Secret contacts: Zionism and Nazi Germany, 1933 to 1941

[luanma]

Editor’s note: The following is a paper revealing the collusion between Zionists and Nazi Germany. The author is a bourgeois intellectual and has not touched upon the class essence of Zionism and the Nazi Party. Even so, the author has made efforts to expose the close relationship between Zionism and Nazi Germany within the scope of phenomena, so this article still has certain reference value for a broad readership. As for some inaccuracies in the article, they should be viewed with reservations from the basic proletarian standpoint.

[luanma]

Introduction

  On January 30, 1933, after Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany, anti-Semitism became the official policy of the German government. The spring of 1933 also marked the beginning of the secret cooperation between Zionism (Jewish Nationalism) and the German fascist regime, aimed at accelerating Jewish immigration and capital export to Palestine. For a long time, Zionist authorities successfully concealed this cooperation until the early 1960s, when criticism of it began. The response of Zionism often included claims that they only had a one-time contact with Nazi Germany, solely to save Jewish lives. However, these so-called contacts are notable because they occurred at a time when many Jews and Jewish organizations called for a boycott of Nazi Germany.   At the start of the 16th Congress of the Israeli Communist Party, a document was submitted stating that “after Hitler came to power in Germany, all anti-fascist forces in the world and the vast majority of Jewish organizations declared a boycott of Nazi Germany, yet Zionist leaders had contacts and cooperation with the Hitler regime”[^1]. The document cites a statement by Zionist official Eliezer Livneh (who served as editor of the underground armed Haganah, later the Israel Defense Forces, during World War II) at a 1966 seminar of the Israeli evening newspaper Maariv, where Livneh declared that “for Zionist leaders, saving Jewish lives was not an end in itself, but merely a means” (a means to establish a Jewish state in Palestine)[^2]. After the Nazi regime slaughtered millions of Jews during its 12-year rule, questioning Zionist reactions to this was taboo. It is difficult to find credible evidence or documents related to this aspect. The information collected in this investigation (up to 1976) includes some key aspects of cooperation between Zionists and fascists. Clearly, the nature of such matters prevents a full picture from being presented. Only when the sealed archives (especially Israeli archives)[^3] are opened for scholarly research can this be achieved.  *Eliezer Livneh, born in 1902 in Łódź, Poland, then part of the Russian Empire. A prominent Zionist activist and Israeli politician, supporter of the Greater Israel plan. Died in Jerusalem in 1975.*

The Rise of Hitler

  For Zionist leaders, Hitler’s rise to power made the wave of Jewish immigration to Palestine highly likely. Previously, most German Jews considered themselves Germans, and Zionist efforts were viewed with indifference. Before the fascists took power, German government statistics only listed Jews as a “religious faith,” allowing fascist legislators to introduce the concept of “race” as a characteristic, thereby classifying those who had long been assimilated into German society as Jews.   According to statistics, in 1933, Germany had 503,000 Jews, accounting for 0.76% of the total population. 31% of German Jews lived in the capital Berlin, which comprised 4.3% of the city’s population. German statistics also show that between 1871 and 1933, the Jewish population in Germany decreased from 1.05% to 0.76%[^4].   Most of these German Jews were non-Zionists or anti-Zionists. Before 1937, the Zionist Union of Germany (Zionistische Vereinigung für Deutschland, abbreviated: ZVfD) faced significant difficulties gaining public attention. For example, in 1925, among the Jews surveyed, only 8,739 (less than 2%) were eligible to vote at Zionist conventions, and only members of Zionist organizations qualified[^5]. In February 1925, in local elections in the Prussian Jewish community, out of 124 elected candidates, only 26 belonged to Zionist groups[^6]. In July 1932, the Keren Hayesod (United Israel Appeal) submitted a report to the 24th Zionist Congress in Germany, stating that “when evaluating the activities of the Jewish Foundation in Germany, one must not forget that in addition to the indifference of the broader Jewish community, there is also hostility”[^7].  *Memorial plaque of the German Zionist Union on the building at 10 Malteserstrasse, Charlottenburg, Berlin.*   Therefore, when Hitler came to power, Zionists were essentially a small, insignificant minority, with non-Zionist organizations having a significant influence among the broader Jewish population. The pinnacle of these organizations was the Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith (Central-Verein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens, abbreviated: CV), founded in 1893, which regarded German Jews as Germans and believed their main responsibility was to oppose anti-Semitism.  *Memorial plaque of the Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith on the building at 44 Pariser Strasse, Wilmersdorf, Berlin.*   Corresponding to this position, the Central Association also declared strong opposition to Zionism. On April 10, 1921, the council of the Central Association passed a resolution stating that “if the work in Palestine is merely aid and support, then the Central Association would have no objection. However, Palestine is the first step toward a Jewish national policy, and therefore, encouragement and support should be rejected”[^8]. Before Hitler’s rise, the Central Association stood with progressive parties and organizations against anti-Semitism.   Jewish writer Werner E. Mosse commented on this attitude: “The leaders of the Central Association believed they had a special responsibility to actively fight for the interests of German Jews, but Zionism… systematically aimed to isolate Jews from public life in Germany. In principle, Zionism refused to participate in any struggle led by the Central Association”[^9].   The attitude of Zionists towards the Nazi threat was based on some shared ideological assumptions: fascists and Zionists both believed in unscientific racial theories and shared language on mystical general principles such as “Volkstum” (national character) and “race,” and they were chauvinists inclined toward “racial exclusivity.” Thus, in a 1930 publication—Süddeutsche Monatshefte—Gerhard Holdheim, a Zionist, wrote about the Jewish question: “Zionist plans include a race-based, homogeneous, and inseparable concept of the Jewish people. Therefore, the standard for Jews is not religious faith but a sense of belonging to a racial community, linked by blood and history, determined to maintain their national character”[^10]. This rhetoric and language are indistinguishable from fascism. No wonder Nazi Germany welcomed Zionist ideas. Nazi chief theorist Alfred Rosenberg wrote: “Zionism must be strongly supported so that every year, a certain number of German Jews are moved to Palestine, or at least forced to leave this country”[^11]. Hans Lamm later wrote about these claims: “Undoubtedly, in the early Nazi Jewish policies, they believed that adopting a pro-Zionist attitude was appropriate”[^12].  *Alfred Rosenberg, born in 1893 in Tallinn, Estonia, then part of the Russian Empire. Nazi theorist, head of the Nazi Party’s Office of Foreign Affairs and responsible for culture and surveillance policies. Executed in Nuremberg in 1946 after trial.*   The Central Association sharply pointed out that Zionists’ recognition of “German nationalist assumptions” provided ammunition for anti-Semitism. In a policy declaration, they even mentioned that in the fight against fascism, Zionism was “a stab in the back”[^13]. However, Zionists believed that only Hitler, who was anti-Semitic, could push anti-Zionist Jews into their embrace. Robert Weltsch, editor-in-chief of the Zionist newspaper Jüdische Rundschau, announced on January 8, 1933 (three weeks after Hitler’s rise to power) at a local Zionist council meeting: “German nationalist anti-liberal traits (i.e., the reactionary nature of the German bourgeoisie) align with Zionism’s anti-liberal stance. Here, we find space for a common ground—not based on mutual understanding, but on discussion.”[^14].  *Robert Weltsch, born in 1891 in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary. Noted Zionist journalist and editor of Jüdische Beobachter. During the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses in 1933, Weltsch commented: “Proudly wearing the yellow star of the Jews!”, hoping to encourage Jews to conform to Nazi classification, affirm their Jewish identity, and refuse to assimilate into Germany. Later, he expressed regret for writing this slogan. Died in Jerusalem in 1982.*   On January 30, 1933, Hitler was appointed head of government, and the Nazi Party took over all positions of authority, meaning the current rulers were staunch anti-Semites. German Jews were deeply worried about the development, as Nazi plans included stripping Jews of citizenship (Point 5), removing all Jews from public service (Point 6), and expelling all Jews who immigrated to Germany after August 2, 1914 (Point 8). Among these changes, only Zionists saw some benefits. The view of the non-Zionist British historian Christopher Sykes that “Zionist leaders had decided to gain political advantage from this tragedy at the start of the Nazi disaster”[^15] is not shared. The first to publicly express such an opinion was Dr. Joachim Prinz, a steadfast Zionist, who described Hitler’s rise on January 30, 1933, as “the beginning of Jews returning to Judaism”[^16]. When discussing the increasing political terror against German Jews by fascists, Prinz wrote: “We have nowhere to hide anymore. We do not want to be assimilated; we seek recognition of the Jewish state and the Jewish race”[^17]. This was not a minority view. The Zionist media, Jüdische Rundschau, wrote on June 13, 1933: > “Zionism acknowledges the existence of the Jewish problem and hopes to solve it in a generous and constructive manner. To do this, it seeks the aid of all; including friends and enemies, because for Zionism, this is not a sad problem, but a real one that can be addressed, and its solutions will interest everyone”[^18].   Through this rhetoric, Zionism adopted the same political line as fascism. 

Dr. Joachim Prinz, born in 1902 in Bielsko, Silesia, Germany. One of the leaders of Zionism, vice-chairman of the World Jewish Congress, and member of the World Zionist Organization. Opposed to the Nazis, emigrated to the United States in 1937. Died in Livingston, New Jersey, USA, in 1988.

