The Origins of Israel, 1882–1948: A Documentary History

47. Diary (1940–41)

275 47 Diary (1940–41)   World War II affected the Yishuv in many ways. As discussed in the introduction to this section, until late 1942 it was under threat of invasion from German forces advancing from North Africa, and it also suffered bombing by Italian aircraft. Most of the Yishuv had close family and friends in Europe and anxiously followed news of Nazi atrocities against Jews. For the most part, however, Palestine was spared the ravages of war. Its economy flourished, and Zionist leaders devoted most of their efforts to immigration, land purchase, and settlement, to the extent that British regulations introduced in the wake of the 1939 White Paper made any of these possible. The Yishuv and the Jewish world as a whole were galvanized by British refusal to allow ships crammed with Jewish refugees into Palestine. We already encountered Arthur Ruppin, the author of this document, in document 13. During World War II, Ruppin lived in Jerusalem, where he taught sociology at the Hebrew University, and in the town of Binyamina, near Haifa. Ruppin kept a diary throughout his life, and he dutifully recorded the events of World War II and his reactions to them almost until the day of his death in 1943. Ruppin’s phlegmatic, understated tone conceals neither his anxiety about the fate of European Jewry and the Yishuv nor his dogged determination to advance the Zionist settlement projects that were his life’s work. ❖ Source: Arthur Ruppin, Briefe, Tagebücher, Erinnerungen, ed. Schlomo Krolik (Königstein/Ts.: JüdischerVerlag, 1985), 520–29, 533–34, 537–38, 541–42. Used with permission. Translated by Erin Hochman. Jerusalem, 25 February 1940. In the evenings over the radio in the hotel we listened to Hitler speaking, screaming, barking from Berlin, but always only repeating the old phrases about Germany’s right and the devilry of its enemies. How long will this man still rule the world? Jerusalem, 1 March 1940. The day before yesterday the government publicized the restriction of land purchases by Jews (in the Land Transfer Regulations),1 which was already announced in the White Paper. Only in the coastal areas may Jews buy unrestrictedly. In two other zones the purchase is limited or completely forbidden. In the Executive 2 there was naturally great commotion. One had hoped until the end that Churchill’s 3 influence would succeed in preventing the law. Ben-Gurion wants to resign as the chairman of the Executive. Jerusalem, 4 March 1940. In the last days many agitated sessions regarding the new land law. The day after tomorrow it should come up in the House of Commons. Jewish demonstrations in the streets of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa. The police used their truncheons. A young man has died as a result of a blow. A curfew in Tel Aviv. Jerusalem, 18 May 1940. The events of the war come thick and fast now—after eight months of quiet. The Germans have invaded Belgium and Holland, have breached the Maginot Line,4 and are said to have taken Brussels and Antwerp today. Thereby, with one blow, the position of the Allies has become very grave. The Germans are said to have superior numbers of airplanes and tanks and attack the Allies from behind with guns that are mounted on the planes. It is said a million soldiers have been killed in action—300,000 among the Allies, 700,000 among the Germans. The cruelty of this war eclipses everything that came before. One thinks that the end of the world is near. That I nevertheless do all my usual work is the result of my fatalism, which lets me regard the political events, against which I am powerless, just like I would an earthquake. For the time being, we still live in Palestine as in a paradise: no rationing of food, no conscription for military service, no acts of war. But who knows how fast it can change! In Haifa, sandbags for protection against air raids already lay in front of the big buildings; also blackouts are already being tried. Jerusalem is kept comparatively safe from air raids. Jerusalem, 30 May 1940. The last two weeks have brought new surprising events in the theater of war. The Germans have succeeded in marching through 276 :   ,  ,    Belgium, breaking through the French-English front, and arriving at the English Channel. Dunkirk is in their hands. The day before yesterday, King Leopold...