CZENSTOCHOWSKI, WALTER (1924–1997), Zionist activist and leader in Venezuela. Born in Vienna in a Zionist and Yiddishist home, Czenstochowski immigrated to Palestine (Eretz Israel) with his mother in 1935 and studied in the agricultural school of Ben Shemen. He joined the Palmach, and when the IDF was established, he continued his military service in its air force. In 1953 he moved to Venezuela, where his father had found refuge. From that time on he participated in local Jewish public life and in political activity on behalf of the World Zionist Organization. At various times he presided over the Zionist Federation of Venezuela and the northern section of the Latin American Zionist Confederation. Czenstochowski was active in many Jewish Venezuelan organizations. He was president of the Confederación de Asociaciones Israelitas de Venezuela – CAIV (the central political organization of the Jewish community) and was a member of the Executive Committee of the World Zionist Organization as the representative of Latin America.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.

Walter Czenstochowski