  On June 21, 1933, Zionism finally officially announced its policy response to fascist rule: “Declaration of the Zionist Union on the status of Jews under the new German regime.” In this lengthy document, it was emphasized that “we believe that the principles of national fanaticism under the new regime make the implementation of a suitable solution possible”[^19]. In this document, Zionists used fascist terminology such as “blood and race connection,” reviewed the history of Jews in Germany, and, like Hitler, hypothesized a “special soul” for Jews. Then they stated: “For Jews, origin, religion, shared destiny, and self-awareness are crucial in shaping life. This requires overcoming individual egoism born in the liberal era, which should be achieved through collective solidarity and willingness to bear responsibility”[^20].   After advocating and reiterating fascist rhetoric, Zionists openly acknowledged the fascist state: “On the land of the racial new regime (i.e., Nazi Germany), we hope our community structure can also be based on race, so that we can contribute beneficially to our homeland within the fields assigned to us”[^21]. Finally, Zionists condemned the anti-fascist struggle against Hitler’s regime, which aimed at initiating an economic boycott of Nazi Germany in spring 1933. “Their anti-German propaganda is essentially anti-Zionist because Zionism does not want to fight but to persuade and build”[^22].   To fully understand the significance of the Zionist Union’s declaration, one must know what happened beforehand. By April 1, 1933, the first climax of the Holocaust had arrived, and Jews across Germany were suffering persecution. In early March 1933, Jews in German cities were subjected to abuse (for example, on March 11, 1933, Jewish shops in Braunschweig were looted; on March 13, Jewish lawyers were roughhandled in Breslau’s judicial hall). The fascist authorities enacted the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, which led to the dismissal of 2,000 Jewish scientists and scholars from German universities. The 18th Zionist Congress held in summer 1933 responded very calmly; during the congress on August 24, 1933, the leadership took action to stop discussions on the position of German Jews[^23]. The leadership also strongly and successfully prevented a resolution calling for a boycott of German goods, focusing instead on arranging Jewish immigration to Germany. Protests against Germany were kept to a minimum.  *On April 7, 1933, the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service was officially promulgated in the Reich Law Gazette. It was the first anti-Semitic racial law enacted by the Third Reich, prohibiting non-Aryans (i.e., Jews, communists, etc.) from holding public offices such as teachers, professors, and judges.*   The fascists rewarded the “restraint” of Zionists and allowed the Zionist Union to continue operating without hindrance. (At that time, all democratic and anti-fascist parties and organizations in Germany were under severe persecution, with their leaders and members imprisoned or sent to concentration camps). Meanwhile, fascists imposed various obstacles on non-Zionist organizations. These obstacles had the greatest impact on the Central Association, which before 1933 was already regarded by the Nazis as “their greatest Jewish enemy,” with many Nazi media examples to prove this[^24]. The Central Association constantly accused Zionists of being uninterested in the “(anti-fascist) struggle,” and of adopting an “indifferent policy” in the face of the growing fascist threat, because they felt it was none of their concern[^25].   On March 1, 1933, the Nazi SA occupied and shut down the Central Association’s council. On March 5, 1933, the Central Association in Thuringia was banned for “treason conspiracy.” At the same time, the Nazi state began persecuting other non-Zionist Jewish organizations, such as the Reichsbund jüdischer Frontsoldaten (Jewish Front Soldiers’ League) representing Jewish-German nationalists. The Verband nationaldeutscher Juden (Association of National German Jews) was also banned.   With Nazi support, Zionist leaders first gained dominance among German Jews. In autumn 1933, the “Reichsvertretung der Deutschen Juden” (Reich Representation of German Jews) was established, involving all major Jewish organizations, including the Central Association and the Zionist Union. The leader of the Reich Representation was Rabbi Leo Baeck, who reflected the contradictory attitude of the Reich Representation towards Zionism: Baeck served simultaneously as a member of the Central Association’s council and as the German chairman of the Zionist settlement fund “Jewish Foundation.” The newly established Reich Representation provided a broader platform for Zionist leaders’ activities.  *Dr. Leo Baeck, born in 1873 in Lissa, Prussia (now Leszno, Poland). Jewish rabbi, scholar, and theologian, leader of Reform Judaism, served as chairman of the Reich Representation/Alliance during WWII, representing and protecting German Jews until he was imprisoned in a concentration camp in 1943. Died in London, UK, in 1956.*   Although the Reich Representation is sometimes claimed to have been established under fascist influence, this is not true. Kurt Ball-Kaduri wrote: “The Reich Representation was established without any interference from the state; after its formation, the Interior Ministry was merely informed—Gestapo showed no interest at all”[^26]. It was not until July 4, 1939, that a decree was issued mandating the creation of the Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland (Reich Association of Jews in Germany), changing the organization’s name from the Representation to the Union. This decree required all Jews to register as members of the Reich Union. It also fulfilled Zionist goals with a second provision: “The aim of the Reich Union is to promote the emigration of all Jews”[^27].  *Kurt Ball-Kaduri, born in 1891 in Berlin, Germany. Tax lawyer, Israeli historian, joined Zionist organization in 1934. Died in 1976 in Tel Aviv, Israel.*   Nazi high command permitted various Zionist political activities. An example is a note made by the Bavarian Political Police on July 9, 1935: > “Zionist organizations sometimes raise funds from their members and sympathizers to encourage immigration, purchase land in Palestine, and garner support for settlement plans. These fundraising activities do not require government approval because they are conducted within the Jewish community. Moreover, for the state police, their fundraising meetings are harmless, as their purpose is to promote practical solutions to Jewish issues.”   After 1933, fascists allowed Zionists to continue their propaganda. Although all newspapers in Germany were under direct supervision of the Propaganda Ministry (Communist, Social Democratic, trade unions, and other progressive organizations were banned), the Zionist “Jüdische Rundschau” was not hindered in its publication.   Later, Winfried Martini, a Jerusalem correspondent for the “Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung,” who claimed close ties with Zionism, commented on a “paradox”: “During those years, among all newspapers, Zionist media enjoyed a certain degree of freedom compared to the non-Jewish media, which had no freedom at all”[^28]. He also said that “Jüdische Rundschau” often criticized the Nazis, but this did not lead to bans. It was only at the end of 1933 that the paper was prohibited from selling to non-Jews, in accordance with fascist wishes. The Nazis wanted Jews to convert to Zionism, even if it meant breaking with fascist policies.Due to conflicts, Jews should do the same. Thus, the once low-circulation *Jewish Review*[^29] entered a period of rapid growth. 

The Jewish Review issued on April 3, 1933, commented on the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses on April 1, with the famous slogan “Proudly wear the yellow star of David! (Tragt ihn mit Stolz, den gelben Fleck!)”.

On April 1, 1933, considering that the Jewish Review aligned with the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses, their joy at being on the fascist officials’ whitelist is understandable. The organized mass murder of German Jews provoked worldwide outrage, making all decent Germans angry and disgusted, but the Jewish Review did not strongly condemn this; in fact, the slaughter was described as confirming Zionist views: “Many deadly mistakes made by Jews are when they believe someone can represent Jewish interests, once they have nowhere to hide,” the Jewish Review commented on this slaughter: “April 1, 1933, is a day of Jewish awakening and Jewish revival”[^30].

Zionists’ freedom included publishing books and newspapers. Before 1938, many publishers (notably the Jewish publishers in Berlin-Charlottenburg (Jüdische Verlag in Berlin-Charlottenburg) and Schochen-Verlag, Berlin) could print Zionist works without hindrance. Therefore, under fascist Germany’s rule, works by Chaim Weizmann (Israel’s first president), David Ben-Gurion (Israel’s first prime minister), and Arthur Ruppin were entirely legal.

Arthur Ruppin, born in 1876 in Poznań, Prussia. Zionist thinker and leader, one of the founders of Tel Aviv, from 1908 head of the Jaffa office of the Zionist organization Palestine, known as the “father of Zionist settlement movement.” Died in Jerusalem in 1943.

Additional note: Arthur Ruppin believed that Jewish assimilation was intolerable, hoping to maintain Jewish identity by colonizing Palestine and gathering large numbers of Jews there; inspired by anti-Semitic thinkers including Nazis, he believed that to realize Zionism, the Jewish race needed to be pure, thus he encouraged European Jewish white immigration, opposing and discriminating against Ethiopian Jewish Black immigrants.

Capital Transfer

Nazi Germany’s rule also led to economic cooperation between fascists and Zionists. By May 1933, the Zionist citrus plantation company in Palestine, “Hanotea,” had already requested permission from the Reich Ministry of Economics to transfer capital from Germany, laying the foundation for the later Haavara Agreement.

“Hanotea” purchased German goods as needed, paying with German bank accounts of Jewish immigrants. These immigrants then left Germany and received land of equal value to their payments[^31]. For Zionist leaders, the experience of “Hanotea” seemed successful, and negotiations with the Reich Ministry of Economics began in summer 1933, culminating in the so-called Haavara Agreement.

The 1933 Haavara negotiations are a scene Zionists wish to conceal, as anti-fascist forces were attempting to initiate a boycott movement against Nazi Germany. Zionist leader Nahum Goldmann later wrote about this event:

“However, many Jewish organizations refused to join this boycott, either because many small Jewish companies acted as agents for large German enterprises, or because some Jewish organizations, especially in the U.S., believed organizing a boycott against a country engaged in normal trade with their own country (i.e., Germany), was unpatriotic[^32].”

This argument may be somewhat reasonable in some aspects, but it also conceals the truth: it was the Zionists who first tried to sabotage these boycott movements.

Nahum Goldmann, born in 1895 in Vitebsk, Belarus, Russian Empire. Zionist leader, founder and long-time chairman of the World Jewish Congress, mistakenly identified as a Communist agent by Nazis after the Beer Hall Putsch, attended his father’s funeral in Palestine in 1933, escaping Nazi arrest, and soon emigrated to the U.S. Died in Bad Reichenhall, Germany, in 1982.

There are several conflicting views about the signing of the Haavara Agreement. One view suggests it was initiated by the German Zionist alliance negotiating with fascist authorities, which attracted the interest of Eliezer Hoofien, then president of the Anglo-Palestine Bank. Reports say Hoofien traveled to Berlin before 1933 to negotiate with high officials of the Reich Ministry of Economics, such as Hans Hartenstein (likely head of the Foreign Exchange Management Office)[^33]. (Thus, the Haavara Agreement is also called the Hoofien Agreement, attributing all responsibility to Hoofien.) His involvement was necessary, as the agreement involved foreign exchange conversions requiring professional banking skills, and it is assumed that such an important negotiation could not have been initiated without Zionist institutional authorization. Other sources indicate that the negotiations in Berlin were led by Chaim Arlosoroff, director of the political department of the Jewish Agency[^34]. Ultimately, the 1935 agreement was officially approved by the World Zionist Congress![^34]

In the Israeli Knesset, during debates on Germany’s reparations agreement with Israel, the chairman of the Foreign and Security Affairs Committee, Meir Argov, stated at least this (June 30, 1959). It is also worth noting that Arlosoroff’s assassination raised suspicions of Nazi-German involvement. On June 16, 1933, Arlosoroff was murdered in his apartment by two unidentified assailants. His wife identified the killer as Abraham Stavsky, an active member of the Zionist Revisionist faction led by Vladimir Jabotinsky, which was the predecessor of the Irgun terrorist organization. Palestinian police arrested but soon released the suspects. A Zionist Israeli Labor Party police officer, Yahuda Tannenbaum-Arezki, claimed that despite Stavsky being explicitly accused, “Abraham Stavsky did not kill Arlosoroff; it was Arabs.” Vladimir Jabotinsky’s followers demanded “to find the real culprit among Arabs.” Interestingly, just a few days later, on July 7, 1933, David Ben-Gurion accused Jabotinsky of colluding with German fascists (perhaps to divert attention from his own Nazi connections). Albert M. Hyamson noted that Arlosoroff was assassinated days after returning from Germany.

