Trudy Gold
The Jewish Situation in Eastern Europe in the Interwar Period and Zionism, Part 1

Trudy Gold | The Jewish Situation in Eastern Europe in the Interwar Period and Zionism, Part 1 | 07.02.24

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- Good evening, everyone from London, and of course the series is mainly about the Middle East, but if you consider, we’ve looked at the three main motivations behind Zionism. One was an authentic Jewish nationalism, the other was the acknowledgement of the link to the Jewish people with the land of Israel. And the third was a response to modern anti-Semitism. So in order to give you a complete picture of what’s going on, I thought that in the next two presentations I’m going to look at Eastern Europe, which if you like, certainly Poland, the heartland of the Jewish world. And we start at the end of the First World War, and we cannot stress too much just how pretentious that war was. If you think about it, most of the problems of today, and its territorial divisions go back to the first World War. Not only was it a mechanised bloody war that cheapened life with the destruction of the old empires, new states emerge. States carved out of the Russian empire, the Turkish empire, the German Empire, and what kind of world are we going to see? And of course, the Jewish situation in Eastern Europe is going to become particularly acute.

Don’t forget that prior to the first World War, the bulk of world Jewry are living under the Czars. The Czarist Empire collapses in 1917, and what you see at the end of the war are a series of wars in the East, and the Jews are going to be caught in the middle of it and what are going to be their responses. But to do that, can we have the first slide, please? This is a very, very interesting man called Alfred Doblin. You might know of him because he actually wrote Berlin at Alexanderplatz, and can we see the next slide? He travelled, and this is what he said. Today’s states are the graves of people. The more or less arbitrarily formed states of Europe were collective beasts that taught the masses, their subjects the barbarousness of nationalism rather than values. And can we have a look next please, at a war map of interwar Poland. Now I want you to study this very, very carefully. Remember, this was all once the Russian Empire and now new states have been created. We’ll be talking later about Lithuania. We will see that of course, east Prussia separated from the rest of Germany by the Polish corridor. That’s going to be such a sore in Germany’s, in the German psyche. And you can see where the Soviet Union begins.

So have a look at that map. I wonder how many of you know where your families came from that particular map. So Poland, that had been wiped off the map in 1815, in 1919, it reemerges as a state. But let’s have a look at the next slide, please. Wars break out. There is war between the Poles and the Ukrainians. Can we go on? Wars between the Poles and the Soviets. And there’s also wars between the Lithuanians and the Poles. So it’s Lithuania, Poland, Ukrainian, Poland, and the Soviets. In fact, Trotsky was stopped at the gates of Warsaw because Stalin didn’t send enough men in. And important to remember from a Jewish point of view, the bulk of the leadership of the Russian establishment were in fact Jews. And I’ll be talking about that when I see, when we look at Russia. Important to remember as far as Zionism is concerned, Zionism and Judaism are outlawed in Russia, just as Christianity is going to be outlawed. We have no need of it anymore.

Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose, but your chains. So all those movements have been part of Russia, Zionism, Bundism, whatever. Now it’s going to be under the Soviet giant and we’ll talk about that tomorrow. Can we go on please? In the ensuing horror, when nationalism is absolutely at the fore, there are over 1000 pogroms between 1918 and 1921. In the Ukraine, you have Petliura, you have Makhno’s Black Army, you have of course the Lithuanians, you have the Polish armies all going to clash. And tragically, the Jews were one of the worst victims and pogroms breakout from country to country to country. And what is going to happen to the Jews as a result of all this? Can we go on please? Now, president Wilson came to Versailles with his various pointers. As all these empires are destroyed, he wants to make sure that minority rights were respected. Treaties are going to ratify the new borders. Incorporated into these treaties are going to be President Wilson’s important ideas. And this is what he said, self-determination is not a mere phrase, it’s an imperative principle of action, which statesmen will hemp force ignore at their peril.

But this is his Secretary of state, Robert Lansing, and this is what he said about it. And this is very important. The more I think about the President’s declaration, the more I’m convinced I am of the danger of putting such ideas into the minds of certain peoples. The phrase is simply loaded with dynamite. It will raise hopes that can never be realised. It will, I fear cause thousands of lives. What a calamity that the phrase was ever uttered. What effect will it have on the Irish, the Indians, the Boers, the Muslims of Palestine and Syria, a Morocco and Tripoli? How how will it harmonise with Zionism to which the president is committed? So already, even though when Poland is ratified as a state, Pilsudski, the commander of the Polish armies, I’ll talk about him later, managed to hold the bulk of Poland. It is ratified as a state and written into it the certain articles that are going to promise the minorities in a certain amount of help. Because in the second Polish Republic there are 30 million inhabitants. Two thirds were ethnically Polish, 5 million were Ukrainians. Ukraine was really sold down the river. It was basically divided up between. it was divide taken mainly by the Soviets and the rest by the Poles.

