from:
-- Haavara; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, vol. 7
-- Israel, State of; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, vol.
9
The Haavara agreement
(from: Haavara; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, vol. 7)
<HAAVARA, a company for the transfer of Jewish property
from Nazi Germany to Palestine. The Trust and Transfer
Office Haavara Ltd., was established in Tel Aviv, following
an agreement with the German government in August 1933, to
facilitate the emigration of Jews to Palestine by allowing
the transfer of their capital in the form of German export
goods.
The amounts to be transferred were paid by prospective
emigrants into the account of a Jewish trust company
(PALTREU - Palestina Treuhandstelle zur Beratung deutscher
Juden [Palestine trust office for consulting of German
Jews]) in Germany and used for the purchase of goods
which the Haavara then sold in Palestine.
The proceeds, in Palestine currency, were paid to the
emigrants living in Palestine. The rate of exchange was
adjusted from time to time by the Haavara according to the
disagio, necessitated by the subsidy which the Haavara
granted the Palestinian importers, to make up for the
steadily deteriorating value of the Reich mark, so the
German goods could compete with other imports.
The ensuing disagio, borne by the emigrants, accordingly
increased from 6% in 1934 to 50% in 1938. The major part of
the transfer proceeds provided the 1,000 Palestine Pounds
(then $ 4,990) necessary for a "capitalist" immigration
certificate of the Mandatory administration, but also for
other categories of immigration, such as youth aliyah,
students, and artisans as well as for the transfer of public
funds.
The transfer, which weakened the boycott of German goods
declared by many Jewish organizations around the world, met
with considerable opposition. The controversy was settled at
the Zionist (col. 1012)
Congress in Lucerne (1935) which decided by a vast majority
in favor of the transfer and placed the Haavara under the
supervision of the *Jewish Agency. The Haavara continued to
function until World War II, in spite of vigorous attempts
by the Nazi Party to stop or curtail its activities.
The total transfer amounted to LP 8,100,000 (Palestine
Pounds; then $ 40,419,000) including LP 2,600,000 (then $
13,774,000) provided by the German Reichsbank in
coordination with Haavara. The Haavara transfer was a major
factor in making possible the immigration of approximately
60,000 German Jews to Palestine in the years 1933-1939, and
together with the money invested by the immigrants
themselves, in providing an incentive for the expansion of
agricultural settlement and for general economic
development.> (col. 1013)
In £:
<Through the *Ha'avarah, the transfer of Jewish assets
to Palestine, some £6,000,000 were saved and infused into
the economy of Erez Israel (Ereẓ Israel) [[Land of
Israel]] to its great benefit.>
(from: Zionism; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, vol. 16
[[But Hitler projected to occupy the whole Middle East with
Palestine and then the Jews would have been under NS rule
again and would have been foreseen for other deportation and
eventually annihilation by work. Hitler would have had taken
over the infrastructure which had been installed by the
Jews...]]
Bibliography
-- E. Marcus, in: Yad Vashem Studies, 2 (1959), 179-204
-- S. Esh, in: Am Yisrael Be-Dorenu (1964), 330-43
-- L. Pinner, in: In zwei Welten (1962), 133-66
[LU.P.]>