Haim Arlosoroff, born in 1899 in Romny, Ukraine, Russian Empire. Socialist Zionist leader in Palestine, who fled with his family to the German Empire during childhood, showing strong Jewish identity early on, rapidly rising within the Zionist organization, seeking peace with Arabs but facing hostility. Murdered in Tel Aviv, British Mandate Palestine, in 1933.

According to Boyer-Kaduri, the Haavara Agreement was “concluded in the manner of a letter from the Reich Ministry of Economics to Mr. Hoofien.” Negotiations went smoothly because at that time, Nazis still inclined toward “Zionism (Jewish Nationalism)”[^35].

Eliezer Hoofien, born in 1881 in Utrecht, Netherlands. Accountant, emigrated to Ottoman Palestine in 1912, served as CEO and chairman of the Anglo-Palestine Bank from 1925 to 1957, which later became Israel’s largest bank—the Bank Leumi. Died in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1957.

According to the agreement made in Berlin, two companies were established: the Havara Trust and Capital Transfer Company in Tel Aviv and its sister company in Berlin—the Palästina Treuhandstelle zur Beratung Deutscher Juden (Paltreu). The transfer process was as follows: Jewish immigrants deposited funds (minimum about 1,000 pounds) into accounts opened by the Havara organization in Germany (Wassermann Bank in Berlin or Warburg Bank in Hamburg). With this money, Jewish importers could buy German goods for export to Palestine, while depositing an equivalent amount of Palestinian pounds (Palestinian Pound, exchange rate 1:1 with the pound) into the Havara account of the Anglo-Palestine Bank in Palestine. When immigrants arrived in Palestine, they received an equivalent amount of their German payments from the Havara account (Boyer-Kaduri commented: “after deducting quite high fees”)[^36].

The transfer agreement of the German Jewish consulting Palestine Trust.

After signing the Haavara Agreement, Zionists established their own Palestine shipping company, which bought the German passenger ship Hohenstein and renamed it Tel Aviv. In early 1935, this passenger ship departed from Bremerhaven, Germany, heading to Haifa, Palestine. During this voyage, the ship’s stern bore the Hebrew lettered name “Tel Aviv,” and a swastika flag fluttered on the mast; later, a passenger called this symbolic combination “metaphysically absurd”[^37]. The ship’s captain, Leidig, was a registered Nazi Party member!

Promotional poster for the ship “Tel Aviv.” The “Tel Aviv” belonged to German Jewish shipping magnate and WWI veteran Arnold Bernstein, who shifted from cargo to passenger shipping after the Great Depression in 1929, establishing the Palestine Shipping Company in 1934. He attempted to emigrate unsuccessfully in 1937 and was arrested by the Nazis; he successfully emigrated to the U.S. in 1939. Bernstein’s passenger empire was an important means for Jews to escape Nazi Germany.

The Haavara Agreement doomed the complete failure of economic resistance against Nazi Germany, and after the 1929 global economic crisis, international trade, affected by it, stagnated. In this context, the Haavara Agreement provided fascist Germany with a large and free export market[^38]. The German Interior Ministry Secretary Wilhelm Stuckart emphasized this in a memo. On December 17, 1937, he noted: “The main benefits of the Haavara are as follows: the influence of the Haavara group in Palestine led to unusual but expected incidents; Palestine is the only place where German goods are not boycotted by Jews…”[^39]. Meanwhile, the transfer process increased the number of German Jewish immigrants to Palestine, strengthening Zionist influence there. German immigrants also brought advanced economic knowledge, among other things[^38].

In any case, in May 1933, a trade analysis report presented to Hitler summarized: “Germany’s export prospects are extremely bleak. Not only is the political situation unsatisfactory, but the economic situation is as well.”

This also led to a “selectivity” in (immigrant) choices. Because the agreement required a minimum payment of 1,000 pounds, only members of the Jewish bourgeoisie could take advantage of this, while Jewish commoners were left to fate[^40]. Therefore, a fair evaluation of the Haavara in recent fascist racial policy reviews might be: “The demand that German Jews oppose the perpetrators’ unity principle was torn apart by capitalist interests. Money does not smell (Pecunia non olet). Meanwhile, the Jewish contractors aiming solely to transfer capital from fascist Germany to Palestine received high praise. It is claimed that the capital transferred to the Near East was for the benefit of Jews. However, in Palestine, these funds served the same purpose as when in Germany: profit for their owners”[^41].

⁴⁰ According to data from Kennzeichen J, the number of Jews leaving Germany each year was approximately: 23,000 in 1934; 20,000 in 1935; 23,000 in 1937; and 157,000 from January 1938 to September 1939. Despite Zionist propaganda, only a part of the total Jewish immigration to Palestine was from Germany (37% in 1934; 36% in 1935; 10.8% in 1937). Feilchenlfeld, Michaelis, and Pinner mention in their works on German Jewish immigration to Palestine that the Haavara transferred a total of 50,000 people. The Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel estimated that from 1933 to 1940, the total German Jewish immigrants to Palestine numbered about 70,000 (February 15, 1974). According to Zionist statements, about 25% of Jews immigrating from Germany to Palestine during this period. Considering the economic level as a starting point for the Haavara transfer, the proportion of immigrants with more than 1,000 Palestinian pounds increased from 10.3% in 1933 to 18.1% in 1936, while the proportion of Jewish workers decreased from 35.8% to 17.2%.

Such evaluations also confirm that “the international Zionist organization hoped that when German Jews immigrated to Palestine, they would not be destitute but rather capital owners who could help build a capitalist state.” Out of this hope, Zionists became interested in collaborating with anti-Semitic elements[^42].

In fact, before the founding of Israel, the Haavara transfer was a powerful driver of Zionist economics in Palestine. Zionist literature claims that a total of 139.6 million Reichsmarks were transferred from Germany to Palestine[^43], a huge sum at the time. Another source states the total transfer amount was 8 million pounds[^44]. Zionist capitalism thus grew. Most of Israel’s major industries were established or guided by German Jewish immigrants, which was no coincidence. Palestine’s largest foundry and cement industries were founded by Dr. Karl Landau, former chairman of Berlin’s Electricity and Water Company. Dr. Arnold Barth of Berlin, Dr. Siegfried Sahlheine of Hamburg, and Herbert Förder of Breslau were among the first organizers of Bank Leumi, Israel’s national bank. Fritz Naphtals of Berlin and George Josephthal of Nuremberg developed from the modest “Worker’s Bank” into a huge enterprise. Some of Israel’s most important companies were founded by Yekutiel Federmann and Sam Federmann from Chemnitz (called Karl-Marx-Stadt during the Cold War). In the 1962 Israeli edition of Who’s Who, Yekutiel was listed as the founder of the Israel Miami Group (which owns luxury hotels like the Dan Hotel); partner in Isasbest; co-founder of Israel Oil Prospectors Corp., Ltd., which launched the first oil drilling Mazal I; and president of many other companies.

Nazi Germany issued an exit passport to Jewish Betty Löwenstein, prohibiting her from re-entering Germany. The “J” above indicates her Jewish identity. Betty’s middle name is not Sara; Sara was a standardized name assigned to Jews by Nazi authorities.

The economic agreement between Zionists and Nazi Germany was approved by all Nazi institutions. As early as 1933, the German Foreign Ministry had repeatedly taken pro-Zionist stances (Haim Weizmann and Secretary of State von Schubert and von Bülow had multiple meetings)^[1].

In 1936, after the outbreak of the Palestinian Arab uprising, disputes arose among fascist agencies over the continuation of the Haavara transfer. Now, the Nazi Foreign Ministry realized that supporting Zionism would alienate Arabs — which was not in the interests of the Nazi Reich. German Consul General in Jerusalem, Walter Döhle, publicly voiced this view, stating in a comprehensive memo on March 22, 1937, that “continuing to support Jewish immigration… would only cause Germany to regain its position… heading toward an unfortunate end”^[2]. In adopting this stance, Döhle was not only worried about Arab reactions but also concerned about German fascist political interests. He added that Germany “need not overly worry about Arab sympathy for Germany, because what we need to do is not to promote a positive Arab policy but to avoid conspicuous support for establishing a Jewish homeland”^[3]. Döhle feared that “the political atmosphere among Arabs might change, and we could be accused of actively participating in their opposition”^[4].

Other fascist authorities shared Döhle’s concerns. The Nazi Foreign Office (responsible for diplomatic affairs) frankly stated: “Politically, it (the Haavara) means establishing a Jewish homeland with the valuable support of German capital”^[5].

The memorandum by Secretary of State Stuckart of the German Interior Ministry, already cited earlier, pointed out that since the Palestinian Arab uprising, “the advantages of the Haavara transfer have become increasingly small, and the disadvantages increasingly large”^[6].

Stuckart believed that if a Jewish state was unavoidable, “all measures that could promote its formation should be avoided.” He explicitly stated afterward: “Undoubtedly, the Haavara transfer contributed greatly to the rapid construction of Palestine (i.e., Zionist colonies). This transfer not only brought large sums of money (from Germany!), but also the most intelligent immigrants, and finally, it also brought necessary machinery and…**“Industrial equipment, also brought from Germany”^[7].

