British Uganda Program
The British Uganda Program was a plan in the early 20th century to turn part of British East Africa into a refuge for the Jews .
The offer was made in 1903 by the British Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain to Theodor Herzl . The British offered the Zionists an area of 5000 square miles (approx. 12,950 km²) in the Mau Plateau (in today's Kenya ). The proposal was a reaction to the pogroms against the Jews in Russia and the hopeless situation for Jewish settlement plans in then still Ottoman Palestine and El Arish . The land was intended as a refuge for persecuted Jews rather than a solution for all Jews.
The offer was also presented at the sixth Zionist Congress in 1903 in Basel . It sparked a heated debate among the delegates. The African country was described as a “ night asylum ”, ie a refuge and by no means a substitute for Zion (Palestine). Nevertheless, many Zionists feared that the solution would make the path to the Jewish state in Palestine more difficult, once East Africa had been accepted. A major opposition formed before the vote, but it was decided with 295 votes to 178 to send an expedition to East Africa. Parts of the opposition then left the room angry.
In 1905 a three-person commission reached the said area. Two of the three commissioners spoke out against the suitability of the country.
After the inspection report was submitted to Congress, he decided to politely decline the English offer in 1905. Some Jews viewed this as a mistake, and the Jewish Territorialist Organization split off.
literature
- Michael Heymann: The Uganda Controversy. Edited with an Introduction. In: The Minutes of the Zionist General Council. Volume 1, Jerusalem 1970; Volume 2, Jerusalem 1977.