So, and one of the worst areas for hatred of the Jews was in fact in the Ukraine. So you have 5 million Ukrainians because of the division of territory are now in Poland, 2 million Germans, the thorn in the side of German nationalism, 1.2 Belarus, also a number of Czech, Hungarians, and people of mixed heritage. But there was one group that had no land and they lived all over Poland. Third of the population of Warsaw was Jewish, 25% of the population of Krakow. They were mainly an urban people, but 30% of them did live in the small towns and villages, and that of course was the Jews. There were three and a quarter million Jews living in the Polish Republic. Now they were, of course you had the Hasidic community and the traditional Orthodox. There were three basic responses to the Polish Republic. One of them is going to be, and it’s getting smaller and smaller is assimilationists because it’s important to remember, particularly in the cities, they made up a significant part of the Polish intelligentsia. Poland was still mainly an agrarian country. They’re 10% of the population, but 50% of the lawyers are Jewish, 46% of the doctors. Also very important in Polish literary life.

Some of the great doyens of Polish literature were Jewish. Also the great capitalist families, the majority of them were not Jewish. And in fact, those families that were included, like the Kronenberg, et cetera, many of them had converted anyway. The largest occupational group was actually in trade and 90% in the retail trade, 31% in industry. And of those in industry, the bulk of them were in the clothing factories and in the shoe factories. So amongst those who affirmed themselves, remember you’ve got the assimilationists, there was socialism, there was socialism, and there was Jewish socialism. Jewish socialism, of course is Bundism. Now, if you remember, that was created back in 1897 in Vilna. Now you would say Vilna is, isn’t Vilna the capital of Lithuania? It should have been, but Poland had conquered it. So Vilna until 1939 is going to be part of Poland. It’s very important that, and the Bund had been created. The Bund was a Jewish socialist organisation. Yiddish was their language.

It was the party of the working classes. They were responsible for a huge renaissance in Yiddish culture in in Yiddish theatre, later on Yiddish cinema, which was probably the best in the world at the time. There were Bundi schools, they dreamt of a pure socialist state with Jewish cultural autonomy in it. There was also the autonomists who just wanted cultural autonomy very much on the lines of the great Simon Dubnow. There was of course the orthodox parties and we’re going to see that they’re going to be represented in the Sejm. And not only that, Zionism, and there’s going to be many, many different strands of Zionism in Poland, there’s the socialist Zionism of Hashomer Hatzair, and there’s also the Zionism of Jabotinsky. Jabotinsky, who’s already come into the story is going to be in Poland. And I’m going to be developing his ideas as we go through this in relation to what is going on in Palestine. Now, Poland faced huge problems. The state has been created. Pilsudski, the great hero of Poland was not actually represented in, he was kept out of the negotiations.

Dmowski who is far more of a right winger is in power. And it’s not until 1926 when Pilsudski, when there’s a coup that Pilsudski takes over Poland. And in fact, Pilsudski was far better for the Jews than was Grabski or Dmowski. Can we go on please? I think it’s important that you take that on. Thank you. Now the other point to make, to give you a picture of how odd the Jewish world was in 1918, who would support the Jewish aspirations at the Peace conference. In fact, it fell to the British, French and American Jewish communities from France, the alios, which had been set up in the 1860s because of the Damascus affair, from Britain, the Board of Deputies and the Anglo Jewish Association, which you already know is very, very, the Anglo Jewish Association is very, very anti-Zionist. The board of deputies at this stage is anti-Zionist. The US delegation was headed by Louis Marshall. Now the 12 articles that were written into the Polish Constitution, as I said, it gives full civil, religious and political rights to all citizens of the new Poland. Children were to be educated through the medium of their own language. Remember that there were the Ukrainians, the Belarus, the Germans, and the Jews. Article 11 prevented Jews for any act, which constituted a violation of the Shabbat.

There was a lot of opposition from the Poles, but they’re actually forced to sign the minorities treaty. And almost identical treaties would be signed by the Czech, the Yugoslavs and the Greeks and the Armenians. Now a question for you. How on earth do it’s, and it’s founded by the newly created League of Nations, who is going to enforce this? How is it actually going to happen? Can we go on please? Can we jump on a bit, please, if you don’t mind? HIAs? Yes. What is going to happen in the first few years of the Polish state? It is under Grabski and Dmowski, who I’ll talk about in a minute. They’re violently nationalistic. They actually have a policy of squeezing Jews out of the economy. As they said, basically when the aboriginal nation comes to maturity, the immigrants would step aside and it led to huge unemployment. So the Jews are going to not only experience huge unemployment, it’s something like, by the end of 1924, something like a third of all Jewish breadwinners were out of a job.

