A Pragmatic Alliance: Jewish-Lithuanian political cooperation at the beginning of the 20th century

The Zionist Priorities in the Struggle for Lite,1916–1918

THE ZIONIST PRIORITIES IN THE STRUGGLE FOR LITE, 1916–1918 EGLĖ BENDIKAITĖ The viewpoint that the Lithuanian Jewish community should not be considered an indivisible unit with an unchangeable agenda is slowly taking root in Lithuanian historiography. Lithuanian historians notice often that the changing geopolitical and socio-economic situation corrected the attitudes and actions of various Jewish political movements. On the other hand, according to some opinions, the influence of Zionists is overemphasized , particularly in the period of building the national Lithuanian state after World War I, while the role and influence of other political movements , above all those that did not have any more successors after the Holocaust (the Bund, the Folkists, the Orthodox), is mistakenly marginalized .1 The works of Jewish and Lithuanian researchers present two parallel viewpoints regarding the politics of Jews in the genesis of Lithuanian statehood. One notes the undoubtedly pro–Lithuanian attitude of Jews, their loyalty, and unrecognized contribution to restoring the independent Lithuanian state in the early decades of the twentieth century.2 The other notes that Jews were not interested in the Lithuanian national movement or the independent Lithuanian state, but were exclusively focused on their own interests and the position of their more powerful neighbors.3 It is also noted in historiography that the political cooperation of Lithuanians and Jews after World War I was mutually advantageous, based on political calculation, which was provoked by anti-Polish views of both cooperating sides. Several individual researchers widely reveal the importance of inner and outer factors, which influenced the decisions and motivation of Lithuanian Jews against the general background of the politics of that period.4 These works are imperative in that they show the influence of Zionists on the formation of Lithuanian-Jewish alliance and are based on the analysis of reports on their political social work and correspondence in 160 A Pragmatic Alliance the zone of German military administration during World War I (i.e., the sources that were relevant for the current research as well). Before the beginning of World War I, the leaders of the World Zionist Organization (WZO) not only formulated the basic guidelines of putting the Zionist ideals and the Basel program5 into perspective, but also approved of the “here and now” principle of activity. This principle provided for a transition from passive observance to active struggle for the political, civic, and national rights and interests of Jews living in the diaspora, by combining a vision of the future with the solution of concrete urgent tasks by way of compromise.6 At the turn of the nineteenth century, the Zionists as a political movement were still under formation, it was at that time they had to establish their relationship with the newly arising factors––the Lithuanian, Polish, and Belarusian national movements, and the new national states rising from the ruins of the Russian empire in the late 1910s. The Zionists did not intend to stay in the role as observers, and their political position was not stagnant. Lithuanian Zionists, whose solutions for the most part depended on the position of the Zionist leaders in the central headquarters in Berlin, Hague, or Copenhagen, discussed various future prospects of socalled Lite (Jewish Lithuania) and the existence of Jews in it, while looking for allies in achieving their national interests and political aims. On the other hand, the strategy of Lithuanian Zionists was concentrated in the hands of several people and often depended on their personal views and fixed priorities. “One for All” World War I, which broke out in August 1914, and Turkey joining the war made the leaders of the WZO and its committees in separate countries revise their political course while seeking to put the basic Zionist goal into perspective, and take a respective position with regard to the countries involved in the war. In the early war years, the leadership of the WZO emphasized a strictly neutral position. In addition to the Central Zionist Bureau of the WZO, which transferred from Cologne to Berlin in 1911 and operated in the territory of a country in war, a new analogous bureau was established farther from the front line in Copenhagen, and the mission of the National Fund was transferred to Hague.7 At the outbreak of war, the ranks of Lithuanian Zionists considerably shrunk. Because of the intensified persecutions of the czarist regime, part BENDIKAITĖ: The Zionist Priorities in the Struggle for Lite, 1916–1918...