the Zionist Archives holds the files of the institutions of the Jewish population in Palestine before the establishment of the State (the Archives of the National Council, the Archives of the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association (PICA), the Archives of the Hadassah Medical Organization, etc.), of the offices of the World Jewish Congress in various countries, the remainder of the Archives of the Hovevei Zion and of some of the Zionist Federations around the world.

To be completed

To be completed.
Historian, publisher, church figure.

Born on July 8, 1939 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Gilles Caron grew up in Maisons-Laffitte. After spending his childhood in Maisons-Laffitte, Gilles is sent in 1946 to a boarding school in Argentière (Haute-Savoie), following the separation of his parents, he will stay there seven years.

After completing his studies at the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly in Paris, Gilles took a one-year course in journalism at the École des hautes études internationales in Paris in 1958. During the summer, he hitchhiked to Yugoslavia, Turkey and India.

After passing his civilian parachute exam in 1959, he was called up for his 28-month military service, 22 of which were in Algeria. Gilles is imprisoned for two months following his refusal to fight after the putsch. Gilles finishes his service with a ban on carrying weapons. When he returned to France in 1962, he married Marianne. They have two daughters together: Marjolaine born on March 9, 1963 and Clementine born on December 8, 1967.

Following an internship in 1964 with Patrice Molinard, an advertising and fashion photographer, Gilles joined the Apis agency (Agence Parisienne d'Information Sociale). There he meets Raymond Depardon, a photographer from the Dalmas agency, and participates in August in the shooting of La guerre est finie by Alain Resnais.

On February 19, 1966, Gilles Caron made the front page of France-Soir with Marcel Leroy-Finville (imprisoned for the kidnapping and assassination of Mehdi Ben Barka) during his walk in the Santé prison. In May he works in Paris for the fashion agency Photographic Service directed by Giancarlo Botti. In December he joins the founding team of Gamma composed of Raymond Depardon, Hubert Henrotte, Jean Monteux and Hugues Vassal.

Between June 5 and 10, 1967 he covered the Six Day War and entered Jerusalem with the Israeli army and then reached the Suez Canal with the commanding forces led by General Ariel Sharon. The publication of his images in Paris Match made the Gamma agency the leading agency in the world. In November and December he is in Vietnam notably at Đắk Tô, during one of the hardest battles of the conflict (Hill 875).

In April 1968 he covered the civil war in Biafra. In May the student revolts in Paris begin and spread throughout France, provoking a general strike. Gilles Caron covers the student demonstrations in Paris on a daily basis; he follows President Charles de Gaulle on an official visit to Romania between May 14 and 18. In July he makes a second trip to Biafra with Raymond Depardon. In September he travels to Mexico City following the violent repression of student demonstrations on the eve of the Olympic Games. In November he made his third report in Biafra.

In August 1969 Gilles Caron covers the Catholic demonstrations in Londonderry and Belfast in Northern Ireland, "The Troubles". A few days later, he follows the anniversary of the crushing of the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia by Soviet tanks. In its August 30 issue, Paris Match published the two reports simultaneously.

In January and February 1970 he was part of an expedition to the Chadian Tibesti region organized by Robert Pledge, with Raymond Depardon and Michel Honorin, to cover the rebellion of the Toubous against the central government in Fort Lamy (N'djamena) supported by the French government. The four journalists were ambushed and held prisoner for a month by government forces.
That same year, in April, he went to Cambodia the day after Prince Norodom Sihanouk was deposed by General Lon Nol.
On April 5, 1970, he was the first of twenty or so journalists and development workers of all nationalities to disappear with Swiss reporter Guy Hannoteaux and French development worker Michel Visot, on Route No. 1 linking Cambodia to Vietnam in an area controlled by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge.

After having studied the production of large aircrafts since the 1880's and having manufactured some prototypes, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin created Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH on September 8th, 1908, thanks to capital provided by people who were passionate about his research. The aircrafts made by the firm could be for military or civilian use.

From the end of World War I to 1926, the production of military and large airwrafts was prohibited in Germany. This situation led the firm to a first diversification of its activity. It resumed its original productions in the late 1920's. In the 1930's, its aircrafts travelled to different and distant countries.

At the end of World War II, the firm ceased to exist, replaced the creation of Metallwerk Friedrichshafen GmbH in 1950 with widely diversified activities. Between 1993 and 1994, the original Zeppelin company was reinstated.

During the Roman period, the present site of Algiers was occupied by the city of Icosium (seat of a bishopric) which depended on the province of Mauritania Caesarea whose capital was Cherchell. During the Ottoman period, the Lazarist Fathers successively occupied the office of vicar apostolic from 1650 to 1827, ensuring the service of the Christians, the prisons, the merchants and the consuls.

The Church regained a diocesan structure in 1838 with the creation of the bishopric of Algiers which covered all of Algeria until 1866, when it became an archdiocese with the creation of the two other dioceses of the North. After Monseigneur Dupuch (1846-1866) who was the interlocutor of the Emir Abdelkader, and Monseigneur Pavy (1846-1866) the builder of the Notre Dame d'Afrique basilica, Cardinal Lavigerie directed the diocese of Algiers from 1866 to 1892. Upon his arrival (1868) he founded the White Fathers and the White Sisters (1869).

The Diocese of Algiers currently includes fifty priests and religious, seventy-five nuns and a few thousand Christians with Mgr. Paul Desfarges, of French-Algerian nationality as Archbishop since 24 December 2016.

The diocese of Algiers includes the regions of Algiers, Medea and the eastern part of the Cheliff Valley, as well as the Greater Kabylie.

Claude Reignier Conder was born on December 29, 1848 in Cheltenham, England. He studied at University College London and at the Royal Military Academy of Woolwich.

He was appointed lieutenant in the Corps of Royal Engineers in 1870. He carried out geographical studies in Palestine from 1872 to 1874, in the company of Lieutenant Horatio Herbert Kitchener. He continued his fieldwork until 1882 with the financial support of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
He was promoted to captain in 1882. He participated in the Anglo-Egyptian war the same year with the aim of putting an end to the rebellion led by Ahmed Urabi. In Egypt, he was assigned to the army's intelligence services. His great knowledge of the Arab peoples and the East was widely used by the British army. He took part in the battle of Tel el-Kebir and the advance towards Cairo.
He retired in 1904 with the rank of colonel.

Conder died in Cheltenham, England on February 16, 1910.

Frederick John Salmon was a British surveyor, foreign service officer, and soldier.
He served in the Ceylon Survey from 1908 to 1930, with the exception of his service on the Western Front during World War I. During the war, he made a name for himself by promoting cooperation between surveying and artillery. He also decided to print and distribute updated maps and to use aerial photography to update tactical maps.
He became a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in December 1918. Between 1930 and 1933, Salmon headed the land and survey departments in Cyprus. He was appointed director of the Survey of Palestine at the end of 1932. He began work at the Survey of Palestine on March 27, 1933, and then launched an initiative to begin modern topographic mapping of Palestine. He was appointed Commissioner of Lands and Surveys of Palestine and a member of the Advisory Council of the Government of Palestine in 1935.
His cartographic work is in the collection of the Royal Geographical Society.