FEATURES Jehuda Reinharz and The Road to September 1939 Yaacov Shavit
We are pleased to present in this issue of Gazeta an essay adapted from the introduction of The Road to September 1939: Polish Jews, Zionists, and the Yishuv on the Eve of World War II by Jehuda Reinharz and Yaacov Shavit. Originally published in Hebrew by Am Oved Publishers in 2013, this translation, published by Brandeis University Press in the Tauber Institute Series for the Study of European Jewry, introduces English-speaking audiences to the important scholarship of Professors Reinharz and Shavit. The Road to September 1939 shows, through letters and memoirs, that contrary to popular belief, Zionists in the Yishuv worked tirelessly to attempt to save European Jews from Hitler in the years before World War II. As we approach the eightieth anniversary of Germany’s invasion of Poland, this book offers an opportunity for critical reflection on what was, and was not, possible Jacket image for The Road to before the storm clouds of the war fell on Europe. September 1939: Polish Jews, Zionists, and the Yishuv on the Eve of World War II by Jehuda —Gazeta Editorial Team Reinharz and Yaacov Shavit.
his book serves as a sort We do not intend to everyday life, rather than on of collective diary of the big questions of the hour, Tstatesmen, social and political describe the events they bring to life this crucial activists, and ordinary people moment in Jewish history and by reading history whose first-person eyewitness illuminate more effectively accounts were recorded in backward. We have tried than some traditional histories personal diary entries, letters, the events that led up to World and memoirs, along with not to read the story from War II and the Holocaust. daily newspaper accounts. its endpoint but rather We do not intend to describe These accounts are a record the events by reading history of what they knew, thought, as much as possible in backward. We have tried not to and felt in “real time.” In their read the story from its endpoint focus on the vicissitudes of the “present.”
4 n GAZETA VOLUME 26, NO. 1 but rather as much as possible The countries of the free If in 1929 Palestine took in in the “present.” Before August less than a tenth of Jewish world had no interest 1939, as well as during that emigration from Poland, then month, no one really knew in resolving Poland’s in the years prior to the Second what was in store. It is only World War it became the a retrospective reading that internal problems by principal destination for that determines that the events opening their gates emigration. In 1935, Palestine moved inexorably toward an absorbed around 80.6 percent unequalled calamity and that to a large Jewish of the emigrants, and in 1937, it was impossible to halt their 32.2 percent. Between 1919 course. A fog of uncertainty immigration. and 1939, around 140,000 and lack of knowledge people emigrated from Poland shrouded that month. And in The reader of this book will find to Palestine—around 35 any case, even if everyone almost no German Jews in it. percent of the mandate’s total had known where history was Likewise, it will not discuss the Jewish population. During heading, they would have fate of the Jews of Romania, the mandate period, Poland been helpless to divert the Hungary, or France, for was thus the largest source ship toward a safe haven. The example. The choice to focus of immigration to Palestine processes that preceded the on Polish Jews seems obvious and the main source of the breakout of the Second World to us. Poland was home to the Yishuv’s demographic growth. War have been reconstructed largest Jewish population in the In addition, a large part of and analyzed in numerous world—around 3.5 million Jews the private capital that was books, some of them recording in 1939—and after 1924, it imported to Palestine belonged and reconstructing the behind- was the main source of Jewish to Polish Jews, who made a the-scenes occurrences that emigration across the Atlantic considerable contribution to were unknown to people at the and to Palestine. From 1929 the national funds. time. The history of the Jewish to 1938, more than 400,000 In the middle of the 1930s, as people, the Zionist movement, Jews left Poland. Initially, most the pressure to leave Poland and the Yishuv, the Jewish of them went to the United grew and Palestine became the community in Palestine prior States, but from 1924 onward almost exclusive destination, to the establishment of the the rate of those immigrating to the British government State of Israel in 1948, in the Palestine increased. Between imposed new restrictions 1930s have been the subjects 1929 and 1935, Palestine on Jewish immigration. As of an extensive body of absorbed around 43.7 percent a result, the country’s gates literature. This book could of the total Jewish emigration, were shut to many who not have been written without whereas the United States wanted to immigrate to it. consulting it. absorbed 10.9 percent. The Zionist movement and
