[DE HIRSCH

The Abdullah Frères were a group of three Ottoman brothers of Armenian descent, Viçen Abdullahyan (1820–1902), Hovsep Abdullahyan (1830–1908), and Kevork Abdullahyan (1839–1918), who were photographers of international fame during the late Ottoman Empire. They took pictures of scenic views and notable individuals.De Hirsch set up charitable foundations to promote Jewish education and improve the lot of oppressed European Jewry. He was the founder of the Jewish Colonisation Association, which sponsored large-scale Jewish immigration to Argentina. The greatest charitable enterprise on which Hirsch embarked was in connection with the persecution of the Jews in Russia. He gave £10,000 to the funds raised for the repatriation of the refugees in 1882, but, feeling that this was a very lame conclusion to the efforts made in western Europe for the relief of the Russian Jews, he offered the Russian government £2,000,000 for the endowment of a system of secular education to be established in the Jewish Pale of Settlement. The Russian government was willing to accept the money but declined to allow any foreigner to be concerned in its control or administration.