51
Documents: Zionist Collaboration with the Nazis
By Lenni Brenner
d. Barricade Books,
2002, 342 pp. List: $22; AET: $15.
September 2004, page 86
Book Review by Sara Powell
From the Washington
Report on Middle East Affaires
http://www.wrmea.com/archives/Sept_2004/0409086.html
Its no secret that
Zionism embraced political expediency to advance the cause of
carving Eretz-Israel from the land of its native inhabitants. In
his 1983 book, Zionism in the Age of the Dictators, Lenni
Brenner shows that 20th century Zionists observed shockingly few
limits to that expediency. Not surprisingly, the book received
little coverage in the American media. Now, in 51 Documents,
Brenner has compiled a wide variety of letters, statements,
articles, and judgementssome of which appeared in his earlier
bookby a broad array of activists and authors, that documents
Zionist cooperration with the Nazis. On the face of it, the
notion seems absurd. However, Brenner presents the casemade in
many Zionists own wordsthat the Nazi agenda of expelling the
Jews from Germany fit nicely with the Zionist plan for enticing
those Jews into settling in Palestine and creating a new Jewish
nation.
In addition to introductory and concluding chapters, the book is
organized into five sections which lead the reader through early,
pre-Zionist documents; pre-Holocaust ideological factions; the
Holocaust era itself; and a chapter on the Stern Gang and the
Nazis. Readers should note that a few documents are not
indicative of collaboration in and of themselves, but provide
the background to others written in response. These latter do
indicate levels of collaboration between Zionists and fascists,
both the Nazis in Germany, and those in Mussolinis Italy.
Brenners brief explanatory notes at the beginning of each
document are helpful, as are the glossary and index.
51 Documents assumes a certain knowledge of Zionist history, and
requires a close reading and some deconstructive efforts on the
part of the reader. Those willing to commit the time and effort,
however, are rewarded with some stunning revelations. The reason
some Zionists eschewed the boycott against Hitlers Germany, for
instance, is that they had a financial dealHaavarawith Germany
allowing Jews to exchange their wealth for goods to be exported
to Palestine at less of a loss, as an incentive to emigrate.
Those wondering why Zionists today are so organized and
experienced in their public relations efforts discover that
these battles have been fought before. Moreover, the section on
Nazi and Zionist understandings of nationality versus
citizenship reveals how German and Israeli practices are based
on the same concept.
51 Documents also sheds a whole new light on the term Holocaust
guilt, frequently understood to mean Western, non-Jewish guilt
for not acting against the Holocaust earlier. However, these
documents make it clear that Holocaust guilt began with those
Zionists who made the undoubtedly difficult, but politically
expedient choice to place Eretz-Israel at the top of their
priorities, above the lives of their threatened European
brethren.
From a Zionist Executive Meeting speech by Yitzhak Gruenbaum on
Feb. 18, 1943:
And when some asked me: Cant you give money from Keren Ha Yesod
(Palestine Foundation Fund) to save Jews in the Diaspora? I said:
No! And again I say no....And, because of these things, people
called me an anti-Semite, and concluded that Im guilty, for the
fact that we dont give ourselves completely to rescue actions.
(p. 211)
However difficult it may be, the reader must confront some
rather disturbing conclusions. The most unsettling realization
for this reviewer is that pre-Holocaust Zionists were able to
politically align themselves with the Nazis because both groups
fundamentally saw race as an important dividing lineand,
moreover, were determined to keep it that way. From Vladimir
Jabotinsky to Albert Einstein, assimilation of Jews into the
societies in which they lived was not an acceptable option.
Rather, Jewish nationalism required equality on a national level,
not a personal one. As Jabotinsky explained, It is impossible
for a man to become assimilated with people whose blood is
different from his own (p. 10); in Einsteins words, Palestine is
first and foremost not a refuge for East European Jews, but the
incarnation of a reawakening sense of national solidarity (p.
29). Finally, David Yisraeli, a member of the Stern Gang, wrote
the following in late 1940, as part of a proposal to Hitler. It
was delivered in 1941 to two German diplomats in Lebanon.
3. The establishment of the historic Jewish state on a national
and totalitarian basis, bound by a treaty with the German Reich,
would be in the interest of a maintained and strengthened future
German position of power in the Near East (p. 301).
Such beliefs, of course, were not limited to Nazis and Zionists.
Scientific and philosophical constructs of the day considered
such differentiation legitimate, and ideas of racial
differenceand, therefore, racial supremacywere practiced around
the world.
Another disturbing conclusion a reader must inevitably face is
that Zionists learned both tactical and political lessons from
the Nazis and that, even today, these lessons are applied to
further the Zionist cause. Although most likely known to
potential readers of this book, another disturbing element is
the cover-up of the less than savory roles of current Israeli
leaders, including former prime ministers, in the terrorist
Irgun and Stern Gang just before, during, and after the
Holocaust. Likewise, the succumbing of various U.S. officials to
Zionist pressure is a familiar, but distressing, story.
51 Documents seems to represent a renewed attempt by Brenner to
bring information regarding Zionist collaboration with the Nazis
to U.S. supporters of Israel, as well as to Jews and Muslims, in
order to expand dialogue with knowledge, and save livesboth
Palestinian and Israeliin the process. Readers of 51 Documents
will find it difficult not to remove the rose colored glasses
that so many seem to wear when examining Zionism.
* Sara Powell is AETs administrative and public relations
director.
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