William Stuckart, born in 1902 in Westphalia, Prussia, German Empire. Nazi lawyer and jurist, State Secretary of the Imperial Interior Ministry, loyal supporter of Nazism, one of the notorious drafters of the Nuremberg Laws, supported the use of sterilization instead of extermination in concentration camps during the Wannsee Conference. Died in 1953 in Lower Saxony, Hanover, Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany).

  These officials’ concerns (as we will see, contradicting the views of the SS and Gestapo) were ultimately presented to Hitler. In the January 27, 1938 memorandum from the Political Trade Bureau of the Foreign Ministry, Hitler decided to continue the Havaara transfer^[8]. Facing complaints from the Foreign Ministry and Nazi foreign affairs agencies about the growing hostility of Palestinians towards Germany, Hitler’s attitude remained unchanged; he still decided to support Zionist colonization of Palestine. Therefore, the Foreign Office again demanded in a memorandum on November 12, 1938, that “action needs to be taken to cancel the Havaara agreement that should have been abolished long ago”^[9]. Jon Kimche and David Kimche confirmed the fact that Hitler “unequivocally ordered the promotion of large-scale Jewish immigration”^[10]. Hitler made a decision that “all means should be used to accelerate Jewish immigration. The Führer believes that these immigrants should first flow to Palestine, and this is beyond doubt”^[11]. Finally, during the Arab uprising from 1936 to 1939, the pro-Zionist stance of fascist officials was also confirmed by Winfrid Martini. As a correspondent for the “Deutsche Berichte” in Palestine, he reported that the uprising “obviously favored the Jewish side,” with no Nazi officials opposing this view^[12].

  Hitler remained the protector of the Havaara transfer, which was only halted after the outbreak of World War II^[13].

  ^[13:1] In 1941, the SS leader Himmler ordered a ban on German Jewish immigration.

A commemorative coin cast by the Nazis to commemorate the signing and implementation of the Havaara agreement, "metaphysically absurd".

Cooperation with Nazi Intelligence Departments

  In the early days of Nazi rule, Zionists maintained direct contact with German repression agencies, which later developed into loose cooperation between Zionist leaders and Nazi terror organizations (Gestapo, SS, etc.). Before 1933, Zionist Leo Plaut had already established contact with Rudolf Diels, a senior police official (probably a schoolmate of Plaut). When Diels was appointed chief of the secret police, he still maintained contact with Plaut. "In fact, Plaut even had Diels' secret phone number and could call him at any time"[^58]. These details are only speculative because related archives are locked in the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial archives in Jerusalem. However, it is said that through these contacts, the then Prussian Prime Minister Hermann Göring (later tried as a war criminal at Nuremberg and sentenced to death) arranged a meeting with Jewish leaders in Germany. The meeting was held on March 26, 1933. Among the Zionist representatives present was Kurt Blumenfeld, but he remained silent about this in his memoirs[^59].

Kurt Blumenfeld, born in 1884 in East Prussia, Germany. Served as Secretary-General of the World Zionist Organization from 1911 to 1914, and as its chairman from 1924 to 1933. Blumenfeld opposed anti-Nazi economic boycott, claiming: “Economic boycott would cause heavy losses to German Jews. It is of no benefit to us.” Died in Jerusalem in 1963.

  This contact was secretive, but there is evidence that Zionists and the SS (which led the entire police and secret service apparatus of the fascist state) were preparing for cooperation. Shortly after the fascist regime took power, the Nazi propaganda newspaper Der Angriff published a travel report from Palestine, describing Zionist colonization efforts in a positive tone. The report titled “Nazis Traveling to Palestine” was almost without criticism^[14].

  The author of the report used the pseudonym “Lim” (initials of Mildenstein) to conceal his true identity—Leopold Itz von Mildenstein, a lower-ranking SS-Untersturmführer (equivalent to second lieutenant). Mildenstein was active in the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), the security intelligence organization of the SS, initially a Nazi internal secret police, but from 1934 onward, it evolved into an important internal political secret police agency of the fascist dictatorship^[15]. It also became the political command and cadre-building organization of the fascist security police. Mildenstein wrote a series of straightforward pro-Zionist articles, which was not coincidental; since 1934, the SD’s Second Office established the Judenreferat (Jewish Affairs Office), which became his private domain. According to Martini, during his trip to Palestine, Mildenstein “was cautiously advised by Zionist leaders”^[16]. Before 1938, Mildenstein’s office was responsible for fascist Jewish policy, formulated by the central SS agency, which the SS magazine Das Schwarze Korps described as: “When the lost children of a thousand years return to Palestine, our wishes and the good will of the state will accompany them”^[17]. Some have tried to portray the SS’s pro-Zionist policy as Mildenstein’s personal attitude rather than reflecting official friendship between Zionists and fascists. However, not only do articles in Das Schwarze Korps contradict this view; years later, Mildenstein himself obtained the original report from Der Angriff for publication, but this time, he turned the pro-Zionist atmosphere into unabashed anti-Semitism^[18].

  [7] Leopold von Mildenstein’s book was published in 1941.

Leopold von Mildenstein, born in 1902 in Bohemia, Austria-Hungary. Joined the Nazi Party in 1929. In the 1930s, a leading Nazi supporter of Zionism, even learned Hebrew, traveled frequently to the Middle East (especially Palestine), and wrote a series of articles on Zionism and Palestinian immigration for Der Angriff. Died in 1968.

  During the visit of the head of the Jewish Affairs Office of the Reich Security Main Office to Palestine, those Zionist leaders who cautiously continued contact with the SS and the Reich Security Office were present. The detailed information about these contacts is difficult to find, as the related records are highly classified. Among the few accessible documents is a memorandum by Professor Franz-Alfred Six^[19], dated June 17, 1937, classified as “confidential”^[20]. This memorandum records information about Zionist envoy Feivel Polkes visiting Berlin. Polkes was an officer in the underground Zionist militia Haganah, holding the rank of lieutenant colonel^[21]. The successor to Mildenstein as head of the Jewish Affairs Office was SS-Oberscharführer Herbert Hagen, who claimed in the document that Polkes “led all Jewish self-defense organizations in Palestine”^[22].

^[19:1] Professor Franz-Alfred Six was born on December 8, 1909. Joined the Nazi Party in 1930. In 1936, promoted to SS-Hauptsturmführer (equivalent to captain), and served as director of the Central Media and Library Department of the Reich Security Main Office. Later promoted to head of the Second Department of the Reich Security Main Office (domestic). In April 1948, sentenced to 20 years in prison for war crimes by the American tribunal; reduced to 10 years in January 1951, released on September 30, 1952. Israeli pursuit of Nazi war criminals showed no interest in Six, who knew about the secret cooperation between Zionists and fascists.

*

^[20:1] This memorandum is stored by the American War Documents Research Committee in Alexandria, Virginia. Some documents are also available via microfilm at other archives (named: Records of the Reich Leader of the SS and Chief of German Police, Washington, 1958). The referenced files can be found in SS Reichsführer microfilm reel 411, frames 2936012 and 2936069. Alwin Ramme, in his book “The Security Service of the SS,” page 21, wrote: “It is difficult to evaluate these films, partly because of poor quality. Those documents that reveal secrets are often poorly shot and hard to read—absolutely not accidental by those responsible” (National Archives, Washington).

^[21:1] According to recent data, Feivel Polkes (1976) lives in Haifa. Tuvia Friedman, director of the Haifa Documentation Institute (“Ich Jagte Eichmann” author), mentioned in a letter dated January 25, 1970, that files about Polkes’ visit to Berlin were well known in Israel since 1947; he also stated that he had spoken with Polkes, who claimed it was all “a misunderstanding.” Friedman added that due to the lack of original documents, only copies are available for review, making verification difficult.

Herbert Hagen, born in 1913 in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Joined the SS department in Kiel in 1933, joined the Nazi Party in 1937, transferred to the Jewish Affairs Office the same year, and met with Eichmann in the Middle East. In 1937, established the Central Office for Jewish Immigration in Vienna with Eichmann. Died in 1999 in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

  In Palestine, Polkes maintained close contact with Dr. Reichert, a reporter for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA), who was part of the Reich Security Office’s Palestinian espionage network. This network was led by Otto von Bodelschwingh, a security agent disguised as a salesman living in Haifa. The visa for Polkes’ trip to Germany was arranged by Dr. Reichert.

  Between February 26 and March 2, 1937, Polkes had several meetings in Berlin with representatives of the Nazi regime’s Reich Security Office, including two with SS-Hauptscharführer Adolf Eichmann, who was working in the Jewish Affairs Office at the time. During these meetings, Polkes proposed cooperation with the German regime, telling Eichmann that his main interest was “accelerating Jewish immigration to Palestine to establish a majority over Arabs there. To do this, he cooperated with intelligence agencies of Britain and France, and he also hoped to work with Hitler’s Germany”^[23]. The report on Polkes’ visit to Berlin continued: “Polkes also claimed that, as long as it did not conflict with his personal goals, he was willing to provide intelligence to Germany… and he was eager to support German interests in the Middle East”^[24]. Heinz Höhne commented on Polkes’ proposal: “…this was backed by the Haganah’s immigration policy”^[25].

Adolf Eichmann, born in 1906 in Solingen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Joined the Nazi Party in 1932, one of the main organizers and perpetrators of the Holocaust. Known for organizing and implementing the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question.” Executed in 1962 in Ramla, Israel after trial.

  The SS immediately expressed cooperation intentions based on Six’s instructions. At this point, the Nazis were pressuring the German Jewish community to emigrate to Palestine rather than other countries. This was exactly what Zionists wanted, but Six added: “This measure fully aligns with German interests; the Gestapo has already implemented it”^[26].

  Major Feivel Polkes of Haganah used his own way to promote cooperation between Zionists and fascists; he even invited Eichmann as a guest of Haganah to visit Palestine. Six pointed out: “During the preparatory contact work, SS-Oberscharführer Eichmann was the top candidate. During his stay in Berlin, Eichmann met with him and, at his invitation, visited Jewish colonies in Palestine under his guidance”^[27].

Feivel Polkes, born in 1900 in Lviv, Galicia, Austria-Hungary. During WWII, a Zionist underground militia member responsible for contacts with Eichmann and Hagen. Died in 1982 in Ramot Saloon, Israel.

