Transcript:
It may be impossible to believe, but did you know that there were connections between the Nazis and the Zionists? In 1933 there was even an agreement between them known as the Haavara Agreement. But there is more! Did you know there existed a Nazi Party in British Mandatory Palestine? And then there was also an extreme zionist movement that contacted the Nazis... In this video we're going to dive into the strange relations between the Nazis and the Zionists, keep watching!
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In previous videos I talked about Zionism and how it originated. Also about how the British seized an Ottoman area they called Palestine during WW1 and how they wanted to create a homeland for the Jews. Do check the link in the end screen. Just to give a summary: Theodore Herzl, born in Austro-Hungary, initiated organized Zionism in the 1890s with his pamphlet “Der Judenstaat” (The Jewish State). Zionists sought to establish an independent Jewish state where Jews could live in safety. There were different options in different minds: Uganda, Argentina, the Russian Far East, Madagascar, but Palestine seemed to be the best option, also because Jews used to live there until being chased away by the Romans in ancient times. After these expulsions they scattered around the world, known as the Jewish Diaspora. So flash-forward to post-WW1: the British took control of the area as it was called British Mandatory Palestine. In the interwar period Jewish migration from Europe to Mandatory Palestine increased.
This caused tensions with the local Arab population. More and more violent clashes ensued.
Now not only the Jews underwent a diaspora. Also the Germans did, albeit much later: mostly during the 19th century many settled in South America, but some went to the Middle East. Known as the Palästinadeutsche (Palestinian Germans), groups of Germans had moved to the Middle East and lived in different settlements. German influence and reputation, which had been firmly established in Syria and Palestine prior to 1914, remained strong after WW1. A wide network of German-run schools, hospitals, institutes, and orphanages – alongside a community of about 2,000 German Christians, including roughly 1,800 members of the Protestant Temple Society (in German: Tempelgesellschaft) – helped maintain favorable relations with all segments of Palestinian society, whether Muslim, Christian, or Jewish. Although British forces confiscated German-owned property in Palestine during their advance in 1917–1918 and interned around 850 so-called Templars in Egypt, the Palestinian Germans were allowed to return by late 1920, and their properties were reinstated.
“The Palästinadeutsche were by no means the only agents of German influence in Palestine, nor were they a significant economic factor. They were a rather small vehicle for the promotion of German political, economic and cultural interests, while the growing number of central and east European Jewish immigrants, still culturally oriented to the German-speaking world, came to be viewed as an ideal instrument for the promotion of German interests in Palestine.” When the Nazis seized power in Germany they showed great interest in the Ausländsdeutsche (Overseas Germans) and their connection to Germany. Interestingly enough the NSDAP Directorate in Munich prohibited involvement by overseas Party cells in the domestic affairs of their host countries. Overseas Germans were banned in the public display of swastikas and the wearing of uniforms outside of closed meetings. The Palästinadeutsche lived under the watchful authority of a suspicious British administration. When Hitler seized power around 1,800 non-Jewish Germans lived in Palestine. The Arabs saw them as potential allies in a common struggle against Zionism and the British, while some British officials suspected them of being pro-Nazi. The Jews living in Palestine had a hostile attitude towards the Germans, because of Hitler's anti-semitism. Reactions to Hitler's ascension to power among Palestinian Germans were mixed. One German newspaper in Palestine wrote the following: “We must never forget that we live in a non-German country in the midst of non-German people, and that our task here in Palestine can never be a political one. It would also be wrong if those among us who more or less accept the ideas of National Socialism should come to scorn those who still have reservations.
There can be no doubt whatever that all of us are and always have been good, patriotic Germans." A cell of the NSDAP was first established in Palestine in 1932 with a handful of members, by mid-1937 membership increased to just under 300. The Hitler Youth established camps and enlisted most German children in Palestine. Since the German communities were small in the area the survival of these communities depended on the protection and goodwill of the British authorities. The Nazi party in Palestine tried to keep a low profile. Public display of Nazi symbols was forbidden and German tourists were urged to comply. Before we're gonna discuss the fate of the Palästinadeutsche during World War II, I wanna discuss an agreement I discussed in earlier videos, but is nevertheless important to elaborate on.
When Hitler rose to power early 1933 anti-Semitism became the German government's official policy. In the following months administrative measures were implemented to segregate the Jews from the rest of German society. Part of the Zionist movement believed Jews shouldn't be part of gentile society. Because of the rise of Nazism the Zionist movement increased in strength among the German Jews. Hitler wanted to segregate the Jews from the Aryan population. The Zionists wanted a Jewish state outside Europa, which effectively meant the Jews had to leave Europe. So in that sense, how unbelievable it may sound, the Nazis and Zionists had some common interests.
In August 1933, an agreement was signed between them. Known as the Haavara, or Transfer Agreement, it allowed German Jews to emigrate to Palestine with a portion of their assets. At the time, Nazi Germany was under pressure from a global economic boycott. Meanwhile, British immigration policies in Palestine made it difficult for Jews to enter unless they could prove they had substantial financial means. To solve both problems, a deal was struck. Jews leaving Germany would deposit their assets into a German trust. That money would then be used to export German goods to Palestine. Once there, the emigrants would recover part of their money minus taxes and fees. This allowed some 20,000 Jews to escape with part of their wealth intact. At the same time, the Nazi regime boosted exports and encouraged Jewish emigration. A coin was made for the occasion with one side the star of David and on the other the swastika. President of the Reichsbank and later Minister of Economics Hjalmar Schacht supported the deal in its early stages, seeing it as a way to boost Germany’s economy and relieve internal pressure related to Jewish emigration. The Anglo-Palestine Bank and Haim Arlosoroff (the Head of the Political Department of the Jewish Agency for Palestine) was the main Jewish negotiator with the Nazi authorities. Not all Zionists were in favor. For example Ze'ev Jabotinsky, a Russian-born Jewish journalist, who saw it as a shameful compromise with the Nazi regime.
