Daniel Kupfert Heller. Jabotinsky's Children: Polish Jews and the Rise of Right-Wing Zionism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017. 352 pp. $35.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-691-17475-4.
Reviewed by Sean Martin
Published on H-Judaic (September, 2018)
Commissioned by Katja Vehlow (University of South Carolina)
The fgure of Vladimir Jabotinsky (1880-1940), on the youth of Betar; eforts to work with the founder of the Jewish Legion in the British Army many branches of Betar in Poland’s small towns; during World War I and of the World Union of and the growing acceptance of violence as a nec‐ Zionist-Revisionists in 1925, continues to intrigue essary tactic in the struggle to realize Zionist historians and the Jewish public, not least because goals. At the heart of Heller’s work is his explana‐ of his support for authoritarianism and military tion of Jabotinsky’s “ideological dexterity” (p. 252), force. In this well-researched and ably argued the author’s polite term for Jabotinsky’s preferred study, Heller explains how many in Betar, the style of ambiguity and contradiction. Heller shows Zionist youth movement associated with the Revi‐ how Jabotinsky efectively used his rhetorical tal‐ sionists, came to advocate military force in pur‐ ent for his own political ends. He also demon‐ suit of their goals. Founded by Aharon Propes in strates how in later decades Israeli politicians on Riga, Latvia, in 1923, Betar grew to develop both the right and left reached back to Jabotin‐ branches in other countries, especially Poland. sky’s words as support for their own aims. While Jabotinsky and Betar were often described by Jabotinsky’s rhetoric is often complicated and their opponents as “Jewish fascists,” a term that frustrating, Heller is a skilled guide through politi‐ refects their position among the European Right. cal disputes and party splits. This tightly focused study of Zionist party politics One of the most compelling sections of the in the 1930s tells the story of a generation of text concerns how Betar leaders strove to cooper‐ youth who followed a senior political leader often ate with and even emulate Polish political leaders. in confict with other leading Zionists. Heller The youth of Betar courted Polish authorities by helps us understand the appeal of authoritarian‐ staging events at Polish historical monuments, ism and, at times, violent solutions to political venerating Polish political heroes, and paying re‐ problems. spect to the increasingly authoritarian leadership. Jabotinsky’s Children is divided into six the‐ Governmental representatives often responded matic chapters, on Jabotinsky’s encounter with positively, even sometimes providing rifes and ri‐ young Zionists; the appeal of fascism; the defni‐ fe training. Heller demonstrates quite clearly that tion of “youth” and the role of this amorphous Jabotinsky’s followers were afected by the politi‐ group within the international movement; the in‐ cal environment in which they grew up. The fuence of Poland and Polish culture and politics youth of Betar maneuvered within that environ‐ H-Net Reviews ment to attain their own goals—specifcally, sup‐ and we are unable to convey the complexities of a port for the building of the Revisionist movement group’s identity or identities in one simple term. and emigration to Palestine. Heller focuses Heller explains the difculty but, like the rest of squarely on the larger story of Zionist politics and us, does not come up with a satisfactory solution. not solely on the history of Jews in Poland. His sto‐ The most important question Heller address‐ ry most certainly transcends Poland’s interwar es is the use of violence to achieve one’s political borders. ends. His topic fascinates precisely because peo‐ Heller’s command of the sources in Hebrew, ple want to know how and when some in the Yiddish, Polish, and Russian enables him to both Zionist movement began advocating for and ac‐ explain the rhetoric of Jabotinsky and outline the cepting violence to achieve their goals. The im‐ experiences of small-town Jewish youth. Though plicit assumption, by Heller and his readers, is titled Jabotinsky’s Children, no fgure emerges that we cannot condone this violence even as we from the text quite as clearly as Jabotinsky him‐ live in nations such as the United States and Israel self. The “children” discussed at some length in‐ that were formed precisely because of the efects clude Betar founder Aharon Propes; Menachem of violence. Through Jabotinsky and his followers, Begin, whose later political career alone justifes Heller forces us to confront that the formation of this study; Abba Ahimeir, a maximalist within the a political state often requires violence. To be Revisionist camp; and Avraham Stavsky, who was sure, Heller himself neither condones nor con‐ convicted in 1934 of the murder of Chaim Arloso‐ demns. His objective tone throughout the volume rof, a Labor Zionist leader in Mandate Palestine. assures the reader of his analytical talent and Stavsky was later killed in the attack on the Altal‐ gives the reader confdence that the author’s fu‐ ena, the Irgun ship attacked on the orders of ture work will be as comprehensive and com‐ David Ben-Gurion. Heller details well the legacy of pelling. This is a major contribution to our under‐ Betar in later years, but none of Jabotinsky’s fol‐ standing of the development of Zionist politics lowers feature as prominently as the “father” of and to our knowledge of the infuence of Polish the movement. political culture on Jewish youth. While Heller notes that nearly half of the members of Betar were young women, the story told here concerns young men. This is most likely a consequence of the few sources available, but it is also a reminder of the work that remains to be done in the feld. And while Heller efectively uses the YIVO autobiographies of Jewish youth to out‐ line the lives of those attracted to Betar in the small towns, additional studies that focus less on politics and more on social history may yield ad‐ ditional perspectives. On another note, Heller ad‐ monishes other scholars for their use of the phrase “Polish-Jewish” relations (pp. 14, 134), claiming rightly that these adjectives imply fxed identities. But his solution to juxtapose “Polish Jews” and “Catholic Poles” is also less than ade‐ quate. In truth, our vocabulary simply fails us,
2 H-Net Reviews
If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-judaic
Citation: Sean Martin. Review of Heller, Daniel Kupfert. Jabotinsky's Children: Polish Jews and the Rise of Right-Wing Zionism. H-Judaic, H-Net Reviews. September, 2018.
URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=52793
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
3