GAZETA SPRING 2019 n 5 its institutions had to lay the Polish Jews had a This led to the conclusion that bridge on which at least some it would be possible to spur the rich and multifaceted Polish Jews would cross over governments and the world’s to Palestine. The Yishuv’s existence as an integral conscience to see finding a political future and its power solution for the Jews’ plight were now intertwined with part of Polish life and as a lofty conscientious duty. the fate of Polish Jews. The under its influence. The This was also accompanied fate of Polish Jews, however, by a belief that the power as opposed to the fate of shadow of a possible war of the Jewish world could German Jews and later that weighed on them without not be reduced to its plight. of Jews under the Third Weizmann, however, did Reich, was not on the public being necessarily tied to not mean that putting the and international agenda. It the future of the Jewish subject of Jewish emigration did not occupy any place in on the international agenda British or international policy Yishuv in Palestine, and would include alternatives to considerations, because Polish Palestine. He—and others— even in isolation from it. Jews had not been expelled believed that when it would and therefore did not become become clear that there wrote to Moshe Shertok asylum-seeking refugees. The were no such alternatives, (Sharett), director of the Jewish countries of the free world Palestine’s status as the Agency’s political department, had no interest in resolving only destination would be that Poland had put the Poland’s internal problems by reinforced. question of Jewish emigration opening their gates to a large from Eastern Europe on the However, it would be a Jewish immigration. international agenda: “The mistake to describe the history The Zionist movement found recent pronouncements of of Polish Jews between the two itself in a difficult dilemma. the Poles have made a very world wars only from a Zionist On the one hand, putting great impression. The Polish or a Palestinian perspective. the need for Jewish problem transcends the Most of the Jews in Poland emigration from Poland on ordinary boundaries and makes were not Zionists, and many of the international agenda was it patent to everybody that our them opposed Zionism or were welcomed. On the other hand, misfortunes will soon grow indifferent to it. Nor did many directing this emigration to to a first-rate international Zionists show an urgency or different countries in Africa calamity for which we cannot eagerness to immigrate to or South America meant take responsibility and which Palestine. Polish Jews had a that Zionism would become may affect vitally the state of rich and multifaceted existence irrelevant. In October 1936, affairs in the East and South as an integral part of Polish for example, Chaim Weizmann East Europe.” life and under its influence.
6 n GAZETA VOLUME 26, NO. 1 The shadow of a possible war The research literature, publicly and behind closed weighed on them without being and even more so the doors, stirring up the debate necessarily tied to the future of and creating polarization. Plans the Jewish Yishuv in Palestine, political and public can testify to the sense of time and even in isolation from it. and to a will to act. But they debate, have been do not indicate that those who At the end of a dinner held suffused for over fifty thought up the plans had the on February 22, 1938, at the power and the means to carry house of Leopold Amery, years with a bitter them out. As will become the Secretary of State for apparent in the narrative Dominion Affairs from 1924 disagreement around the that follows, individuals to 1929, Ben-Gurion told Sir question to what extent and organizations within the Harold MacMichael, who was Zionist movement feared for appointed High Commissioner Jews in general, and the the fate of the Jews of Europe for Palestine in 1938 (and held political leadership of and did what they could within the position until 1944), that the fog of uncertainty and with the Zionist movement wanted the Zionist movement in limited resources. Once the “to save the young generation particular, were aware war broke out, however, the of Eastern and Central fate of European Jewry was European Jewry—and it’s that time was pressing. virtually sealed. n possible. It’s a question of two million Jews.” MacMichael bitter disagreement around the Jehuda Reinharz is Richard replied that the Jews were question to what extent Jews Koret Professor of Modern “rushing things.” Ben-Gurion in general, and the political Jewish History, director of the wrote in his diary: “And again leadership of the Zionist Tauber Institute for the Study I saw that we are hitting a wall. movement in particular, were of European Jewry at Brandeis The Englishman doesn’t know aware that time was pressing. University, and president of what time means for us.” Did the “awareness of time” the Jack, Joseph, and Morton change between 1935 and Mandel Foundation. What was the Zionist 1939? What was done under “dimension of time” in the Yaacov Shavit is Professor the pressure of time in order 1930s? Can we distinguish Emeritus at Tel Aviv University. to break through the “wall,” between rhetoric and plans of and did the Jews of Poland and action, wishes and means? The of the Yishuv share the same research literature, and even “concept of time”? more so the political and public debate, have been suffused Various plans and solutions for over fifty years with a were mooted and discussed
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