So it was poverty. They’ve already undergone huge, a huge prejudice as a result of the pogroms. But it’s there in the state. This is the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society that was actually set up to help Jews leave Poland. And for many of them, look, it’s a very interesting question here. in the second Aliyah, the third Aliyah, between 1919 and 1923 in the main, those who went to Palestine were socialists, they’re socialist Zionists and they go on to the dream of those who are already working the land in Palestine. Because this is a question you have to ask yourselves, what constitutes a Zionist at this period? Is it someone who goes there impelled by the Zionist dream, or is it someone that goes there to save themselves? Because the people, the Jews of Palestine want them to help create a Jewish state. And it’s something that’s never really been resolved. If you look at the German Jews, you had exactly the same issue. They didn’t go. Look, those who went between 33 and 36, the majority were not Zionists, but they are fulfilling Zionism. Can we go on please?

I’m going to talk a little bit about Pilsudski because he is actually a very important figure. And as I said, he is a man who is going to be very, he’s going to be regarded as a grandfather by the Jews. He’s out of power until 1926, when he comes back to power, things do clean up a bit for the Jews. And he came from a noble family. And of course, at the time of his birth, the village that his family owned were part of the Russian Empire. He went to a Russian Gymnasium but in Vilnius. But it was his mother who introduced him to the glory of Polish literature. His father had fought in the 1863 revolution against Russia. So he’s been brought up as a strong nationalist. He started medical studies, he switched to law. He became involved in the Polish revolutionary movement very, very early on. His life is extraordinary. There’s some very good biographies of him. He is exiled, then he comes back. He was a man of great principle and he fled to Galicia, because the Russian authorities were after him, he escaped to London. At the time of the outbreak of the Russian Japanese war in 1905, he’s a wanted man.

He anticipated the coming World War I, he said this, only the sword now carries any weight in the balance of a destiny of nations. And meeting in Paris in 1914, he declared the future war for Poland was to regain independence. Don’t forget that Poland, going back to the 1200s had been one of the most important states in Europe, really right up until, I would say, until the 17th, 18th centuries. It was one of the most important states in Europe. And there was huge nationalism seeding under the surface. Now he established the Polish Legion. He was a soldier. He took command of the first brigade. He also secretly informed the British that his legions would fight for the British or the French would not fight for the Russians. He loathed the Russian. It’s also an issue that faced many Jews. Now the end of the war, 5th of November, the central powers proclaimed the Independence of Poland. And he agreed to serve as regents in the kingdom of Poland was created by the other side.

After the revolution, he didn’t want to be part of the losing side. He forbade Polish soldiers to take an oath of loyalty to the central powers. He was imprisoned for it, but it enhanced his reputation with the Poles. And on November the eighth, 1918, 3 days before the pharmacist, he was released and placed on a private train back to Warsaw. The collapsing Germans hoped he would create a force friendly to them, but it didn’t happen. He is appointed CNC of the Polish forces by the Regency council. And it was he who negotiated the evacuation of the German forces. And he was sent to supervise the running of the country. He is the provisional chief of staff. And he set out about organising a Polish army out of war bred veterans. Now he leads the Polish forces in the various wars and at the treaty of, at the Treaty of Riga, which concluded the future of Poland. It’s interesting because Grabski, who I’ll talk about in a minute, was against the Federalization of Poland. He was prepared to seed much of the Ukraine to the Soviets for his, because what Grabski wanted, he’s an arch Polish nationalist.

Pilsudski is much more nuanced. He was not an anti-Semite. Grabski and Dmowski, his opposition, Dmowski is the theoretician, They wanted a Polish state for Poles and Grabski is prepared to sacrifice land rather than let it fall into the hands of Ukrainians. Now also, when the Poles negotiate with the Soviets, the Chief Soviet negotiator, which was Trotsky’s number two, a Jew called Adolf Joffe. And it’s interesting the impact that’s going to have on Polish nationalism, the idea that Russia is in fact a Jewish idea. He becomes so disillusioned with the infighting in politics. He retired to his private estate and Poland was totally riven by economic and social unrest. And it’s not until 1925 that after several governments have resigned, he finally creates coup d'etat in 1926. He’s supported by the socialists, by the peasant party, he hoped for a bloodless coup, but in fact, 164 civilians and 215 soldiers were killed. But when you think about it, there was a coup. And yet it was pretty even. And he becomes president of the republic and he is going to be president right up until his death in 1936, which made it, it was in that period that the Jews, if you like, had a respite.

Even though he was an authoritarian, he really stabilised the position of ethnic minorities, which as I’ve said, they make up a third of the republic. He was violently against antisemitism. The Jews called him their grandfather. He was seen as the guarantee of stability. And in fact, when his funeral was held in Krakow, my great friend Felix Schaff was in Krakow at the time. He didn’t leave for London until 1938. And he was actually a revisionist Zionist. And he said they all supported Pilsudski. They were crying at his funeral because ironically, the revisionist Zionist had a lot of time for Polish nationalism. More about that later. So he dies in 1936. However, going back, can we go on please? The next slide, this is the Polish Parliament. Now the Polish parliament, the Sejm. Under the terms of Wilson, there are going to be Jewish representatives in the Sejm representing various Jewish parties. Now you have the Zionists to the left and the right, you have the religious parties, Agudat Yisrael and the extreme religious parties who are against Zionism.

