"Let him [the Jew] look for his
human rights where he
belongs: in his own
state of Palestine." -
Hitler (April 1920)
Nazi / Zionist Pact
In 1933 the Nazis and Zionists leaders
signed the Haavara (Transfer) agreement,
which before
Heinrich Himmler prohibited the emigration of Jews from Germany in October 1941, saw
c.60,000 Jews and £1.7 billion (2009 equivalent) transferred from Germany to Palestine.
Heinrich Himmler prohibited the emigration of Jews from Germany in October 1941, saw
c.60,000 Jews and £1.7 billion (2009 equivalent) transferred from Germany to Palestine.
How It Worked
Germany was still prostrated by the
Great Depression and retribution debts
burdened
upon her by the Versailles Treaty. The
Nazis would not allowed Jewish wealth to
leave
Germany, so the deal ensured the value
of a Jews' wealth would be spent on
German goods.
In many cases, Jews transferred actual
replicas of their homes and factories
from Germany
to Palestine. Also with the minimum
amount of £1000 required by the British
to satisfy
entry requirements, it ensured that the
emigrants were mostly educated and
wealthy Jews.
Two companies were established: the
Haavara company in Tel Aviv, and a
sister company named
Paltreu in Berlin (where 31% of German
Jews lived). A Jew would pay
a minimum of £1000 (2011
equivalent of $58,000.00) into the
German account of the Haavara at the Wasserman
Bank in Berlin,
or at the Warburg Bank in Hamburg. These
funds would be used to
purchase German goods for
export to Palestine, and the Jewish
emigrant on their arrival
in Palestine, would received
the
equivalent in Palestinian Pounds, of
the amount they had deposited into the
German account.
Cost to Germany of Supporting Zionism
Not
until the Palestinian Arab Rebellion
began in 1936, a result of the mass
Jewish
immigration into British Mandate
Palestine, did various German
institutions begin to
raise concerns about how the Nazi's
Zionist policy was harming German
interests.
But as we shall see, this was obviously
not a concern to one Adolf Hitler.
In a March 22, 1937 memorandum from the
German Consul-General in Jerusalem Hans
Döhle,
warned that Germany need "not worry
unduly about the sympathies of
Palestinian Arabs
regarding Germany, since what is
required is not even a question of an
active Arab policy
so much as the need to avoid the
conspicuous promotion lent to the
building of the Jewish
national home." Döhle feared "that the
Arab mood might turn around, and that we
might be
accused of actively participating in the
fight against them." and that "through
our promotion of
Jewish immigration ... the position that
was again captured by the Germans ...
would come to grief."
A memorandum from the Office for Foreign Affairs on June 5, 1937 warned:
A memorandum from the Office for Foreign Affairs on June 5, 1937 warned:
"Politically it (the Haavara) means
giving valuable support to the
establishment
of a Jewish national home with the help of German capital."
of a Jewish national home with the help of German capital."
State Secretary of the Reich
Ministry of the Interior Wilhelm
Stuckart (circled above) warned
in a
December 17, 1937 memorandum: "the
advantages of the (Haavara) procedure have
grown smaller
while the disadvantages are becoming
larger." Stuckart was
of the opinion
that if the establishing
of
a Jewish state was
unavoidable, then "everything that would
promote the growth of such
a state
should be refrained from." Then
Stuckart declared clearly "There
is no doubt that the
Haavara
procedure has made the greatest contribution to
the tremendously rapid
building of Palestine
[ie the Zionist
colonies]. The procedure did not
only come up with the largest
sums of money
(from Germany) it also provided the
most intelligent men
amongst the immigrants, and
finally,
provided the necessary machines
and industrial equipment also from
Germany."
Hitler's refusal to stop Nazi support of
Zionism
As confirmed in a memorandum of the
Political Trade Department of the
Foreign Office
of January 27, 1938. The fears of
German officials regarding the Nazi
/ Zionism pact, had
been brought before Hitler, who had
decided that the Haavara pact should
be continued.
Hitler decided that German support
of the Zionist colonization of
Palestine, should
not be halted despite the rising
hostility of the Arabs towards
Germany.
Another memorandum from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs dated November 12,
1938, demanded:
that "an initiative should be undertaken
for the overdue cancellation of the
Haavara agreement."
But this was not to happen until 3 years
later, and only then because of the
outbreak of war.
British Jews Jon & David Kimche
(brothers) wrote in their 1956 book The
Secret Roads:
"Hitler himself stepped in and ordered
in precise terms the
encouragement of Jewish mass immigration
to Palestine."
"the Fuehrer had decided again that
Jewish emigration from Germany shall continue
to be promoted by all available means.
Any question which might have
existed up
to now as to whether in the Fuehrer's
opinion such emigration is
to be directed
primarily to Palestine has thereby been
answered in the affirmative."
Sources
My main source (I even quote it verbatim
at least once) was the 1976 paper by
German
journalist Klaus Polkehn: The
Secret Contacts: Zionism and Nazi
Germany, 1933-1941.
many details not included in Edwin
Black's 1984 book The Transfer
Agreement, also
sourced here, and finally the Kimche
quotes are from pages 28 & 30
respectfully.
"The Secret Contacts: Zionism and Nazi Germany, 1933-1941" is available for free, here [http://archive.org/details/TheSecretContacts-ZionismAndNaziGermany1933-1941]
ReplyBlack Rabbit: the link to the book is dead, so here's the update.
Thanks very much.