Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2012 Hebrew fascism in Palestine 1922-1942 Tamir, Dan Abstract: Der Grossteil der Faschismusforschung konzentrierte sich während der vergangenen sechzig Jahre auf die faschistischen Regime in Italien und Deutschland. Seit Kurzem untersuchen Wissenschaftler auch faschistische Bewegungen in anderen Ländern, gemeinhin als generischen Faschismus bezeichnet. In Palästina wurden während der 1920er- und 1930er-Jahre politisch rechts stehende Denker, Gruppen und Organisationen oft von ihren politischen Gegnern als “Faschisten” betitelt. Doch bis heute wurde kein Zusammenhang mit einem genuinen, lokalen Faschismus im Palästina der Zwischenkriegszeit, im Sinne einer eigenständigen politischen Kategorie, hergestellt, um ihn methodisch mit dem anderer solcher Gruppen weltweit zu vergleichen. Gestützt auf Robert O. Paxtons Modell faschistischer Bewegungen, das in seinem 2004 erschienenen Buch The Anatomy of Fascism beschrieben ist, kombiniert die Untersuchung ein historisches Narrativ mit einer Methode aus der Politikwissenschaft: Davon ausgehend, dass (a) Faschismus eine inhärente Eigenschaft moderner Politik in Gesellschaften ist, die eine nationale politische Krise erleben, und dass (b) in Palästina im frühen 20. Jahrhundert bereits eine kleine, blühende moderne hebräische Gesellschaft existierte, die eine tiefe politische Krise durchlebte, lautet die Hypothese dieser Untersuchung, dass sich (c) eine aktive faschistische Bewegung innerhalb dieser Gesellschaft zu dieser Zeit entwickelt haben sollte. Auf der Basis von Büchern und Artikeln, die zu dieser Zeit von prominenten lokalen Journalisten publiziert wurden sowie privaten Archivmaterials von Politikern und Sozialaktivisten geht diese Forschungsarbeit den ideologischen Wurzeln des hebräischen Faschismus in Palästina nach und offenbart seine politische Praxis, die zeigt, dass eine kleine, schon ernsthafte und aktive faschistische Gruppe dort zu jener Zeit bestand, die mit anderen ihrer Art in anderen Ländern vergleichbar ist. Most of the research of fascism during the past sixty years focused on fascist regimes in Italy and Germany. Lately, researchers began examining fascist movements in other countries, commonly referred to as generic fascism. In Palestine during the 1920’s and 1930’s, some right-wing thinkers, groups and organisations were often labeled “fascists” by their political critics. But until today, no reference was made to genuine, local fascism in inter-war Palestine as a distinct political category, methodically comparable with other such groups worldwide. Drawing on Robert O. Paxton’s model of fascist movements, as presented in his 2004 book The Anatomy of Fascism, this research combines a historical narrative with a methodology of political science: assuming that (a) fascism is an inherent feature of modern politics in societies experiencing a national political crisis, and that (b) in early 20th century Palestine a small yet thriving modern Hebrew society was undergoing a deep political crisis, the hypothesis of this research is that (c) an active fascist movement should have emerged within that society at the time. Relying both on books and articles published by prominent local journalists at the time and on private archival material of politicians and social activists, this research traces the ideological roots of Hebrew fascism in Palestine and reveals its political practices, showing that a small yet genuine and active fascist group, comparable to its kin in other countries, was present there at that time. Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-164227 Dissertation Published Version Originally published at: Tamir, Dan. Hebrew fascism in Palestine 1922-1942. 2012, University of Zurich, Faculty of Arts. 2 Hebrew Fascism in Palestine 1922-1942 Thesis presented to the Faculty of Arts of the University of Zurich for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Dan Tamir of Tel Aviv Accepted in the Spring semester 2012 on the recommendation of Prof. Dr. Carlo Moos and Prof. Dr. Moshe Zimmermann Zurich, 2012 Table of Contents A Few Words About Translation and Transcription ii Introduction 1 Biographies 23 Chapter 1: Crisis 35 Chapter 2: Primacy of the Group 56 Chapter 3: Victimhood 66 Chapter 4: Dread of the Group's Decline 80 Chapter 5: Integration 95 Chapter 6: Cult of the Leader 116 Chapter 7: The Leader's Instincts 134 Chapter 8: Glorification of Violence and Efficacy of the Will 142 Chapter 9: Right of the Chosen People to Dominate Others 168 Conclusion 181 Bibliography 197 Appendix 206 i A Few Words about Translation and Transcription: Most of the sources used for this work were in Hebrew, written in the old Aramaic “square” script, commonly used for this language today. In order to allow easy access to the original Hebrew names, books, articles and terms used, I applied a precise transcription of consonants from the Aramaic alphabet to the Latin one: א ' Alef ב Bet B b ג Gimmel