There’s of course Mizrachi, which is pro Zionists. I’ll come onto that a minute. You know, Jews then are no different from Jews today any more than they were different 2000 years ago, even in the Warsaw ghetto, we couldn’t get our act together. Quarrels, quarrels, quarrels, quarrels. Let’s have a look at the Jews in the Sejm. There you see some of them are modern, some look very socialists, don’t they? And of course you see one of the great rabbis, these are Jewish representatives. They are in the Polish Parliament, just as they are. There are Ukrainian representatives, there are Czech representatives. It was a bit of a baller gum because the tension is between Polish nationalism and all the minorities. So can we go on please? This is Yitzhak Gruenbaum. Now he was the leader of the Jews, the Jewish delegation in the Sejm. He was born in Warsaw, incredibly bright. He studied Jewish prudence. He was very much a Zionist. He was an editor of several periodicals, both in Hebrew and Yiddish. And in 1919 he was elected to the Sejm as one of the, and he was one of the organisers of the Jewish Bloc, which united most of the Jewish parties in the Polish Parliament, not all of them.

Also, he formed a Bloc of National Minorities, which included he must have been quite a character because he managed to get the Germans and the Ukrainians to come with them. This is before Polski, remember, this is the early period to try and get more rights for the minorities. He was very critical of the ultra-Orthodox party, Agudat Yisrael. Finally, he moves to Paris in 1932 and goes to Palestine in 1933. He had a very interesting life. He was elected to the Jewish agency executive at the Zionist Congress, the 18th Zionist Congress. That was in 1939. That must have been heartbreaking. And during World War I, world War II, he tried to become, he was involved in contact and rescue and also trying to get food, smuggling food into the Jews. At the end of the war, he was amongst the Jewish agency directors who were arrested by the British. He was interned at the and becomes one of the 13 members of the provisional government of the state of Israel. And he was a signatory to the Declaration of Independence. He was the first Minister of the Interior for . And he was a journalist and an editor of both Hebrew and Yiddish papers. And this is the man who understood politics from his days in the Sejm, it must have been a walk in the park compared with what goes on in the Knesset.

Anyway, can we go on please? Now that is the Bloc that he ran, the Bloc of National Minorities and there you see him as a young man. Thank you. Next one, please. There you see Dmowski. Now Dmowski is in fact the, he is the, if you like, the brains behind Polish nationalism. He was born in Warsaw. He studied at Warsaw University. He was always anti-socialist. He was imprisoned by the Russian authorities for organising nationalist demonstrations. He founded the National League, and for him, only Polish identity was possible. He believed in a healthy egoism and that the state should be all powerful. He only held power briefly in 1923. He’s more influential as a thinker. He had a very bad relationship with President Wilson, who he met at the Treaty of Versailles. His antisemitism, totally grated. And this is a speech that he delivered at a, this is at a dinner headed by G.K. Chesterton, the English writer who was a violent anti-Semite. Let’s have a look at what he said in that meeting. Oh, I thought I’d given it to you. Okay, my religion. Yeah, no, this is actually Dmowski. My religion comes from Jesus Christ who was murdered by the Jews. Can you go back? He refused to allow any Jews onto the Polish National Committee.

Lewis Namier, who was also, he was a Jewish Polish historian actually at Oxford. And he was also with the British delegation to the League of Nations. And he said he was a chauvinist who led a chauvinist gang. And by the way, he believed in a Jewish world conspiracy. He said, what he wanted was a nationalist state in which the citizens will be, polish the speech polish and be of the Roman Catholic state. Whereas Pilsudski wanted a historic multi-ethnic state. He’s totally against the Minority Rights Treaty. He believed that Lloyd George had been bribed by the Jews. Lloyd George was an agent of the Jews. Don’t forget that the protocols of the altars of Zion were absolutely at the peak of their distribution. It had come out of Russia, remember at the time of the last of the Czars first appeared in Paris. But think about it, the number of Jews in the Russian Revolution, it’s this stupid Marx Rothschild conspiracy, totally irrational. But so many individuals then and today still believed it. He said the Sejm is far too chaotic. And he was furious because of the power of Yitzhak Gruenbaum, who he said, he’s a Jewish president elected by foreigners. After Pilsudski’s coup of 1926, he’s more of a ideologue than a leader, but very, very important. Let’s have a look at his partnering crime.

