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Research has not yet provided a complete answer to the question of how much money was allocated by the Yishuv to the rescue of Jews during the Second World War, especially when the true significance of what was happening in Europe became common knowledge. This is a formidable task since the rescue activities were extremely complex and mostly secret. Determining the financing of the rescue operation also raises special difficulties. Those allocating the funds and their recipients took care to carefully cover their tracks. Varied methods were utilized to “launder” some of the money and to conceal its movement—for example, by means of “straw companies”—because transferring funds from the free countries into occupied Europe required violating the laws and currency regulations of the Western countries. Some of these activities required the payment of bribes. The conversion of money or diamonds (which were easier to smuggle) into currencies usable in occupied Europe was an intricate process that took place on the black market through couriers or shady moneychangers who made their brokerage conditional on the highest degree of discretion. They did not issue receipts or bills of lading for what was transferred through them or for what they retained for themselves. The principle of acting in secrecy was also applicable in the case of those banks involved in the depositing and the transfer of monies. At times Western spy services helped with the movement of funds, and very often their involvement also had to be kept secret. All of these were matters that people are reluctant to discuss freely even in normal times, let alone during a world war. Nations and intelligence agencies today still practice some of these methods and consequently are reluctant to reveal their past activities. As a result, the paucity of documentation concerning the financing of the rescue operation is not surprising, and it is clear why it is so hard to assess the scope of the funding and its routes. In part 3 of this book I shall examine how Ben-Gurion and his closest colleagues (particularly Kaplan) raised and allocated funds for the rescue of and assistance to the Jews of Europe. I will attempt to determine if they had a clear financing policy, how much money was raised, andfromwhatsources.Intheabsenceofcomplete documentation on the allocations, one can learn aboutfundingbytracingthemovementofmonies in occupied Europe and determining the extent of theactivity.Itisalsoimportanttounderstandhow the funds were transferred, which intelligence agencies followed the transfers and knew of them, and whether there was a reaction to these financial activities by the Yishuv in Palestine. These are central questions, the financing of rescue activities being one of the main criteria for determining the sincerity of a statesman’s pronouncements regarding his intention to adopt a given policy. On the other hand, the funding of such activities can also indicate the presence of an unpublicized policy—perhaps even a practical policy that contradicts official declarations—as well as secret processes for which funds are allocated , and real criteria, as distinct from those reflected in public discourse. Moreover, it involved violations of the law, and there was even a real danger that allocations of money would be irretrievably lost, would hamper the political activity of the JAE, or would come at the expense of settlement activity and the establishment of an infrastructure for mass immigration . Nevertheless, establishing that funds were allocated and to what extent provide significant testimony to the level of concern or 89 10 At the Edge of the Abyss Financial Maneuvers by Ben-Gurion and Kaplan, 1942–1943 indifference of the Yishuv’s leadership regarding the fate of Europe’s Jews. To briefly sketch the background, the allocation of funds from resources of the Yishuv itself was obviously also a function of its economic capability. During the war years, the population of the Yishuv comprised between 450,000 and 475,000 Jews, the majority recently arrived younger immigrants. A small minority belonged to the moneyed stratum or to the well-off veteran Yishuv. The period was characterized by various political upheavals, including the Arab revolt (1936–1939) and the Second World War (from 1939 onward), and a general sense of political and economic instability that existed throughout the world as well. Beginning in mid-1941 an economic revival wasdiscernibleintheeconomyasawholeaswellas in the life of the individual in Palestine. The standard of living of the workers improved, but it was the capitalists and industrialists who mainly enjoyed the fruits of the recovery.1 Only in hindsight can one...

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