  Eichmann and Hagen’s trip to Palestine was a chapter in the history of Zionist and Nazi cooperation. However, it is both significant and revealing of hidden truths, and has become a target of numerous fabrications. Zionist writers have not acknowledged that notorious Jewish assassin Adolf Eichmann was once invited by Haganah to Palestine; instead, they try to deny this accusation, claiming Eichmann’s trip was to contact Arab rebels in Palestine or to conspire with Grand Mufti Amin al-Husseini (Hajj, meaning “pilgrim” in Arabic, as he had made a pilgrimage to Mecca). The story’s origin appears to be the famous Zionist Simon Wiesenthal, who in 1947 claimed Eichmann had established an agent network in Sarona, Palestine, and contacted the “Grand Mufti”^[28]. In 1951, Leon Poliakov published a similar story in Die Welt^[29], and two years later, Gerald Reitlinger borrowed this story in his book “The Final Solution”^[30]. In Reitlinger’s book, Eichmann was supposedly sent to Palestine “to contact Arab rebels.” Since then, various rumors have circulated, with Quentin Reynolds even claiming Eichmann met the Grand Mufti^[31]. Biographer Comer Clarke further claimed Eichmann took 50,000 marks of “Nazi gold” to aid Arab rebels in Palestine^[32].

  When these rumors are compared with facts, one reason why the Israeli government was eager to prosecute Eichmann in Israel rather than elsewhere becomes apparent: only in Israel could the Zionist-Nazi connection be concealed^[33]. During the trial, Eichmann was pressured to give false testimony. “It’s true,” Eichmann testified, “that one of the purposes of the 1937 Palestine trip was to contact Grand Mufti Amin al-Husseini”^[34]. However, Eichmann and Hagen’s travel reports found in the secret archives of SS leader Himmler tell a different story^[35]. The key points of the travel report: On September 26, 1937, Eichmann and Hagen left Berlin, disguised as editors of Berliner Tageblatt, arriving in Haifa on October 2, 1937, aboard the Romanian ship. Due to the British authorities’ refusal (because of the Arab uprising) to allow the two SS envoys to disembark, Eichmann and Hagen turned to Egypt. There, they did not meet Amin al-Husseini but their old acquaintance, Haganah officer Feivel Polkes.

^[33:1] The prosecution in the Eichmann case presented a document allegedly written by Amin al-Husseini, calling Eichmann “the pearl of the Arabs.” This “evidence” was a crude forgery; even the pro-Israel “Report” concluded on June 28, 1961, that “the value of this document is doubtful.” Hannah Arendt wrote in her “Eichmann in Jerusalem” that one of the motives for Israel’s approval of Eichmann was “to uncover other Nazis, such as the connections between Nazis and some Arab rulers” (page 8). But Hannah Arendt ultimately concluded that the claim Eichmann contacted Amin al-Husseini was “baseless” (page 10).

^[36] Gerald Reitlinger claims so (see “The Final Solution,” Berlin, 1956, p. 29).

Amin al-Husseini, born in 1897 in Ottoman Jerusalem. Completed the pilgrimage to Mecca in 1913, earning the honorific “Hajj.” Joined the Ottoman army during WWI. Appointed Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in 1921, promoted Arab nationalism, opposed Zionism, fought against Britain and Zionists, participated in the 1941 Iraq coup, fled to Germany after failure. Died in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1974.

  Eichmann and Hagen’s travel report accurately reflects their conversations at Groppi Café in Cairo on October 10-11, 1937. Polkes immediately candidly explained Zionist plans to SS personnel (the statements recorded by Eichmann and Hagen about Polkes’ remarks are not only interesting regarding Zionist-Nazi cooperation but also serve as important evidence of Zionist expansion policies): “All means must be used to quickly establish a Zionist state to attract large Jewish immigration to Palestine.” When the Jewish state was established based on the Peel Commission^[37] proposals and some British commitments, its borders could be expanded as desired^[37:1]. After the Arab uprising in 1937, Robert PeelSir Lord Robert Peel chaired a Royal Commission to review the situation in Palestine, and discussed the first plan to partition Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state.

The 1937 Peel Plan for the partition of Palestine, blue for the Jewish state, red for the Arab state, yellow for the British-controlled international zone.

  Polkes then praised the consequences of German anti-Jewish terror actions: “Germany’s extreme anti-Jewish policies make nationalist Jewish circles extremely happy, because this policy will increase the Jewish population in Palestine, so that in the foreseeable future, the Jews in Palestine will outnumber the Arabs.”

  Polkes again pointed out that the speed of expelling Jews from Germany must be accelerated, and reiterated his willingness to provide secret intelligence to the Imperial Security Service. As Eichmann pointed out in his travel report, he immediately produced two pieces of “intelligence.” The first aimed to arouse fascist hostility towards the Arab nationalist movement. Eichmann recorded: “According to Polkes’ intelligence, there are direct contacts between the Pan-Islamic World Congress held in Berlin and two pro-Soviet Arab leaders, Shakib Arslan and Adil Arslan.” The second piece of intelligence in Eichmann’s travel report concerned a party that had explicitly pledged to stand at the forefront of anti-fascist tyranny and oppose anti-Semitic atrocities: the German Communist Party. “According to Polkes’ intelligence, the Communist Party’s illegal radio transmission power in Germany is very strong, and they will assemble radio stations on trucks and then drive along the Germany-Luxembourg border while broadcasting.” (This intelligence is very interesting; it allows us to understand how Zionist leaders viewed their allies and enemies!)

Shakib Arslan, born in 1869 in Ottoman Empire’s Choueifat. Coming from nobility, he was also called the “Eloquent Emir” due to his literary accomplishments. He strongly supported Abdul Hamid II’s Pan-Islamic policies and the continuation of the Ottoman Empire. After WWI, he was expelled by the French, and mainly served as an unofficial representative for Syria and Palestine in the League of Nations in Geneva. Died in Beirut in 1946.

  The meeting between Eichmann and Polkes was not an isolated case. Several such meetings can be classified within the framework of long-term cooperation between fascists and Zionists. After Eichmann and Hagen, the “Illegal Immigration Organization (Mossad l’Aliyah Bet)” consolidated this cooperation. When Britain imposed restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine through the Peel Plan, Haganah created an illegal immigration organization with the goal, as the name suggests. By late 1937, after Eichmann’s months-long visit, the organization’s envoys began activities in the building of the German Jewish Imperial League at 10 Marienstraße, Charlottenburg, Berlin^[38], with permission from the Berlin fascist authorities. Two envoys—Pina Ginsburg and Moshe Auerbach—traveled from Palestine to Germany for this purpose.

  Jon Quince and David Quince recorded in their book “Secret Roads” the date of Ginsburg’s arrival in Berlin in the summer of 1938^[39]. Ginsburg, as an envoy of the “Union of Communal Settlements,” officially introduced himself to the Gestapo, announcing that he had a special mission aligned with Nazi intentions: organizing German Jewish immigration to Palestine. Only with the support of Nazi leaders could this project be carried out on a large scale^[40]. The Gestapo then discussed “how to counter the British-controlled government and encourage and increase illegal Jewish immigration to Palestine.”

  Meanwhile, fascist authorities began to change their methods of oppressing German Jews. They no longer allowed Zionist organizations to independently arrange immigration to Palestine. In Vienna (March 1938, when Germany annexed Austria), the “Central Office for Jewish Emigration” was established, led by Adolf Eichmann. In early summer 1938, Eichmann met another envoy from the Killeh organization (Mossad Bar-Gilead) in Vienna. The latter requested the establishment of training camps for immigrants to lay the groundwork for their work in Palestine^[41]. After passing this request to Berlin, Eichmann approved and supported all necessary arrangements for establishing the training camps. By the end of 1938, about 1,000 young Jews were trained in these camps^[42].

^[42:1] Even during Eichmann’s interrogation, this meeting was not mentioned at all.

Aliyah Bet, transliterated as “Aliyah Bet” (Aliyah meaning ascent/sublimation, opposite to Yerida, meaning descent or fall), representing Jewish return to homeland, Bet indicating its secret/illegal nature. Between 1880 and 1948, there were five large-scale Aliyah movements. The picture shows the 1939 “Tiger Mountain” ship stranded in Jaffa, responsible for transporting immigrants from Romania.

  At the same time, Ginsburg in Berlin established similar training camps with Nazi assistance. Jon Quince and David Quince wrote: “That Palestinian (referring to Ginsburg) preparing everything in Berlin has no conscience at all; he doesn’t oppose dining with demons, only thinking about taking his share”^[43].

  Hannah Arendt commented on the information from the Quince brothers in her book “Eichmann in Jerusalem”:

  … These Jews from Palestine speak words no different from Eichmann’s… They were sent to European Jewish communities by the Palestine settlement, and they are not interested in rescuing Jews; they think it’s not their job. They want to choose “suitable materials,” and their greatest enemies… are not those who prevent Jews from surviving in their homeland—Germany and Austria—but those who prevent Jews from entering their new homeland; the enemy is definitely Britain, not Germany… They may be among the first Jews to openly discuss common interests…^[44]

Proposal to Form a War-time Alliance with Hitler

  Although the majority of Zionist movements, such as the left-wing Labor faction led by Ben-Gurion and the liberal centrist faction led by Weizmann, carefully disguise their contacts with fascists and publicly oppose the Nazis, the right-wing revisionist Zionists (including the terrorist organization Irgun (Irgun Zvai Leumi, meaning National Military Organization) and the precursor of the Herut Party) before 1933, openly expressed admiration for Hitler or Mussolini on many occasions. An example is a 1932 trial in Jerusalem, where Cohen, a lawyer and member of the revisionist faction, defended the perpetrators of a university riot, claiming: “Yes, we respect Hitler very much. Hitler saved Germany. Without him, Germany would perish in four years. As long as Hitler drops his anti-Semitism, we can get along well with him”^[45].

The two major Zionist terrorist organizations: on the left, the emblem of Irgun (National Military Organization), on the right, the emblem of Lehi (Israel Freedom Fighters).