This is Grabski. He’s the leader of the anti-Semitic National Democratic Party. And he became Prime Minister twice, in 1920, 1922 through to 25. And in fact, it was in his time that you had that appalling etatism, which threw so many Jews out of their professions. And there was this move to replace Jews and other minorities by Poles. So not only do they lose their jobs, is Jews can’t find a job in the civil service, et cetera, et cetera. And they actually called that Aliyah, the Grabski Aliyah, because the, there was also tariff barriers in the surrounding countries. It was difficult for Jews to do trade. And consequently, let me give you an example. He also denied civil service. No Jews could join the civil service and no Jews could have government contracts. In 1921, there were 2,800 Jewish shoemaking establishments. By 26, 2060 of them had to close. Although Pilsudski abolished all these rules. Unfortunately, what happened was the Wall Street crash, which is going to absolutely spiral Poland into a horror story. Can we see the next slide, please? Next slide. Now we come on to Mr. Joseph Hlond.

Now a very sinister character in my book. He was the primate of Poland. And unfortunately what we have to talk a little bit about is Catholic anti-Semitism. Poland’s such a complicated country because of course they see themselves as the first victim of Nazism and they really don’t understand the unease that Jews have for Poland. And it, the anti-Semitism of the Polish clergy is extraordinary. Let me give you some examples. This is the paper of the bishoprick of Tarnow stirring up hatred of Jews in the profession. Hundreds of thousands of Jews are leaving accountable existence thanks to Jewish domination. In essence, the Catholic and nationalist press, they wanted the deification of the economy. I’m trying to find the quote I’m looking for. This is from, this is a call by August Hlond. He called upon the faithful to boycott Jewish business. From an economic point of view is good to prefer one’s own kind to others and to pass by Jewish shops and market stores. It’s permissible to love one’s own people more. He condemns physical violence against the Jews. And he did concede there were many pious, just honest, charitable, and generous Jews, but quote, it’s the fact that the Jews fight against the Catholic Church, encouraged free thinking and form the avant-garde of godlessness, artivism and all revolutionary movements.

It’s a fact that the Jews have a corrosive influence on national morality and spread pornography with their publishing houses. It’s true that the Jews engage in deception, usury, and slave trading. And this is on Kristallnacht. 1938, the daily paper of the Archdiocese of Krakow. The Third Reich is about to burst the shackles Jews have put on the country’s economic and cultural life. Jews will have to lease Germany. Their hour of history is at hand. He advised the, he also, he advised the Zionists to moderate their demands. And basically this is a man who ironically becomes a hero and something else in Poland education from the beginning, Polish nationalist students demanded that universities should be protected from Judification. Jews had to sit on what we call the, on the ghetto benches. And this, it’s lessened under Pilsudski. But after Pilsudski’s death, it goes absolutely crazy again. Now hang on please, let’s have a look at Aliyot. Now here you see, if you look at the third Aliyah, this is mainly from Russia, but in the main, it was actually from Poland because of course Russia closes itself to Zionism and this is the left. now the fourth Aliyah, this is mainly middle class refugees who left Poland because of anti-Jewish measures, four-fifths settled in cities.

Now, what is fascinating about that is in fact the majority of them are going to be followers of Jabotinsky. Can we go on please? I hope you can keep that in your head. Now there were, within Poland, there were lots of expressions of Judaism and Zionism. And this is of course is Mizrachi. It was originally founded in 1902 by Rabbi Yitzchak Yaacov Reines in Vilna, the land of Israel for the people of Israel according to the Tarrah. He was himself a Lithuanian rabbi. He was a correspondent of Herzl. He was a great Talmudist. He wanted to modernise the method of study. And he was actually a member of Herzl with Samuel Mohilever. He proposed Palestinian settlement, which would synthesise Torah and labour. And it was Mohilever who coined the phrase, mercaz ruhani religious centre. And because Herzl realised he needed some religious support it was Reines who was one of the first to answer the call. Most of his colleagues, of course, were opposed to political Zionism. He believed that contemporary Jews should see God’s hand in history. They’d survived the exile and to return, and he actually commissioned a book for his students. And art in Poland, after the reconstitution of the state, it becomes part of Member Vilna becomes part of state, he becomes the chief rabbi. And Rabbi Yitzchak Rubinstein followed him.

He was elected to the Polish Sejm. And he was very important in setting up all sorts of networks. And out of, can we see the next slide, please? And Bnei Akiva was their youth movement. It was founded in 1929 on Lag BaOmer as a youth wing of Mizrachi, and it believed that a Aliyah was the central commandment. Can we go on? There you see Rabbi Yitzchak Rubinstein. These are quite unusual as Rabbi on him, because as I said, the majority of rabbis were actually against Zionism. Can we go on there? You see YIVO. Now this is of course founded in Vilnius, but Vilnius is part of the Polish state. And it was a very, very important archive. And this is particularly for New Americans because of course in 1925 it was transferred to America. What I want to give you is a smell of just how important Polish Jewry were to the Polish Jewish world. Can we go on please? WIZO? So, yes, the largest WIZO group outside of the land of Israel was in Poland. WIZO, of course had been founded in London by Vera Weizmann, Romana Goodman, Rebecca Sieff, and a few other ladies to promote really social justice and welfare in the land of Israel.

