This medal was made to commemorate the work done by Leopold von Mildenstein, specifically his efforts to promote Zionism in German media
The Holocaust is one of the most memorable and tragic events in human history. Millions of people who were seen as problematic and inferior by the Nazis were systematically exiled or exterminated to relieve Germany of their existence. The group that was blamed the most for Germany’s problems were the Jewish people that lived across Europe. In the early 1930’s, before the Holocaust had fully begun, some Jewish leaders attempted to work with the Nazis to peacefully move the Jews from Germany to their homeland in Palestine. The efforts of these leaders helped save a small number of Jews from the Holocaust, and also aided in the construction of the future state of Israel.
In his article “The Streets Are Paved with Money”, Tom Segev discusses the transfer agreement that formed between the Nazis and the Zionist leaders. In 1933, they came to arrangement that allowed Jews to emigrate to Palestine with a small sum of money. This agreement helped both parties. Segev explains, “The haavara (transfer) agreement- the Hebrew term was used in the Nazi documents as well- was based on the complementary interests of the German government and the Zionist movement: the Nazis wanted the Jews out of Germany; the Zionists wanted them to come to Palestine,” (Segev, 20). The Zionists believed that Palestine was the ancestral homeland of all Jews in the world, and that it was their right to claim Jerusalem and the holy land for themselves. However, there were some groups of Jewish people who did not want to move to Palestine. Although many German Jews left for the safety of Palestine, some did not want to leave most of their possessions behind to begin a new life in a foreign land.
After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, the number of Jews emigrating to Palestine was slowly decreasing. Around this time, the Nazis changed their policies and began to send Jews and other minorities to concentration camps and labor camps. From 1939 to 1945, millions of people were displaced, tortured, and murdered at the hands of the Nazis. When the war finally ended in 1945, an entire generation of European Jews had been practically wiped out. The majority of the Jews that survived were between the ages of 15 and 30, as Avinoam Patt observes in his book We Are Here. Many of these young Jews had no homes or families to return to and were stuck living in DP camps or ruined buildings that were turned into housing. The conditions in these camps were often horrible and unhealthy, and any attempt to alert the Allied powers to these circumstances was met with little help from the Allies. In response to this, many young Jewish people began creating kibbutz, which were large farms where these young men could study agriculture, develop themselves into efficient workers, and have a community at a time when so many of these people felt abandoned and alone. The Zionists in Palestine originally were worried that farms such as this in Europe might encourage the Jews working on them to stay in Europe and not emigrate to Palestine. Patt discusses this in his book, saying “While all were in agreement that di jugnt (the youth), as the future of the Jewish people, needed to be occupied productively or life in Palestine, others on the newly formed Zionist-oriented Central Committee were concerned that by encouraging Jewish youths to settle on farms in Germany, they could be induced to remain in Germany long term,” (Patt, 107). These young Jews ended up playing a crucial role in the creation of Israel and the conflicts that would come to that region in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s.
I believe that these event of the transfer agreement and the young Jews emigrating to Palestine in the postwar era is fascinating because it sheds light on a topic that is not normally mentioned when discussing the Holocaust. The transfer agreement is particularly interesting because it was for the most part a peaceful diplomatic relationship between the Nazis and the Zionists. Although the Nazis would come to end the agreement and begin their persecution of the Jews, the fact that some Jews were able to peacefully leave Germany, specifcally with the Nazis help, is unbelievable. The image of the medallion at the top of the page is symbolic of this strenuous relationship. This medallion was made to commemorate a series of articles written by an SS writer traveling through Palestine. Upon returning to Germany, he published his work in a Nazi newsletter, exclaiming his admiration and respect for the Zionists. The coin features both the star of David and the Nazi swastika to show the peace that existed at the time between the two groups. It is interesting that in just a few short years, the peace and friendship that the medallion celebrated would be all but forgotten in the horrors of the Holocaust.
Image source
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/07/27/18789546.php?show_comments=1
I believe that due to anti-semitism growing in not just in Germany, but Europe as well, it led to more individuals considering leaving to start anew. As you have pointed out”German Jews left for the safety of Palestine, some did not want to leave most of their possessions behind to begin a new life in a foreign land.” This was not a simple decision I would argue and many had to be persuaded beforehand most likely.
I think it is important to realize that while many people opposed the Jewish people going to Palestine and creating the State of Israel, some of those people were Jews themselves. They did not want to leave a place in Europe that they had called their home. They also did not want to face the potential unrest and violence in Palestine if they went there to live.
I think your discussion of those Jews who, even within the Zionist movement itself, resisted leaving Europe before WWII is an important one to make. I like that you focused on the transfer agreement because I think it helps contextualize the plight of Jews who chose not to leave. I think that we tend to think of the Nazi’s just flipping a switch one day and suddenly blatantly brutalizing Jews, but it is important to understand that there was a progression over time. I also appreciate the fact that you touch on the demographics of the Jews at this time as mainly being young. I also found this interesting and want to look into possible ways that this might have had an impact on the formation of Israel.
You discuss the way in which the zionists may have been worried about Jews settling in post-war Germany when they have them work on farms. Do you think this was ever an actual possibility with he crimes that the german people let the nazis commit against the Jewish people? Would they ever be able to get past this and live in a land that had just recently persecuted them?