  The then-revisionist leader Vladimir Jabotinsky maintained good relations with fascist movements in Europe^[46]; he was also accused of seeking close ties with Nazi Germany. There was a clear competition among different Zionist factions regarding clandestine cooperation with fascists (consider the situation when Haim Aloxorov was assassinated). The Zionist newspaper “Davar” published a serious accusation in July 1933: “…After Hitler came to power, the persecution of Jews and Marxists peaked, Vladimir Jabotinsky arrived in Berlin and openly delivered reactionary speeches inciting against Marxists and communists among Zionists and in Palestine”^[47]. If true, this would mean Jabotinsky sought to sabotage negotiations between Zionists and fascists to replace himself as Nazi negotiator. Nonetheless, Jabotinsky vigorously denied Cohen’s accusations, stating that he delivered a speech on April 28, 1933, on Radio Warsaw, calling for a worldwide economic boycott of Germany and establishing a Jewish state in Palestine “as the only proper response to Hitler’s threat”^[48]. This clearly hints at the Havara negotiations supported by most Zionists. But Jabotinsky could not deny that the revisionist newspaper “Hazit Haam” in Palestine allegedly “approached fascist movements with unabashed sympathy and understanding.” The editor… was told that although they knew Hitler was fanatically anti-Semitic, they saw elements of genuine national liberation within Nazism^[49].

^[46:1] Italian dictator Mussolini supported the revisionists for a period and allowed them to establish a naval training school in Italy. In 1932, Jabotinsky proposed that Palestine be administered by Italy, as Mussolini was more willing than the British to promote a Jewish state.

Vladimir Jabotinsky, born in 1880 in Odessa, Russian Empire, later renamed Ze’ev Jabotinsky. Founder and leader of Zionist revisionism, a British soldier, co-founded the Jewish Legion in the British Army during WWI with Trumpler. After the war, established several Jewish organizations in Palestine, including Betar and Irgun. After organizing anti-British uprisings failed, he went into exile. Died around 1940 [note: uncertain].

  For fascist Germany, cooperation with the majority of Zionists was undoubtedly more important than with the revisionist “minority opposition.” Nevertheless, revisionist members were still allowed to operate in Germany. The youth organization “Betar” (Hebrew initials, named after Zionist hero Joseph Trumpeldor) was the only illegal fascist organization in Germany permitted to wear uniforms (Schechtmann mentioned in his report that it “was integrating some features of the Nazi regime”).^[50]

  Finally, a year and a half after the outbreak of WWII (by which time Nazi Germany had begun the Holocaust), Irgun even planned to cooperate with Nazi fascists, proposing an incredible alliance initiative. (Irgun was part of the State of Israel, split from Haganah, later merged back in 1948; its long-time leader Menachem Begin served as Prime Minister from 1967 to 1970, and in 1976 led the Likud party in the Israeli Knesset).

Menachem Begin, born in 1913 in Brest, Belarus, then part of the Russian Empire. Became a Polish citizen after WWI, joined Zionist movement at age 10, fled to Lithuania during the German invasion of Poland, later arrested by Soviet police and sent to Siberia. Participated in the Soviet Army after the Soviet-German war broke out, joined Irgun in 1943, served as commander, engaged in terrorist activities. Died in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1992.

  In January 1941, a few months before proposing cooperation, the pro-British Irgun faction and the anti-pro-British majority faction split. Avraham Stern, a key figure in the anti-British faction, played an important role; his anti-British activists made cooperation proposals to the Nazi regime.

  This proposal was extended into a document, the details of which remain highly classified as of 1976. It was excerpted from a report by the German naval attaché at the German embassy in Turkey, responsible for handling secret missions. The report, still stored in a secret archive in the UK, describes contact details between the attaché and Irgun envoys. The memorandum of January 11, 1941, discussed the “basic features of the initiative,” concerning “the solution of the European Jewish problem and how Irgun actively cooperates with Germany.”

  The text of the memorandum reads:

  In speeches and statements by leading Nazi politicians, it is often pointed out that the complete solution of the Jewish problem through evacuation is a prerequisite for the new European order (Judenreines Europa).

  The evacuation of European Jews is a prerequisite for solving the Jewish problem; but it can only be achieved by settling these populations in their homeland—the Jewish homeland—and establishing a Jewish state according to historical borders.

  After confirming the common basic views of Zionism and Nazism in this way, Irgun activists proposed an alliance with the Nazis, as the subsequent text of the document states:

  Solving the Jewish problem through (evacuation of Jews) and thereby achieving the liberation of the Jews once and for all is the goal of Irgun’s political activity and long-term struggle. Irgun is very familiar with the Nazi German government’s goodwill towards Zionist movements and Zionist immigration plans (1933–1939 fascist-Zionist cooperation), and our opinion is as follows:

  1. Based on the German concept of establishing a new order in Europe, there can be common interests between this and the true national aspirations of the Jewish people as embodied by Irgun.

  2. Cooperation may be possible between the new Germany and the revival of the Hebrew nation (Völkisch Nationalen Hebraertum), and

  3. A Jewish state founded on nationalism and totalitarianism, with a long history, will be bound by treaties signed with Nazi Germany, which will serve to maintain and strengthen Germany’s future influence in the Near East.

  Therefore, this initiative proposed establishing a fascist Jewish state in Palestine as an ally of German fascism!

  “These proposals mean that if the German government recognizes the above-mentioned Jewish liberation movement’s national aspirations, Irgun in Palestine will join Germany in the war.” After proposing to cooperate with Nazi fascists to oppose anti-Hitler groups, Irgun made more specific suggestions in the document:

  Irgun’s cooperation proposal extends to military, political, and intelligence aspects, and preparations outside Palestine will be led and commanded by Irgun, organizing Jewish manpower in Europe for military training. If the Germans want to conquer Palestine, these military units will join this front.

  The Israeli Freedom Movement will indirectly participate in shaping the new European order, which is already in preparation. We will respond to the Jewish people’s national aspirations with active racial solutions to Europe’s Jewish problem. In the eyes of the world, this will elevate the moral foundation of the new order to an extraordinary level.

  The cooperation of the Israeli Freedom Movement is also consistent with the recent speech of Nazi Germany’s Chancellor, in which Hitler emphasized that Germany was willing to join any alliances to isolate and defeat Britain.

  This shocking document needs no further comment. It is only worth adding that anti-Semitism and the already initiated European Jewish clearance plan prevented Nazi Germany from accepting this alliance proposal. But two years later, Irgun began to carry out terrorist attacks against the British authorities in the Middle East, thereby weakening the anti-Hitler alliance’s fight against Nazi Germany, and weakening the struggle that could also save European Jews.

Avraham Stern, born in 1907 in Suwałki, Poland, Russian Empire. Nicknamed Yair. Immigrated to Palestine in 1925, joined Irgun in 1932, mainly promoted Jewish immigration and organized militias in Eastern Europe. Split from Irgun in 1940 to establish Lehi (meaning Israel Freedom Fighters), aiming to overthrow Britain by force. Killed by Palestinian police in 1942.

Conclusion

  Whenever stories of fascist cooperation with Zionism are exposed, Zionist writers often use the convenient excuse that contact with Nazis was only to save Jewish lives. Despite some facts contradicting this argument, two questions remain: Was there really no other way to save European Jews? Was this truly the real motive behind Zionists’ dealings with the devil?

  Undoubtedly, the only possible way to prevent the slaughter of millions of Jews (and the second world war that took countless lives) was to overthrow the fascist dictatorship as soon as it began to rule. But Zionist leaders were not interested—they only aimed to increase the Jewish population in Palestine. When Zionists supported Nazi anti-assimilation views, fascist dictatorship was not a disaster for them but a confirmation of their stance. As David Ben-Gurion said: “The disaster (Nazi rise to power) that Zionism could not accomplish for years was achieved overnight.”^[51]

The founding father David Ben-Gurion on the Israeli Lira in 1967, born in 1886 in Płock, Poland, then part of the Russian Empire. A moderate Zionist left-winger, immigrated to Palestine in 1906, became a local Jewish community leader, organized a trade union in 1921, served as the executive chairman of the World Zionist Organization in 1946, proclaimed the founding of Israel on May 14, 1948, and served as Israel’s Prime Minister for many years. Died in 1992 in Tel Aviv.

*

  Zionist leaders not only did not oppose fascism; they even took actions to sabotage the anti-fascist front (organizing economic boycotts through the Havara agreement). They actually rejected plans to save German Jews simply because these plans did not include settling Jews in Palestine. An example is the Evian Conference (Evian-les-Bains, on the France-Switzerland border): after 1933, when most capitalist countries refused to accept Jewish refugees from Germany, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called an international conference on refugee issues in Evian, France. The conference was held from June 6 to 15, 1938, with 32 capitalist countries participating. The conference failed because the participating countries refused to accept Jewish refugees. People might think Zionist representatives at the conference would pressure these countries to lift restrictions, but in fact, Zionist leaders proposed at the start that 1.2 million Jews be admitted into Palestine. They were not interested in other solutions, as Christopher Sykes later commented: "They started with the indifference…"The attitude was hostile towards the entire conference… The truth is, the goals of the Evian Conference were not aligned with the principles of Zionism^[52].

American industrialist Myron Taylor delivered a speech at the Evian Conference. The conference was attended by 32 countries and 24 organizations, but most countries refused to accept Jewish refugees, and the UK and the US were not proactive, leading to its eventual cancellation. Hitler had expressed willingness to assist Jewish refugees in leaving Germany, and the Nazis later used the failure of the conference for propaganda.

   Therefore, the leaders of Zionism bear joint responsibility for not saving more European Jews. People should remember that those who survived under the terrible fascist regime owe their lives to anti-fascist fighters, especially Soviet soldiers, many of whom sacrificed their lives in the fight to defeat fascist dictatorship.

   Today (1976), Zionist leaders still claim that, besides Zionists, no one stood with persecuted Jews during the fascist years, thus they distort history. Robert Welch himself did not have a clear anti-fascist stance in 1933; he argued that there was no persecution of Jews in Germany^[53].

   However, studies of historical documents show this is incorrect. Besides many personal acts of help to victims, at the beginning of fascist dictatorship, the German Communist Party condemned anti-Semitic atrocities as an inseparable part of the fascist government in power. In 1932, the German Zionist Youth Organization Hashomer Hatzair still declared, “Volunteer immigrants (Chaluzian) youth^[54] go to join the struggle of the German working class… this is not a way to express our political involvement”^[55], and for the Youth Organization, “opposing communists is extremely important”^[56]. The German Communist Party issued the following statement on the November 9, 1938, Jewish pogrom: “The German working class stands at the forefront of resisting the persecution of Jews… Germany will be liberated from the shame of the Jewish Holocaust, a moment that will coincide with the liberation of the German people from Nazi (brown) tyranny”^[57].