And I’m sure many of you online now have either been members of WIZO or know a lot about it. And it’s very important. This is the role of women in it. Can we go on? This is Rosa Pomeranc. She was the only Zionist woman in the Sejm. And she was a very much at the forefront of Zionist thinking. Can we go on please? It’s quite difficult to find the women because of course, in a male dominated world, it was harder for a woman. Although in the Socialist Zionists and later on in Betar they did go for gender equality. Here you have Pauh Rakovsky, she wrote the Jewish woman integrating Zionism and feminist ideas. Right, let’s go on. This is the third Aliyah 40,000 from Poland. This is the left wing Zionists. They train in Poland. And what is also going to be interesting after 1937, Pilsudski’s death and a much more right wing reactionary Polish government, ironically, they are going to do business with the right wing Zionists because they both share the same aim. Getting Jews out of Poland. Can we go on? This is, I just wanted to show you this. This is actually the Maccabi team from Krakoff. There were lots and lots of these kind of, you know, I remember Felix Schaff used to say to me, we walked the same earth and we looked at the same sky that of course there was a certain amount of integration in the cities amongst the intelligentsia.

But in the main Jews lived a Jewish life, be it secular, be it Zionist, be it socialist Bundism, be it religious, of course. But it was a separated life. Can we go on? And now this is the fourth Aliyah. This is the largest Aliyah, around 90,000, mainly middle class, mainly responding to the core of Palestine and wanting to settle in cities. Many of them, of course, had wanted to go to America or Britain. But don’t forget the countries are closing the doors. Next slide, please. Aha. Now we come to the man. Now, I am not going to spend too much time on Jabotinsky now because I’m lecturing tomorrow and I want to spend a lot of time on him because of course he is one of the giants. And I want to pull together a few threads today. Look, as you all know, he was born in Odessa in 1880. He becomes an incredibly talented writer. He writes feuilletons. He goes to live in Italy for a while. He quite admired Italian fascism, never Nazism. He was interested in the state. And what makes, he was a bit of a genius. He was interested in what creates a state. He was interested in Jewish nationally, it was the pogroms of 1903. There was a terrible pogrom in Odessa.

He actually said, I don’t like Jews very much, but I’m one of them. And my fortunes will rise and fall with them. And as a result of that, he becomes involved in the Zionist movement. He works with Weizmann on synthetic Zionism. And in 1906 he says, we’ve got to do both a real firebrand, a brilliant orator. We’ve got to go for political Zionism, and at the same time we’ve got to settle the land. And as you already know, in 1914, he reckoned the British would win the war. He works with Trumpeldor on the Zion Mule Corps. And then we find him with the British Legion. He creates the 37th and 38th Aliyahs. He’s the first Jew to cross the river Jordan. And then everything goes wrong. He’s a lieutenant in the British army, a decorated lieutenant. He’s what happens in Palestine, and you’re already looking at this, is before the first high commissioner arrives. You know, the military authorities did not even print the Gulf or declaration. A lot of the officer class were coming in from Russia having fought against the Reds. They bought the protocols with them. Samuels aide de Camp, actually Colonel Richmond was a notorious antisemite.

What happens in 1920? There are the Nebi Musa riots. The Arabs go on the rampage and many Jews are killed. Jabotinsky resigns from the British army and he works to create the Haganah in Jerusalem. He is imprisoned and he and Weizmann have a huge rift because Weizmann believes the honour of England, Britain will come through, Jabotinsky never really believes that. They become more and more estranged. And finally he’s going to create the union of Zionist Revisionists. Let’s have a look at a few slides and I’m going to read a couple of his statements. Can we go on? There you see with, he creates Betar in Poland. And of course Betar is an acronym of Joseph Trumpeldor. But it’s also the last stand. Masada Betar think, and of course these are going to be fighting men. It’s a different kind of Aliyah. Can we go on please? This is Betar in Europe, very militaristic organisation. The next one. This is in Zakopane, that’s the mountains outside Krakoff. And my friend Felix Schaff used to go to these, can we go on? That’s what I want you to see.

