Prior to the Second World War and the events of the Holocaust, there had been few major attempts made by members of the European Jewish community to leave Europe and create a true Jewish state of Israel in what was then Palestine. Of course, there was the Yishuv, but it was only a relatively minor settlement in Palestine, nothing close to a fully recognized state; and there was little reason up until the Holocaust for European Jews to leave the land they had called home for generations and migrate to a largely foreign land. But, as Mankowitz argued in his study regarding the Jewish DPs in post-war Germany, the creation of a Jewish state seemed to be the only option moving forward; it would serve as a kind of fulfillment of a dying wish from all those who did not survive the horrors of the Holocaust. He argued that the only way to honor the dead was to ensure a future for the Jewish people, one with security and independence in a homeland that they could finally call their own.(Patt, p.100) Similarly, in Cohen’s writing, the rabbi and lawyer Zorach Warhaftig marveled at how the quickly the “Jewish ethnological nationality” formed among the Jewish DP communities in post-war Germany.(Cohen, p.129) Though historians continue to debate over its affect on the formation of the Jewish State, it seems rather apparent to me that state of Israel could not have been formed if it were not for the unifying effect that the Holocaust had on the surviving members of the European Jewish community.
The various, yet separate Jewish communities across Europe were relatively well settled into whichever state they chose to find residence in; whether they be German Jews that were largely integrated into society, or Russian Jews who preferred to live separate and secluded from their gentile neighbors. Many claim that, the less a Jewish community was integrated into that state’s society, the more likely they were to be seen as outsiders and thus be subjected to some sort of mistreatment at the hands of the state or its people; but this kind of persecution was the case for many ethnic minorities throughout history and so was of no major note prior to the twentieth century. However, this environment of relatively peaceful coexistence quickly deteriorated leading up to, during, and even following the Second World War, as the surviving Jewish communities, integrated or otherwise, were uprooted and displaced from their European homelands. Not that many wished to return to these so-called homelands in the post-war years, especially as places like Poland and other East-Central European states began to see a troubling resurgence in anti-Semitic sentiments.(Cohen, p.128-133) This particularly rapid growth of Antisemitism in Eastern Europe was somewhat encouraged by general anti-religious sentiments of communism and by Stalin’s own personally negative views towards Jews. Such sentiments during Stalin’s reign and beyond also did little to aid the Jewish people or their later Zionist cause, thus driving even more Jews further away from the future Soviet Bloc and into Germany and Allied-controlled Central Europe.(Shneer, p.30) In the wake of this, hundreds of thousands of Jewish DPs found themselves in refugee camps across Germany and the rest of Central Europe; having been seemingly banished from their old homelands, it seemed that now, in the wake of such horror and destruction, it was time for the Jewish people to unite and stand together. And as they began to further identify as a unified nation, they demanded to be categorized under Allied policy as an independent nation, completely separate from their various, European countries of origin. As said in Patt’s Living in Landsberg, Dreaming of Deganiah, this political re-categorization on the part of the Allies played right into the hands of the Zionists; as a nation, the Zionists could now claim that they were entitled to national independence and territorial sovereignty, points that would later be central to the argument for the creation of the state of Israel.(Patt, p.101)
Following the end of the Second World War and the atrocities of the Holocaust with it, hundreds of thousands of Jews from across Europe now found themselves displaced, unable to return to their homeland or place of origin for one reason or another. Many felt that they were no longer welcome in Europe, especially as Antisemitism was once again on the rise, and they felt as if they were now spiritually banished from their homelands as well as physically. With this considered, it seemed that the Jewish people could only turn to each other for support and solidarity, that in the wake of such tragedy, they must unite as one people, as one nation. Arguments for Zionism and a true Jewish nation were once again rekindled, and were stronger than ever; for if the Jewish people were no longer welcome in their old homeland and could not find a new one in war-torn Europe, then they would forge a new homeland, a true Jewish state to call their own. However, it is important to note that, as tragic as it was, the Holocaust and the war that hid its atrocities for so long, served as the catalyst to unite the Jewish people under one banner of international recognition, sovereignty, and at last, nationhood. Though the Jewish people were among those whose suffering at the hands of the Nazis and their allies was truly beyond imagining, adversity breeds strength, and the Jewish nation emerged from the ashes of their old world to be united with a singular purpose to create a new world for themselves, in Israel.
Gerard Cohen, In War’s Wake, ch. 6.
Your post was well written and provided a plethora of information. I thought it was interesting that you believed that Israel was successfully established because of the Holocaust. While I was reading these articles I came to the same conclusion. I also liked that you pointed out that Jews were not just accepted back into society after the war, it is often over looked that once they were free from the Nazi Regime it did not mean their struggles were over.
“Adversity breeds strength.” As you said, the Holocaust definitely carried a lot of weight in the creation of Israel. I think the Jewish people realized that after World War II, the world seemed to not know how to view or how to help them. So, in order to protect and help themselves, they created community through kibbutz settlements. It shows an incredible amount of strength for these people who just survived extermination to create meaningful communities to help each other.
Your conclusion is very strong. I like the tie in that although extremely tragic and inexcusable, the Holocaust was a major player in the uniting of Jewish peoples. Before studying in this course I never put the pieces of the puzzle together to realize why/how so many Jewish people ended up on Palestinian land.
Once again you write another well rounded blog post. I like how you had packed information as well as excepts in your blog post then tied it all together with a great conclusion. You say that the holocaust was a catalyst for the new nation of Israel, do you think that Israel would eventually have been created if it wasn’t for the holocaust? Do you think that the Russian and communists way of life would have pushed the Jews away eventually? Do you think many of the DP jews who left for Israel wanted to or saw it as an only option?
I think your conclusion that World War Two was the main catalyst for the establishment is very interesting. We’ve seen that the five Aliyot where thousands of Jews traveled to Palestine prior to WWII. I would agree that the conflict and the revelation of the Holocaust certainly boosted the support of Zionism, which may have indirectly lead to the creation of Israel more quickly. Ben-Gurion and other Zionists certainly believed that the establishment of the state was of utmost importance.