|
|
perpetualdiversity.com
The “Haavara Agreement”
The Haavara Agreement was a pact between the Nazis and Zionists
regarding Jewish emigration from Germany during the 1930's.
It is the only contract between an official Third Reich authority
and a Zionist organization. This agreement is considered to
have benefited the interests of both parties. Haavara was
intended to promote both the emigration of German Jews and
the export of German products to Palestine.
As a result of the Agreement, German exports arrived in Palestine
at bargain prices with the help of Jewish capital and Jewish
commercial assistance. The Agreement also made it possible
to settle a large number of German Jews in Palestine. Goods
worth a total of 139.5 million Reichsmark were transferred
by 1939. Only the outbreak of war in September 1939 ended
the transfer practice.
-- R. Widmann
Circular 54/1933 of the Reich
Ministry of Finance, August 28, 1933
To further the cause of Jewish emigration to
Palestine through allocation of the necessary sums of money,
without putting too much strain on the currency reserves of
the Reich and simultaneously increasing German exports to Palestine,
an agreement has been reached with the appropriate Jewish authorities.
It is based on the following conditions:
Emigrants on whose behalf the Emigration Advisory Office confirms
that further sums of money are necessary and adequate for the
purpose of starting a new life in Palestine, and that the minimum
amount of 1000 PP [Pal. Pounds] required for immigration into
Palestine is insufficient, may be granted an additional sum
in excess of the 15,000 RM on condition that it is paid at the
Reichsbank into the Special Account I of the Bank of the Temple
Corporation [German colonists bank in Palestine] and credited
to a trust company in Palestine specially set up for this purpose
(or to the Anglo-Palestine Bank until the Jewish trust company
has been set up). A total sum of 3 million RM has been designated
initially for this Special Account I and for a Special Account
II mentioned below; it is to be operated by the Temple Bank
as a trust account for the above mentioned Jewish Trust Company.
This account is to be used to pay for German goods delivered
to Palestine. Emigrants will be paid the equivalent of their
deposits by the Palestine trust company according to the funds
available from the sale of German goods to Palestine. This will
occur in the order and proportion of the payments made into
the Special Account I and paid out in Palestine Pounds. The
"Palästina-Treuhandstelle zur Beratung deutscher
Juden GmbH" [Paltreu, Palestine Trust Office for Advice
to German Jews] has been founded in Berlin, Friedrichstraß
218, to advise German Jews in matters concerning this form of
capital transfer to Palestine. I request that particular attention
is to be drawn to this organization when authorization [for
capital transfer to Palestine] is being granted.
Furthermore, a Special Account II has been opened at the Reichsbank
on behalf of the bank of the Temple Organization. On application
the exchange regulation authorities may grant permission to
German Jewish nationals, who have not yet emigrated but who
are already planning a new existence in Palestine, to deposit
up to 50,000 RM per person into this account (and similarly
credit it to a German-Jewish trust company to be founded in
Palestine or to the Anglo-Palestine Bank Ltd. until this has
been founded).
Source: Werner Feilchenfeld, Dolf Michaelis, Ludwig Pinner,
Haavara-Transfer nach Palästina und die Einwanderung deutscher
Juden 1933-1939, Tübingen 1972, p.26 f.
Herbert A. Strauss, General Editor, "Jewish Immigrants
of the Nazi Period in the USA" Vol. 4 - Jewish Emigration
from Germany 1933-1942: A Documentary History, K.G. Saur, New
York 1992, p. 254.
|