Jabotinsky at the time of the Balfour declaration and then at the Peace conference. And then when the British remember that is the blue, that is the blue map of Palestine. Church and as you all know, cuts off four-fifths and creates trans Jordan. Jabotinsky’s feeling was eventually the diaspora will empty. It has to, we want land both sides of the Jordan. I’m just going to read you a couple of his statements, so you get the power of the man. And then what I’m going to do is, I’m going to show you a film. Some of you may have seen it before. It’s Warsaw, 1939. It’s just a travel log. It was found in a left luggage in New York. It was taken in 1939 by a Polish Jew living in America. And, but I want to give you a flavour of Jabotinsky. Jabotinsky in the end is denied entrance to Palestine. The British story out after the Arab rights in 1929. He was actually in South Africa at the time. He lives in Paris. He lives in London. Very simple life he lived, it’s interesting, I’m trying to find something I have that Weizmann said of him. Oh yes, this is what Weizmann, who was his enemy, he said at his obituary, Jabotinsky the passionate Zionist was utterly unJewish in manner, approach and deportment.

He came from Odessa, but the inner life of jewellery had left no trace on him. When I became intimate with him in later years, I observed a close hand, which seems to be a confirmation of this jewel streak. He was rather ugly, immensely attractive, well spoken, warmhearted, generous, always ready to help a Conrad in distress. All these qualities were however overlaid with a certain touch of the rather theatrical shivers, a certain , which was not at all Jewish. This is what Ben-Gurion, who was also his enemy, there was in him complete internal spiritual freedom. He had nothing in him of the Gallup Jew and was never embarrassed in the presence of Gentiles. Gorky, his Zionism was a great loss to Russian literature. Now I’m just going to read a speech he made in 1939, the ninth of 1938. Because he’s got the chutzpah of the devil. He also is known to statesmen all over the world. He negotiates the Polish government because after the death of Pilsudski he becomes more and more antisemitic. He negotiates with the Polish government to train Betar people.

They actually fund the training. And he would talk to anyone to help him achieve his aim, which was to save European jury. Because this is his speech and it sends the chills through me. It is for three years that I’ve been calling on you Jews of Poland, the glory of world jury with an appeal. I have been ceaselessly warning you that the catastrophe is coming closer. My hair has turned white. I have aged in these years because my heart is bleeding for you, dear brothers and sisters. Do you not see the volcano that will soon begin to spit out the fire of destruction? I see a terrifying sight. The time is short in which one can still be saved, I know. you didn’t you do not see it because you are bothered and rushing about with everyday worries. Listen to my remarks at the 12th hour, for God’s sake. May each one save his life while there is still time and the time is short. And I want to say one more thing to you on this day of the ninth above, those who will succeed to escape from this catastrophe will merit a moment of great Jewish joy, the rebirth and rise of a Jewish state.

I do not know whether I will ever earn that. My son, yes, I believe in this just as I’m sure that tomorrow morning the sun will shine once again. I believe in this with total faith. And of course he died at a Betar training camp in 1940 and his son was of course a member of the Bergson group in, and became a member of the Knesset. So this film, I’m going to show you, it’s an old film, it’s in Yiddish, but I just wanted you to get a glimpse of a city that was a third Jewish before the war. Thank you very much, Hannah. And we do questions afterwards.

[Clip plays]

• Thank you. Hannah, can you take it off? Take it off please, Hannah. Thank you. It’s such a poignant film and as I said, it was found in a left luggage in New York. It’d been made by this Polish Jew who was living in America to show the folks . And it was made, there are five Polish cities and next and tomorrow, I’ll show you Vilnius. It was made in the spring summer of 1939. Now let’s have a look at questions.

Q&A and Comments

Tim says, a lot of my family came from Lithuania.

Q: Do you know why the religions were banned under Russia? A: Tim, I’ll be talking about that tomorrow. Yes, because religion is the opium of the masses, said Karl Marx.

Rosa says, I look at Europe and USA, the right wing nationalism reemerging. This is a repetition. We do live in very, very unstable times, but it’s not exactly the same. Be careful. I mean obviously with our history, but there are many other falses at work as well.

Q: Did the Umrat have control over the Hazrat? A: Oh, you’re talking about under the Nazis, David. Hi David. Yes. Basically under the Nazis, the Germans wanted someone they could deal with. The Umrats were not self-appointed. The Nazis appointed them and if they didn’t obey, they were executed and a new lot would come in.

This is from Rita in memory of my beloved late parents, both born in Poland, Holocaust survivors. Oh, wonderful, Rita. This is Jean. HIAS still exists. They’ve had to change to helping non-Jewish refugees. But they might have to help start Jewish, help Jewish refugees again. Yes, Jean. Freda, Pilsudski was a hero for news, when he died, my grandmother was full of tears. And the family went to the burial ceremony and said the of mother of Jews and knew the daughter of Pilsudski who lived in London. What a wonderful lady she was. So that’s lovely Freda. That’s extraordinary. Is that Fred Elle, by the way? If it is, get in touch with me.

