Judaism Book

The Transfer Agreement was a fascinating and yet heartbreaking book for me to read. It revealed an unknown layer of Nazi and Jewish history that I was completely ignorant of. It involves a highly secretive deal made by Zionists with the Reich after Hitler came to power and he and his minions began dismantling the lives of German Jews. We all know that Jews were kicked out of their professions, lost their citizenship, and many were tortured and even killed in those early months of the Third Reich. The response of the rest of the world, both Jews and non-Jews, was to boycott German goods in hopes of starving the people and bringing an end to the antisemitic regime. As more atrocity stories leaked out, the boycott movement grew. As German industry and banking watched with growing consternation the unraveling of the German economy, there were some efforts to restrain the mistreatment of Jews. Zionists, who had been trying to achieve a Jewish state, saw an opportunity to move forward dramatically in this endeavor, by emigrating German Jews to British controlled Palestine, where there was already a fledgling Jewish community of Zionists. Trouble was, Germany had blocked the bank accounts of all Jews, and Britain required money to enter so immigrants had something to start with when they got there.

Enter the German Zionists and some less than altruistic businessmen who saw an opportunity to transfer some German Jews along with much of the wealth of German Jews to Palestine to jump start the creation of Israel. The Reich was interested in getting rid of the Jews, but also in enhancing the economy to create jobs for Germans growing impatient with the new regime. Boycotting would hurt the Transfer, because it would diminish the Jewish wealth along with that of Germany. So the deal was, squelch the boycott, and deal with the Reich, or no immigration, and no transfer of wealth. This was the deal which became the Transfer Agreement. It tore the Jewish world apart, as you hear of the wrangling around the world over which avenue to take. Starve Germany and sacrifice the German Jews and their accumulated wealth, or deal with the devil. Ultimately the deal was sealed.

Would Germany, especially Nazi Germany, have collapsed if the boycotts being called for around the world at the time, been allowed to continue? How ironic it is that the transfer, or Ha'avra, necessitated the Germans and World Jewry to actually help stabilize the German economy, so as to protect the wealth of German Jewry so there was something to transfer! We all know what happened to European Jews, some 6 million killed. Would this have happened if the German economy collapsed via boycotts? Heavy must have been the hearts and minds of those who envisioned and carried out the work of the "Transfer Agreement" as they watched Jews be slaughtered. Heartbreaking!

The Liquidation banks created to receive this wealth actually purchased shares in German railroads to assist the German economy. The same trains used to deport German Jews to death camps? Barter deals in oranges were made in 1933: Palestinian oranges for German products, no exchange of money. This while the world was trying to starve Germany over its treatment of German Jews! And Palestine was dealing with the Germans, taking German products. Such chutzpah!

The transfer focused on rescuing German Jews wealth much more so than rescuing German Jews. Zionists were not interested in protecting European Jews, just in establishing a Jewish state!
The Zionists created not an economic boycott, but an economic bond between Germany and Palestine.

Some quotes from the book:

"There was a time to be a Zionist, and there was a time to be a Jew. Only one issue could make any of them understand the difference. That issue was the recently revealed, but little understood, Transfer Agreement."
"But now the Zionist Organization was willing to betray the boycott in exchange for the same economic stimulus many in the world were being urged to relinquish. In the minds of the boycotting Jews, the Transfer Agreement was an unthinkable breach of the boycott"

"It is playing into the hands of the enemy, and destroying the only opportunity...to liberate their victims by bringing about the certain economic downfall of the Hitler regime." "It is simply inconceivable that we should ever become parties to such an unholy compact." Quote from Untermyer, a boycott organizer.

"Why, the very idea of Palestinian Jewry negotiating with Hitler about business instead of demanding justice for the persecuted Jews of Germany is unthinkable."
Rabbi Silver of Cleveland

"Some compared the confrontation with Hitler to the confrontation with the Egyptian pharaoh. Then, too, it was a question of freeing a stubborn and reluctant people from captivity, freeing them with their cattle and goats and possessions. Was Moses to refrain from negotiating with the pharaoh? If he had, the Jews would never have made an exodus to Israel with possessions needed to establish themselves. Hitler was the new pharaoh, pro-transfer people argued......these well-meaning men forgot that Moses would not compromise and that freedom for the children of Israel was secured not by prizes but by plaques."

" Mapai members(labor party) ..defended the transfer. They maintained that the boycott, even the German crises itself, was secondary to the needs of Palestine."

So, this agreement, after much shock around the world, especially among Jewish leaders, was carried out.


We know the rest of the story........


My criticism of the book, and the reason for the 4 stars, is that it got bogged down in details for me between the warring factions, Mapai, versus Revisionists and other Zionist groups. I am not Jewish, and did not feel the need for mountains of details, but I understand that others might.

This is an important piece of history which should be brought out of darkness into the light of day. I am grateful to the author for his work.