Almost from the beginning, the Technikum had two main creditors: the Hilfsverein (Ezra) group and the Jewish National Fund (KKL). With the outbreak of the First World War, the debt to the Jewish National Fund was canceled due to it being registered in an enemy country (England). The Ezra group, whose headquarters was based in Germany – an ally of Turkey in the war, took advantage of the opportunity and announced that the debt had not been paid and therefore the Technikum with all its assets belonged to it. In response, the Russian-Jewish journalist Abraham Idelson published a strong condemnation of the move by Ezra.