But not all Nazi leaders were in favor either. They feared it might strengthen “international Jewry”, as they put it. There was division within the Nazi government. Some supported the Haavara Agreement for practical reasons. Others were against it, arguing it would help build a Jewish homeland with German funds. The internal debate wasn’t resolved until early 1938, when Hitler personally decided that Jewish emigration to Palestine should continue. Even so, Nazi diplomats in the Middle East were instructed to openly support Arab nationalist movements.
Palestine had become more than just a destination for emigrants, it was now part of Nazi Germany’s foreign policy strategy. After the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 the program was ended. “The Haavara Agreement does not mean the Nazis were ever Zionists. Instead, it is testament to the fact that Nazi policy towards the Jews was not clear-cut from the beginning, but evolved greatly over the years. The only constants were a fanatical hatred of Jews, the insistence that the Jews were the root cause of all of Germany’s problems, and that the “Jewish question” must be “solved” once and for all.” So what happened with the Germans in Palestine during WW2? The Palästinadeutsche were classified as enemy aliens by the British authorities when WW2 broke out, resulting in internment, deportation, and loss of property. I read hundreds were deported to Australia via Egypt while about one thousand were exchanged with the German authorities. Although many were long-time residents, the outbreak of war would lead to the virtual end of the German community in Palestine.
Did Hitler have any plans to conquer Palestine and perhaps carry out his policies of extermination over there? We do not know for certain, but most likely there were no concrete plans. However the Nazis did anticipate exterminating Jews outside Europe at some future date, there is no serious evidence of concrete plans or policies to implement this vision. Also, perpetrators Eichmann, Höss, and Rauff (when on trial) never spoke about policies against Jews in North Africa or the Middle East and only referred to the order to exterminate Jewry in Europe. “One can reasonably predict that the Nazi exterminations would have – eventually, at some point – extended to all Jews under Axis control, including outside of Europe. […] But during the war, in history as it actually unfolded, there was neither an ongoing nor imminent plan to carry this dream out.” In the pinned comment you can find my link to the video which explores this topic in depth. We're not done yet. The outbreak of World War II was not the end of the contact between the Nazis and the Zionists. Because in January 1941 a group of zionist extremists from Mandatory Palestine contacted Nazi Germany for a possible alliance...WHY? Well, this group was Lehi, also known as the Stern Gang. Officially known as the 'Fighters for the Freedom of Israel' the group originated in 1940 and was led by Avraham Stern.
Lehi had split from the Irgun and Irgun was an off-shoot of the Haganah. I know I'm throwing a lot of factions in your face here, so real quick: the Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization that operated in the British Mandate for Palestine. This organization later merged into the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). A more radical offshoot sprung up in1931 and that was the Irgun (or Etsel) that committed acts of terrorism against Palestinian Arabs, as well as against the Britishrulers. And then in 1940 an even more radical group emerged and that was Lehi (or the Stern Gang) and this group saw the British as the main enemy.
Previously responsible for the Irgun’s foreign relations, Stern left after disagreeing with the group’s early policy of collaborating with the British. He believed that the Jews should aid the British war effort only after the British had given the Zionists their independence. When it became clear that they had no such plans, in 1940 Stern passed a message into Vichy Syria, offering to fight for Germany if Hitler would support “the re-establishment of the Jewish state in its historic borders, on a national and totalitarian basis, allied to the German Reich.” […] After waiting in vain for a reply from Hitler, at the start of 1942 Stem launched a short-lived campaign of violence by means of which he hoped to force the British government to give the Jews in Palestine their independence.” Lehi’s outreach to Nazi Germany was a radical, desperate, and morally blind attempt to gain support for Jewish statehood by allying with the enemy of its enemy: Britain. There is no evidence the Nazis took the proposal seriously or responded meaningfully. No formal reply was ever sent to Lehi. And thus Lehi’s actions never resulted in collaboration. Lehi's offer reflected desperation, not sympathy with Nazi ideology. Historians see it as a tragic miscalculation, not a conspiracy. “Stern’s belief that Nazi Germany, the architect of Jewish gen***de, could be a strategic ally in the fight against British colonialism reveals the extent of his single-minded nationalism.
Lehi’s attempts to align with the Nazis in 1940 and 1941 underscore the group’s ideological extremism and their willingness to make morally dubious alliances if it furthered their goals of expelling the British and establishing a Jewish state.” So the Nazis ignored the rapprochement of the extremist Zionist Stern Gang, yet Hitler did welcome Arab-Palestinian rapprochement during the war. During the 1936-39 Arab Revolt Germany ignored Arab-Palestinian requests for material assistance, but as World War II progressed the Nazis needed all the help they could get. Hitler found an ally in Hajj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. He participated in the recruitment of Bosnian Muslims for the Waffen-SS Division “Handschar”. I made an elaborate video on just that, click here. Learn about a Jewish state project of Stalin in the Russian Far East by clicking here. Thanks for watching, hustler's signing off.