^[53:1] Chaluzian means Zionist volunteers who immigrated voluntarily.

   The German Communists called for the establishment of an anti-fascist united front, but Zionists were not interested. In 1935, at the 19th Zionist Congress held in Lucerne, Haim Weizmann said: “The only dignified response to what happened to the Jews in Germany is to establish a beautiful and just homeland in the land of Israel (Eretz Israel)—a strong homeland”^[57:1].

*

Haim Weizmann, one of the founding fathers of Israel, born in 1874 in Motoly, Belarus, in the Russian Empire. A centrist Zionist, a chemist engaged in scientific research for a long time, helped draft the Balfour Declaration in 1917, served twice as chairman of the World Zionist Organization during World War II, and was a diplomat who met with the United

*President Truman was supported and served as the first president after the founding of Israel in 1948. He died in Rehovot, Israel, in 1952.
\n\n[^{1}]: Information Bulletin, Communist Party of Israel, 3-4, 1969, p. 196.
\n\n[^{2}]: Information Bulletin…, 3-4, 1969, p. 197.
\n\n[^{3}]: In the book Das Leben der Juden in Deutschland in Jahre 1933 (Life of the Jews in Germany in 1933) by Kurt-Jacob Ball-Kaduri (Frankfurt am Main, 1963), among others, the following “unpublished sources” are cited, which are kept in the Yad Vashem Archive in Jerusalem: “Contributions to the history of the Haavara transfers” by Dr. Leo David (YWA 01/277), “Negotiations with the Gestapo in Berlin about Emigration 1936-1938” (YWA 01/130), “Leo Plaut and the Gestapo Chief Diels in Berlin in the Years 1933/34” (YWA 01/229), all in German.
\n\n[^{4}]: These statistics are compiled according to Esta Bennathan. “Die demographische und wirtschaftliche Struktur der Juden,” Entscheidungsjahre, 1932. Zur Judenfrage in der Weimarer Republik (“The demographic and economic structure of the Jews,” in The Crucial Year, 1932, Concerning the Jewish Question in the Weimar Republic), Tübingen, 1966, pp. 89, 95.
\n\n[^{5}]: Dr. Alfred Wiener, Jüden und Araber in Palästina (Jews and Arabs in Palestine), Berlin, 1929, p. 36.
\n\n[^{6}]: According to Wiener, op. cit., p. 36.
\n\n[^{7}]: Quoted from Kurt Loewenstein, Die innerjüdische Reaktion auf die Krise der deutschen Demokratie (The Internal Jewish Reaction to the Crisis of German Democracy), in The Crucial Year 1932, p. 363.
\n\n[^{8}]: Quoted from Dr. Alfred Wiener, Kritische Reise durch Palästina (Critical Journey through Palestine), Berlin, 1927, p. 8.
\n\n[^{9}]: Werner E. Mosse, Der Niedergang der deutschen Republik und die Juden (The fall of the German Republic and the Jews) in The Crucial Year 1932, p. 38.
\n\n[^{10}]: Gerhard Holdheim, Der Zionismus in Deutschland (Zionism in Germany) in Süddeutsche Monatshefte 12/1930, p. 855.
\n\n[^{11}]: Alfred Rosenberg, Die Spur des Juden im Wandel der Zeiten (The Trail of the Jews in the Changing Ages), Munich, 1937, p. 153.
\n\n[^{12}]: Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem (London, 1963), p. 53.
\n\n[^{13}]: CV-Zeitung, IX, July 11, 1930.
\n\n[^{14}]: Minutes of the Session are in the Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem, quoted by Kurt Loewenstein in The Crucial Year 1932, p. 388.
\n\n[^{15}]: Christopher Sykes, Crossroads to Israel (London, 1965); German edition Kreuzwege nach Israel (Munich, 1967), p. 151.
\n\n[^{16}]: Quoted from Hans Lamm, Uber die innere und äussere Entwicklung des Deutschen Judentums im Dritten Reich (On internal and external development of German Jewry in the Third Reich), inaugural dissertation, Philosophische Fakultät der Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen, 1951, p. 161.
\n\n[^{17}]: Hans Lamm, ibid.
\n\n[^{18}]: Hans Lamm, op. cit., p. 156.
\n\n[^{19}]: Quoted from In Zwei Welten. Siegfried Moses zum 75. Geburtstag (In Two Worlds. For the 75th birthday of Siegfried Moses), Tel Aviv, 1962, pp. 118 ff.
\n\n[^{20}]: “Äußerung der Zionistischen Vereinigung für Deutschland zur Stellung der Juden im neuen deutschen Staat” (Statement of the Zionist Union of Germany regarding the position of Jews in the new German state), published in Zwei Welten, Siegfried Moses zum 75. Geburtstag (Tel Aviv, 1962), p. 118 ff.
\n\n[^{21}]: Ibid.
\n\n[^{22}]: Ibid.
\n\n[^{23}]: See Joseph B. Schechtman, Fighter and Prophet. The Vladimir Jabotinsky Story (New York/London: 1961), p. 194.
\n\n[^{24}]: Arnold Paucher, Der jüdische Abwehrkampf gegen Antisemitismus und Nationalsozialismus in den letzten Jahren der Weimarer Republik (The Jewish Struggle against anti-Semitism and National Socialism in the Last Years of the Weimar Republic), Hamburg, 1968, p. 32.
\n\n[^{25}]: Arnold Paucher, op. cit., p. 43.
\n\n[^{26}]: Ball-Kaduri, op. cit., p. 147.
\n\n[^{27}]: Reichsgesetzblatt (Reich Law Bulletin) Part I, No. 118/1939, pp. 1097 ff.
\n\n[^{28}]: Winfried Martini, Hitler und die Juden (Hitler and the Jews) in Christ und Welt, Stuttgart, June 16, 1961
\n\n[^{29}]: Ball-Kaduri, op. cit., p. 91.
\n\n[^{30}]: Jüdische Rundschau, April 4, 1933.
\n\n[^{31}]: See Werner Feilchenfeld, Dolf Michaelis, Ludwig Pinner, Haavara Transfer nach Palästina und Einwanderung deutscher Juden, 1933-1939. (Haavara Transfer to Palestine and the Immigration of German Jews, 1933-1939), Tübingen, 1973.
\n\n[^{32}]: Nahum Goldmann, Staatsman ohne Staat (Cologne/Berlin, 1970), p. 197. (The Autobiography of Nahum Goldmann)
\n\n[^{33}]: Ball-Kaduri, op. cit., p. 155.
\n\n[^{34}]: This is at least what the chairman of the Commission for Foreign and Security Affairs of the Israeli Knesset, Meir Argov, said in a parliamentary debate over the reparations agreement between Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany (minutes of the Knesset on June 30, 1959). It remains to be said that the sudden assassination of Arlosoroff gave rise to the assumption that it could have been connected with the negotiations with Nazi Germany. Arlosoroff was killed in his flat on June 16, 1933, by two unidentified persons. His wife identified the murderer as a certain Abraham Stavsky, who was an active member of the Revisionist party led by Vladimir Jabotinsky (this party being the precursor of the Irgun). The Palestinian police arrested those suspected of the murder but released them shortly afterward. The police officer Yahuda Tannenbaum-Arezki, who belonged to the Zionist Mapai Party, declared despite the clear identification of Stavsky that “Abraham Stavsky did not kill Arlosoroff, Arabs did.” Vladimir Jabotinsky himself demanded “to look for the murderers among the Arabs.” But interestingly, a few days later - on July 7, 1933 - David Ben Gurion accused Jabotinsky of collaborating with the German fascists (to divert attention from his own collaboration?). See in this connection Joseph B. Schechtman’s book, op. cit., pp. 185, 202, 203. Also Albert M. Hyamson, Palestine under the Mandate (London, 1950), who observed that Arlosoroff was murdered “a few days after his return from Germany.”
\n\n[^{35}]: Ball-Kaduri, op. cit., p. 155.
\n\n[^{36}]: Ibid.
\n\n[^{37}]: Winfried Martini, Hebräisch unterm Hakenkreuz (Hebrew under the Swastika), in Die Welt, Hamburg, January 10, 1975.
\n\n[^{38}]: Nevertheless, in a report analyzing German exports laid before Hitler towards the end of May 1933, it was concluded that: “The prospects for the sale of German goods abroad are extremely bad. The situation is not only politically unsatisfactory but also economically so” (quoted in Kurt Patzold’s Faschismus, Rassenwahn, Judenverfolgung (Fascism, Racial Madness, Persecution of the Jews), Berlin, 1975, p. 123).
\n\n[^{39}]: Quoted from Kennzeichen J (Mark J), (Berlin: Helmut Eschwege, 1966), p. 132.
\n\n[^{40}]: According to statements from Kennzeichen J, the annual number of Jews leaving Germany was: 1934, about 23,000; 1935, 20,000; 1937, 23,000; and from January 1938 to September 1939, 157,000. Despite Zionist efforts, only part of this total emigrated to Palestine (in 1934, 37 percent; in 1935, 36 percent; and in 1937, 10.8 percent). Feilchenfeld, Michaelis, and Pinner, in their aforementioned book, give the number of Jewish Germans who immigrated to Palestine via the Haavara transfer as 50,000. The newspaper Tagesspiegel, published in Berlin, estimated the total number of German emigrants to Palestine between 1933 and 1940 as 70,000 (Tagesspiegel, February 15, 1974). According to Zionist statements, immigrants from Germany made up around 25 percent of the total Jewish immigrants in Palestine during this period. Analyzing the social strata of these immigrants in the context of the Haavara transfers shows that the proportion of immigrants with more than a thousand Palestinian pounds increased from 10.3 percent of all immigrants in 1933 to 18.1 percent in 1936, while the number of Jewish workers immigrating decreased from 35.8 percent to 17.2 percent in the same period. See Dr. T. Canaan, Conflicts in the Land of Peace (Jerusalem, 1936), p. 41.
\n\n[^{41}]: Kurt Patzold, op. cit., p. 190.
\n\n[^{42}]: Kurt Patzold, op. cit., p. 277.
\n\n[^{43}]: See Feilchenfeld et al., p. 277.[^44]: Meyer Weisgal y Joel Carmichael (Editores), Chaim Weizmann, Una biografía por varias manos (Nueva York, 1961), p. 232.

