Palestine Office

The Office of Palestine ( Hebrew הַמִּשְׂרָד הָאֶרֶצְיִשְׂרָאֵלי ha-Misrad ha-'Erezjisra'elī , German , the Palestinian Office / Office ' ) as a department of the Jewish Agency for Palestine (also Palestine Office Jewish Agency in Germany ) was an institution of the Jewish Agency for Israel in the first half of the 20th century Century and was established in numerous states . It was the official representation of the World Zionist Organization in Jafo and was active from April 1, 1908 under the direction of the sociologist and Zionist Arthur Ruppin and had several offices within the national institutions.

House Rechov Resi'el 17 (before 1949 Rue Negib Bustros ) from 1908 in Jaffa, builder was Alexander Howard, from whom the Palestine Office rented the building, now property of the Maronite community of Jaffa, 2014

Story and purpose

In 1907 the establishment of the Palestine Office was decided at the 8th Zionist Congress .

The tasks of the Palestine Office included obtaining exit permits and visas as well as providing funds for emigration. In addition to the advisory centers that had been set up, exit handbooks were drawn up and training and further education opportunities were offered, which among other things served the acquisition of manual and agricultural skills. Foreign language courses in Hebrew were offered to improve integration in the new home . In 1941 the organization had to cease its activities in the German Reich and in the occupied territories, which made Jewish self-help almost impossible.

Representations in Europe

Germany

Memorial plaque on the house at Meinekestrasse 10, Berlin-Charlottenburg , Germany

The establishment of the Palestine Office in Germany took place in Berlin in 1924, with Georg Landauer as the first director. One of the co-founders was the writer and publisher Georg Strauss . In 1941 the organization had to stop its activities in the German Reich.

Yugoslavia

The Palestine Office in Yugoslavia Palenstki ured za Jugislaviju had offices in Sarajevo , Belgrade , Novi Sad , Bitola and Skoplje in addition to the main office in Zagreb .

Austria

In March 1938, Adolf Eichmann appointed the head of the Palestine Office in Vienna, Alois Rothenberg , to be the liaison officer in the Jewish community responsible for the fastest possible emigration of all Jews.

Czechoslovakia

The Zionist Jakob Edelstein , murdered in Auschwitz , was head of the Palestine Office in Prague from 1933 to December 4, 1941.

literature

• Amos Morris Empire: Palestine Office. In: Dan Diner (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture (EJGK). Volume 4: Ly-Po. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2013, ISBN 978-3-476-02504-3 , pp. 478-482.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} memorial plaque on Meinekestrasse 10 in Berlin. , accessed March 29, 2014
2. ↑ Stenographic minutes of the negotiations of the 8th Zionist Congress (1907) ( PDF, 130 MB ) page 430, Stenographic minutes of the negotiations of the Zionist congresses 1897-1937 - digitized on compact memory
3. ↑ and made the rescue of individual Jews possible. Jewish self-help in the Nazi state. , accessed March 25, 2014
4. ↑ dokumente.de/publikationen/Boeckh/Boeckh_Juedische_Gemeinde_von_Zagreb.pdf The Jewish community of Zagreb  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 25, 2014  
5. ↑ online ( Memento of the original from April 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Yehuda Bauer : My brother's keeper. A History of the American Jewish United Distribution Committee 1929-1939, accessed March 25, 2014  
6. ^ Andreas Löw: German Reich and Protectorate September 1939 - September 1941. Volume 3 Google Books - Digitalisat (excerpts) , p. 601 (Notes), ISBN 978-3-486-58425-7