June 21, 1933: Zionist open declaration of fascism

On June 21,1933, there was finally an official Zionist declaration of policy regarding the fascist takeover  of power: “The Declaration of the Zionist Union for Germany in Reference to the Position of the Jews in the New Germany,” In one section of this extensive document, it was emphasized that “In our opinion one or the principles of the new German state of national exaltation would make a suitable solution possible.”19 The ZVFD, in its document, then cast a historic glance back at the position of the Jews in Germany, using such fascist terms as “ties of blood and race” and exactly like Hitler, postulating a “special soul” for the Jews. Then the Zionists stated: “For the Jew, too, origin, religion, common destiny and self-consciousness must be of crucial significance in shaping his life. This calls for the surmounting of the egoistical individualism that arose in the liberal age, and this should be achieved through the acquisition of a sense of common unity and a joyful assumption of responsibility.”20

After this avowal and reiteration of fascist theses there followed open recognition of the fascist state: “On the soil of the new state (i.e. fascist Germany), which drew up the race principle, we want to arrange the whole structure of our community in such a way, that for us, too, a fruitful application for the fatherland can be made possible in the sphere allotted to us.”21  In conclusion, the Zionists condemned the struggle against the Hitler regime of the anti-fascist forces, which in the spring of 1933 had called for an economic boycott against Nazi Germany.  “The boycott propaganda which they are making against Germany is in its very nature un-Zionist, since Zionism does not want to fight, but to persuade and to build,” 22

In order to grasp the full significance of this declaration by the ZVFD. 60 

one must again remember what had preceded it. The persecution of the Jews had already started and reached its first climax in a big pogrom on April 1, 1933, that encompassed all Germany. In the first days of March 1933, German Jewish citizens were mistreated in German cities for example, Jewish shops in Brunswick were ransacked on March 11, 1933, and on March 13, Jewish lawyers were manhandled in front of the Hall of Justice in Breslau). The fascist authorities issued the “Law for the Restoration of the Character of Vocational Professions,” which, amongst other things, led to the removal of 2,000 Jewish scientists and scholars from German universities. The Eighteenth Zionist Congress, which convened in the summer of 1933, was nevertheless cool about this when, during the session of the Zionist Congress taking place on August 24, 1933, the position of the German Jews was to be discussed, the Congress Presidium moved to prevent the discussion.23   It also strenuously and successfully attempted to prevent the introduction of a resolution calling for the boycott of German goods, and placed great emphasis instead on the need to arrange the emigration of the German Jews. Protests against the events in Germany were kept to an absolute minimum..