G g ד Dalet D d ה He H h ו Vav V v ז Zajn Z z ח Ḥet Ḥ ḥ ט Ŧet Ŧ ŧ י Jud J j I i כ Kaf K k ל Lamed L l צ Mem M m נ Nun N n ס Samek S s ע ` ajin` פ Pe - Fe P p F f צ Cadi C c ק Quf Q q ר Reš R r ש Šin Š š ת Tav T t ”which means “pat טפח This transcription enables the reader to differentiate between ,(”comment“) הערה enlightenment”) and“) הארה which means “grew”, between תפח and all”) etc. Therefore it is Ḥazit, Šalom, Birjon, Qeren“) כל voice”) and“) קול between ha-Jesod and so on. ii Hebrew names of persons and places used this transcription (Cbi, Aḥime'ir); German and English names are written as they are usually written in their original language (Grünberg, Von Weisl, Luke). Citations of texts in German, French and Italian are usually cited in the original language. Biblical citations were taken from the 1611 King James version, the 2011 New International Version and in some places the Nova Vulgata. * * * iii Introduction Beirut, early January 1941. After an annoying wait in Ankara for the issue of a visa by the French mandate authorities, Dr. Werner Otto von Hentig, head of the Near East Department at the German Foreign Ministry, arrived in the Lebanese capital. A senior diplomat with considerable experience in both overt and clandestine activity in the region, Von Hentig was there in order to inspect the local situation in the Levant and report about it to the office in Berlin. Generally, his tour was successful: within four weeks he had visited large parts of Syria and Lebanon, and received the impression that local political circles were favourable to Germany.1 Von Hentig's attempt to keep his visit low profile, however, turned out to be less successful. The rumor that a senior German official was visiting Lebanon quickly spread; various delegations and representatives of ethnic and political groups in the region soon came to meet him: Muslims and Christians, from Kurdistan to the shores of the Mediterranean. "Die merkwürdigste Delegation kam aus Palästina selbst“, Von Hentig recalled in his autobiography, about 20 years later. „Der Führer [der Delegation], ein vorzüglich aussehender jünger Offizierstyp, erbot sich, mit den Nationalsozialisten gegen die eigenen Leute, vor allem die orthodoxen Zionisten zusammenzuarbeiten, wenn ihnen Hitler die Eigenstaatlichkeit eines jüdischen Palästina gewährleistete“.2 The young fellow was Naftali Lubenczik, and the delegation he headed consisted of members of the “National Military Organisation in Israel”, who – led by Abraham Stern – had split from the general National Military Organisation about a year earlier. However, the initiative for collaboration between Nazi Germany and the NMO in Israel did not bear fruit. Lubenczik was arrested by the British police soon after his return to Tel Abib; a year later, Stern himself was arrested and executed by the police. 1 Werner Otto von Hentig, Mein Leben: eine Dienstreise (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1962), pp. 338-339. 2 Ibid. Before the war, in 1937, Von Hentig discussed the idea of supporting the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. Officially, however, he had to agree with the head of the ministry, who claimed that a Jewish state is not in Germany's interest. See Eckart Conze, Norbert Frei, Peter Hayes & Moshe Zimmermann, Das Amt und die Vergangenheit: deutsche Diplomaten im dritten Reich und in der Bundesrepublik (München: Karl Blessing, 2010), p.110 and notes 110,111 there. 1 To be sure, the NMO in Israel did not represent a mass movement. Stern's idea, that collaboration with the Axis might be beneficial, gained very limited approval among the Hebrew community in Palestine. Members of the NMO in Israel were actually tagged with a shower of insults and psychiatric terms borrowed from Hebrew dictionaries of the time: from “traitors”, “collaborators” and “Quislings”, to “snakes”, “gangsters”, “lunatics” and “masochists”.3 Indeed, the idea to collaborate with Nazi Germany was an extreme one. But it was not the sporadic attempt of a disconnected group, which was suddenly struck by some political lunacy. Furthermore, Stern and his fellows were not seeking an ad-hoc alliance, based on short-term political opportunism. The main argument of this monograph is that Stern's ideology, and the small yet devoted group which gathered around it, were the ultimate and most profound expression of a genuine fascist movement which had gradually evolved during the 1920's and 1930's in Hebrew society in Palestine in general, and within the Revisionist movement in particular. Generic Fascism A huge corpus of literature about fascism has been assembled in the past 80 years. Varied in their focal points and covering many different aspects of that phenomenon, these works include political and social analysis, economic research, psychological and literary interpretations, along with many other directions of investigation.4 Unsurprisingly, the greatest bulk of research focused on fascism in Italy and Germany.