---

1. Según Ernst Marcus Das deutsche Auswärtige Amt und die Palästinafrage in den Jahren 1933-1939 (La Oficina de Asuntos Exteriores Alemana y la Cuestión Palestina en los años 1933-1939) YWA 01/11; citado por Ball-Kaduri, op. cit., p. 174. ↩︎

2. Informe de Döhle fechado el 22 de marzo de 1937. El Jefe de la Organización de Asuntos Exteriores en la Oficina de Asuntos Exteriores Alemana, Haavara, 1938, Serie 72, Estado Judío, Palestina (Archivos Políticos de la Oficina de Asuntos Exteriores en Bonn); citado por Heinz Tillrnann, Deutschlands Araberpolitik im zweiten Weltkrieg (La política árabe de Alemania en la Segunda Guerra Mundial), Berlín, 1965, p. 63. ↩︎

3. Heinz Tillmann, op. cit., p. 63. ↩︎

4. Heinz Tillmann, op. cit., p. 65. ↩︎

5. Memorándum de la Oficina del Jefe de la Organización de Asuntos Exteriores del NSDAP (Partido Nazi), fechado el 5 de junio de 1937, citado por Tillmann, op. cit., p. 67. ↩︎

6. Kennzeichen J, p. 133. ↩︎

7. Kennzeichen J, p. 133. ↩︎

8. Véase Tillmann, op. cit., p. 69. ↩︎

9. Heinz Tillmann, op. cit., p. 30. ↩︎

10. Jon y David Kimche, Des Zornes und des Herzens Wegen (Caminos del enojo y del corazón), Berlín, 1956, p. 26. ↩︎

11. Kimche, op. cit., p. 28. ↩︎

12. Winfried Martini, “Hitler und die Juden,” en Christ aind Welt, Stuttgart, 6 de junio de 1961. ↩︎

13. La emigración de judíos de Alemania fue prohibida en 1941 por orden del Jefe de las SS Himmler, véase Leon Poliakov y Joseph Wulff, Das Dritte Reich und die Juden (El Tercer Reich y los judíos), Berlín, 1955, p. 89. ↩︎ ↩︎

14. Winfried Martini en Christ und Welt, op. cit. ↩︎

15. Alwin Ramme, Der Sicherheitsdienst der SS (El Servicio de Seguridad de las SS), Berlín, 1970, p. 59. ↩︎

16. Winfried Martini en Christ und Welt, op. cit. ↩︎

17. Das Schwarze Korps, Berlín, 15 de mayo de 1935. ↩︎

18. El libro de Leopold von Mildenstein apareció en 1941. ↩︎

19. El profesor Dr. Franz-Alfred Six, nacido el 8 de diciembre de 1909, fue miembro del Partido Nazi desde 1930. En 1936 fue nombrado SS-Hauptsturmführer para el cargo de director del Departamento Central de Prensa y Biblioteca en la oficina principal de las SS. Luego asumió la dirección del Departamento II (interior) en la oficina principal de las SS. Six fue condenado a veinte años de prisión por crímenes de guerra por un tribunal estadounidense en abril de 1948. En enero de 1951, esta sentencia fue reducida a diez años y el 30 de septiembre de 1952 fue puesto en libertad. Los israelíes, que siempre están en busca de criminales de guerra nazis, no han mostrado interés en exponer a Six, quien estuvo al tanto de la colaboración entre los sionistas y los fascistas. ↩︎ ↩︎

20. Este documento se conserva en los archivos de la Comisión Americana para el Estudio de Documentos de Guerra en Alexandria, Virginia, EE. UU. Estos documentos también fueron puestos a disposición en microfilm en otros archivos (designación exacta: Registros del líder del Reich de las SS y Jefe de la Policía alemana, Washington, 1958). Los documentos citados aquí están disponibles en el rollo de película RFSS 411, marcos 2936012 y 2936069. Alwin Ramme escribe en su libro Der Sicherheitsdienst der SS en la página 21: “La evaluación de estas películas es difícil debido a su mala calidad en algunas partes. Los documentos que son especialmente reveladores a menudo son fotografiados de manera deficiente y difíciles de leer, lo cual no fue hecho sin intención por quienes estaban a cargo” (Archivos Nacionales, Washington). ↩︎ ↩︎

21. Según información reciente, Feivel Polkes vive hoy en Haifa. Tuvia Friedmann, autor del libro Ich Jagte Eichmann (Yo persiguí a Eichmann) y director del Instituto de Documentación en Haifa, declaró en una carta fechada el 25 de enero de 1970 que los documentos sobre la visita de Polkes a Berlín han sido conocidos en Israel desde 1947; también afirmó que había hablado con Polkes sobre estos eventos y que Polkes había declarado que todo fue “un malentendido”. Friedmann además escribió que supuestamente no era posible verificar más este asunto complicado, ya que solo estaban disponibles copias y no los documentos originales. ↩︎ ↩︎

22. Rollo de película RFSS 411. ↩︎

23. Citado de Heinz Höhne, Der Orden unter dern Totenkopf (La orden bajo la calavera), Gütersloh, 1967, p. 309. ↩︎

24. Memorándum de Hagen, rollo de película RFSS 411, p. 4. ↩︎

25. Heinz Höhne, op. cit., p. 310. ↩︎

26. Memorándum de Six en el rollo de película RFSS 411. ↩︎

27. Ibídem. ↩︎

28. Simon Wiesenthal, (Grossmufti - Gran agente de la Eje), Salzburgo/Viena, 1947, p. 12. ↩︎

29. Leon Poliakov, Breviaire de la Haine (Breviario del Odio), París, 1951. ↩︎

30. Gerald Reitlinger, The Final Solution (La solución final), Londres, 1953. ↩︎

31. Quentin Reynolds, Minister of Death (Ministro de la Muerte), Nueva York, 1960, pp. 77-78. ↩︎

32. Comer Clarke, Eichmann, The Man and his Crimes (Eichmann, el hombre y sus crímenes), Nueva York, 1960, pp. 35-37. ↩︎

33. La fiscalía en el juicio de Eichmann produjo un documento que supuestamente fue escrito por Haj Amin al-Husseini, y que se refería a Eichmann como “una joya para los árabes”. Esta “prueba” fue una falsificación tan burda que incluso el proisraelí Allgemeine Zeitung concluyó el 28 de junio de 1961 que “el valor de este documento es cuestionable”. Hannah Arendt escribe en su libro Eichmann en Jerusalén que uno de los motivos para realizar el juicio en Israel fue para descubrir a otros nazis, por ejemplo, la conexión entre los nazis y algunos gobernantes árabes" (p.8). Pero Hannah Arendt finalmente llegó a la conclusión de que las afirmaciones sobre los contactos de Eichmann con Haj Amin al-Husseini “eran infundadas” (p. 10). ↩︎ ↩︎

34. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zúrich, 12 de julio de 1961. ↩︎

35. Rollo de película RFSS 411. ↩︎

36. Según la afirmación de Gerald Reitlinger (Ver Die Endlösung, Berlín, 1956, p. 29). ↩︎

37. Una Comisión Real bajo Lord Peel examinó la situación en Palestina en 1937 tras el estallido de la revuelta árabe y discutió un primer plan para dividir Palestina en un estado judío y uno árabe. ↩︎ ↩︎

38. Heinz Höhne, op. cit., p. 319. ↩︎

39. Jon y David Kimche, Des Zornes und des Herzens Wegen, op. cit., p. 13. ↩︎

40. Ibíd., p. 14. ↩︎

41. Ibíd., p. 16; incluso esta reunión no juega ningún papel en el juicio de Eichmann. ↩︎

42. Ibíd., p. 17. ↩︎ ↩︎

43. Ibíd., p. 14. ↩︎

44. Hannah Arendt, op. cit., pp. 55-56. ↩︎

45. Die Weltbühne, Berlín, 31 de mayo de 1932. ↩︎

46. Durante un tiempo, el dictador italiano Mussolini apoyó a los Revisionistas y les permitió establecer en Italia una escuela para entrenar soldados de la marina. Jabotinsky propuso en 1932 que el mandato sobre Palestina pasara a Italia porque Mussolini sería más favorable a promover la causa del estado judío que Gran Bretaña. ↩︎ ↩︎

47. Joseph Schechtmann, op. cit., p. 215. ↩︎

48. Ibíd., p. 214. ↩︎

49. Ibíd., p. 217. ↩︎

50. David Ben-Gurion, Rebirth and Destiny of Israel (Renacimiento y destino de Israel), Nueva York, 1954, p. 41. ↩︎

51. Christopher Sykes, Crossroads to Israel (Cruces de caminos hacia Israel), Londres, 1965. ↩︎

52. Véase Kurt Patzold, op. cit., p. 77. ↩︎

53. “Chaluzian” significa un voluntario sionista para emigrar. ↩︎ ↩︎

54. Jüdische Rundschau, 30 de agosto de 1932. ↩︎

55. Ball-Kaduri, op. cit., p. 396. ↩︎

56. Citado de Kennzeichen J, p. 105. ↩︎

57. Chairn Weizrnann, Reden und Aufsätze (Discursos y ensayos), Berlín, 1937, p. 259. ↩︎ ↩︎

[luanma]

Source:

Secret Contacts: Zionism and Nazi Germany, 1933–1941 — [Part 1: Politics and Media] - Zhihu User 5Ll9ew’s Article - Zhihu
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/372502791

Secret Contacts: Zionism and Nazi Germany, 1933–1941 — [Part 2: Economy and Immigration] - Zhihu User 5Ll9ew’s Article - Zhihu
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/373413548

Secret Contacts: Zionism and Nazi Germany, 1933–1941 — [Part 3: Intelligence and Military] - Zhihu User 5Ll9ew’s Article - Zhihu
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/373414681

Original English Source:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/2536016