Edmund, one of my ancestors, grand uncle was a to Pilsudski, his name is Thorn and he is buried in the Jewish cemetery in Leipzig. Oh these are the kind of things that really makes lockdown so enriching. Thank you all. And this is from Freda. My grandfather on my father’s side was an educationalist and also Mizrachi leader of his town. He sent many young people to Palestine. They all attended my wedding, lovely. So Sally WIZO was very influential in the English speaking countries, England, South Africa, Australia, probably New Zealand. I know about WIZO too to my South African relatives. Americans are more familiar and involved with Hadassah. Yes, WIZO, as I said, it was created in London. And I was lucky that Romana Goodman’s daughter Carmel, I knew her in London and she gave me lots information just as I’m getting learning so much from all of you.

Q: Was there a lot of intermarriage in Poland in the interwar years like there was in Germany? A: No, Shelly, it was much, much less. You need an acculturated class to be part of. And I think in Poland there was a certain kind of acculturation amongst this intellectuals, but it was very small. I’m sure you’re aware of the significance of the ninth of Av, in which many days disasters have been fallen, the Jews.

Yes that’s why I think Abigail makes it so poignant, that speech he made.

Q: To what country did Jabotinsky, think Polish Jews could escape to? A: He wanted them to escape to Palestine. And it’s interesting because after the death of Pilsudski, it was the colonel’s regime and the colonels wanted them to go to Palestine. There was a lot of flirtation between Poland and Germany at this stage as well. And I’ll talk about that next week.

Q: What date is the film? A: The date of the film is 1939.

Q: Did I hear you mention the name Grabski? A: No, no. Jabotinsky referred to the European Jews as a frozen stampede. He referred to the . I’m going to be talking about that on it, so tomorrow.

Yes, Francine, it is incredibly sad watching the young and old knowing the future.

Q: Was language Yiddish? A: Yes, Yiddish was the language of the majority of the Jews of Poland. Some had Polish, some ideologically spoke Hebrew. But you know, there were 14 newspapers. Yiddish, as you all know, is a kind of middle German written in Hebrew letters. It was the language of the Jews of Poland.

Thank you Rita. My mother is from what she said was white Russia. And that’s in fact Belarus today. Belarus is still, that’s Minsk and Pinsk. Belarus is still a communist country. I’ve taught there. It’s an extraordinary, extraordinary place. How WIZO survived in so many of these places? I would never know. And there’s a book and a short video called “Three Minutes in Poland,” YouTube by Glenn Kurtz. Thank you Lillian. Thank you. My father was born in a small town in southern Poland and left in 1924. He tells the story of returning visiting youth who had left for Palestine. He proudly showed off they callus hands from the visible labour they engaged in. It’s fascinating, isn’t it? They also have this ideal of remaking the Jew.

Shelly says, but the British wouldn’t let the Jews into Palestine. They did, but there was a quota and in May, 1939, and we haven’t got to it yet. Don’t forget, lecturing on this. And of course William, I’m trying to get all my best historians to pull it all together so that, because it’s such an extraordinary story. In May, 1939, the British decided and war was coming. They needed to appease the Arabs. So they cut Jewish immigration to 15,000 a year for five years. And then it was deceased and that really closed the door. And that’s when all hell broke loose. But I’ll talk about that. Be careful about the Koran preaching hate. I’m going to say something quite controversial. Yes, Islam is a monotheistic religion. It does have problems with Judaism, but would never on the same level that Christianity did. And in fact, if you look for golden ages, you’ll find them in Spain and in the Ottoman Empire. And in fact, Norman, Professor Norman St, wonderful Norman will be coming in Norman Stillman and lecturing more on this.

This is from Barry. My mother was born in Slonim and came to Cape Town in 1929. She then came to Rhodesia, Jabotinsky, came to Rhodesia and started Betar. Most of my Sephardi friends joined Betar. WIZO was big in Rhodesia. It was lovely to listen to Yiddish. My Bubbie and Zayde only spoke Yiddish. That’s from Barry and Myrna. Oh, thank you so much. I didn’t really, so Jabotinsky also went to Rhodesia, did he? He was an extraordinary character. Whatever one thinks of the politics of Weizmann, Ben-Gurion and Jabotinsky and Begin, they were lions. This is from Ellie. My parents were from Austria-Hungarian Empire and never spoke Yiddish. But with a German background, it’s easy to understand. Yes, of course. No self-respecting Habsburg citizen or German citizen who was Jewish would speak Yiddish. My friend Anita goes crazy if I ever use the Yiddish word.

Anyway, that’s it. I will see you all tomorrow. Please take care of yourselves in these very troubling times. But it’s not the same. Please remember that. Anyway, lots of love to everybody. Oh, Deanne, the paragraph at the conclusion of the film, it’s basically that the majority of them died. 90% of Polish Jewry were murdered. And what can I say? What can I say? And they wonder why we are strange people. Can you murder a third of all Jews without the other two thirds having so many issues to deal with? And on that note, try and have a lovely evening or a good evening and we’re waiting for the results of the British election on the fourth, that’s going to be fun.

Take care everyone. Bye.