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To What Extent Did the Jewish Brigade Contribute to the Establishment of the Jewish State?

2014; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 51; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00263206.2014.934227

1743-7881

James Bunyan,

Jewish Identity and Society

AbstractWhilst the desperation of key international Zionist leaders, such as Chaim Weizmann, to field a fighting force against the Nazis consisting entirely of Palestinian Jews is evident in their correspondence, it is difficult to ascertain just how significant the practical contribution of the Jewish Brigade was to the Zionist project. The political effect of activities such as facilitating illegal immigration and, post-war, quietly training Jewish underground forces in Palestine cannot by their very nature be evaluated. Yet perhaps the Brigade's most important contribution to the embryonic state of Israel was the huge leap in political and cultural strength that boasting such a force represented. Notes1. M. Beckman, The Jewish Brigade: An Army with Two Masters 1944–45 (Stroud: Spellmount, 2009).2. D. Ben-Gurion, ‘Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel’, Speech (14 May 1948).3. Beckman, Jewish Brigade.4. M. Bar-Zohar, Ben-Gurion, trans. P. Kidron (New York: Adama Books, 1977), p.121.5. Ibid.6. N. Rose, ‘Weizmann, Chaim (1874–1952)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004); online edn, Jan. 2011, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36820 (accessed 14 Feb. 2012).7. C.D. Smith, Palestine and the Arab–Israeli Conflict, 7th ed. (Boston: Bedford St. Martins, 2010), p.115.8. M.E. Yapp. The Near East Since the First World War: A History to 1995, 2nd ed. (Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd., 1996), p.132.9. Smith, Palestine and the Arab–Israeli Conflict, p.142.10. Ibid., p.142.11. Anon., Palestine: Statement of Policy. Cmd. 6019 (London, May 1939), pp.10–11.12. D. Ben-Gurion, ‘Statement on the Second World War’, 12 Sept. 1939, quoted in S. Teveth, Ben Gurion: The Burning Ground 1886–1948 (Boston, MA: Harcourt Houghton Mifflin School, 1987), p.717.13. D. Ofer, Escaping the Holocaust: Illegal Immigration to the Land of Israel, 1939–1944 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), p.29.14. Ibid.15. H. Bartov, ‘Banner and the Brigade’, in S. Potick and J. Weinberg (eds.), Living Bridge, Meeting of vol. From Eretz Israel with Holocaust Survivors (Tel Aviv: Beth Hatefutsoth, the Nahum Goldman Museum of the Jewish Diaspora, 1983), pp.7–15.16. M. MacDonald, ‘Illegal Jewish Military Organisation’, War Cabinet Memorandum, London, Jan. 1940 (accessed through National Archives, CAB/67/4/17), p.1.17. Ibid., p.2.18. P.J. Grigg, ‘Formation of a Jewish Force to Participate in Europe’, War Cabinet Memorandum, London, 3 July 1944 (accessed through National Archives, CAB/66/51/44), p.1.19. Ofer, Escaping the Holocaust, p.31.20. C. Weizmann. ‘Letter to Leo Nathan. New York, March 12, 1943’, in The Letters and Papers of Chaim Weizmann: January 1943–May 1945, Vol.21, ed. M.J. Cohen (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1975), pp.10–11; see also p.11, fn.21. Ibid., p.11.22. H.F. Oxbury, ‘Grigg, Sir (Percy) James (1890–1964)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), online edn, Jan. 2011, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/33585 (accessed 8 May 2012); C. Weizmann, ‘Letter to Sir James Grigg. London, March 28, 1944’, in The Letters and Papers of Chaim Weizmann: January 1943–May 1945, Vol.21, pp.150–52.23. Oxbury, ‘Grigg’; Weizmann, ‘Letter to Grigg’, p.150.24. Ibid., p.151.25. Ibid., p.150.26. Ibid.27. Ibid., p.151.28. Ibid.29. Ibid.30. Ibid.31. Grigg, ‘Formation of a Jewish Force’.32. Ibid., p.3.33. Ibid.34. Ibid.35. Ibid.36. Ibid.37. W. Churchill, ‘Letter to Chaim Weizmann. London: August 5, 1944’, in The Letters and Papers of Chaim Weizmann: January 1943–May 1945, Vol.21, pp.164–5.38. Ibid.39. Ibid., pp.164–5.40. Ibid.41. C. Weizmann, ‘Letter to John M Martin. London: April 12, 1944’, in The Letters and Papers of Chaim Weizmann: January 1943–May 1945, Vol. 21, p.155.42. P. Addison, ‘Churchill, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer (1874–1965)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edn.43. Anon., ‘War Cabinet 104: August 9, 1944’, Cabinet Minutes, 9 Aug. 1944 (accessed through National Archives, CAB/65/43/20), p.263.44. Ibid.45. Ibid., p.264.46. Ibid.47. Anon., ‘War Cabinet 123: September 18, 1944’, Cabinet Minutes, 18 Sept. 1944 (accessed through National Archives, CAB/65/43/39).48. Ibid., p.51.49. Anon., ‘A Jewish Brigade Group: Self-Contained Force’, The Times, 20 Sept. 1944, http://callisto10.ggimg.com/doc/LT/WrapPDF=contentSet=LT=recordID=0FFO-1944-SEP20-003-F.pdf (accessed 23 Nov. 2011).50. Anon., ‘Jewry in the Field’, The Times, 20 Sept. 1944, http://callisto10.ggimg.com/imgsrv/FastPDF/LT/WrapPDF=contentSet=LT=recordID=0FFO-1944-SEP20-005-F.pdf (accessed 5 April 2011).51. Anon., ‘A Jewish Force’, Manchester Guardian, 20 Sept. 1944, http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy01.rhul.ac.uk/pqdweb?index=7&did=1302051102&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1321924669&clientId=14343 (accessed 23 Nov. 2011).52. Ibid.53. Ibid.54. Anon., ‘Jewish Army: Separate Brigade to be Formed’, Manchester Guardian, 20 Sept. 1944, http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy01.rhul.ac.uk/pqdweb?index=8&did=1302050292&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1321924670&clientId=14343 (accessed 23 Nov. 2011).55. Ibid.56. Ibid.57. Yapp, The Near East, p.133.58. Anon., ‘Britain Creating a Jewish Brigade’, New York Times, 20 Sept. 1944, http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy01.rhul.ac.uk/pqdweb?index=6&did=86730195&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1321924638&clientId=14343 (accessed 23 Nov. 2011).59. Ibid.60. Bar-Zohar, Ben-Gurion, p.121.61. Anon., ‘Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs’, Top Secret Memorandum, London, 7 Nov. 1944 (accessed through National Archives: WO 371/45376).62. Ibid., p.2.63. Ibid., p.4.64. H. Blum, The Brigade: An Epic Story of Vengeance, Salvation and World War II (New York: Pocket Books, 2002).65. Ibid.66. Beckman, Jewish Brigade.67. Ibid.; Blum, The Brigade.68. In Our Own Hands: The Hidden Story of the Jewish Brigade in World War Two, Documentary Transcript, produced by Chuck Olin Associates, Inc., 1998, http://www.olinfilms.com/brigade/resources/IOOHfulltranscipt.pdf (aaccessed 5 Aug. 2012).69. D. Porat. The Blue and Yellow Star of David: the Zionist Leadership in Palestine and the Holocaust 1939–45 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990), p.1.70. Ofer, Escaping the Holocaust.71. D. Remez, ‘Speech to Mapai Conference’, 10 Feb. 1943, quoted in Ofer, Escaping the Holocaust.72. Hanoch Bartov, in In Our Own Hands, p.21.73. Meir Zorea, in In Our Own Hands, p.2274. A.J. Kochavi, Post-Holocaust Politics: Britain, the United States, and Jewish Refugees, 1945–1948 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001).75. Ibid., p.238.76. Bartov, in In Our Own Hands, p.22.77. Nethanal Lorch, in In Our Own Hands, p.22.78. Porat, Blue and Yellow Star, p.250.79. Kochavi, Post-Holocaust Politics, p.244.80. Blum, The Brigade. Interestingly, Blum describes the same incident, indicating his access to the same oral evidence.81. Israel Carmi, in In Our Own Hands, p.24.82. Ofer, Escaping the Holocaust, p.307.83. Kochavi, Post-Holocaust Politics, p.245.84. Ibid., p.239.85. Bar-Zohar, Ben-Gurion, p.143.86. Shlomo Shamir, in In Our Own Hands, p.3.87. Bar-Zohar, Ben-Gurion, p.121.88. MacDonald, ‘Illegal Jewish Military Organisation’.89. Smith, Palestine and the Arab–Israeli Conflict, p.169.90. Netanel Lorch, in In Our Own Hands, p.4.91. Maxim Kahan, in In Our Own Hands, p.5.92. Chanan Greenwald, in In Our Own Hands, p.6.93. Bar-Zohar, Ben-Gurion, p.144.94. Ibid., p.145.95. Ibid.96. O. Almog, The Sabra: The Creation of the New Jew, trans. H. Watzman (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000).97. Ibid., p.258.98. H. Bartov, ‘Banner and the Brigade’, in Living Bridge, p.14.99. H. Bartov, The Brigade, trans. D.S. Segal (London: MacDonald and Company Ltd., 1968), p.36.100. Ibid.101. Almog, The Sabra.102. Ibid., p.259.103. Bartov, In Our Own Hands/104. Ibid.; Isaiah 9.