British Mandate Immigration certificates reports as it was reported in Palestine Blue Book for 1935, 36, 37 & 39

We have relied on "Palestine Blue Books" as the primary sources to populate our German Jewish immigration spreadsheet. Sadly, such sources for 1933, 1934, and 1939 are unavailable. On the other hand, we have relied on Jewish Agency's publications to fill in the gaps. We believe Palestine Blue Books are the primary sources and must be used when available. On the other hand, when they are unavailable, we have to settle for the 2nd best to populate the matrix. We would appreciate sharing such data if you have access to it. It should be noted that we have accounted to Danzig in our reporting, and by definition travelers were included by the British Mandate (same logic was applied for illegals). Also note that Austrian Jewish immigrants were accounted for starting from 1938.

Citing Jewish Agency's publication (published in Nov. 1935) , p. 3, 4, & 8. It should be EMPHASIZED that the below statistics for A(i), A(ii), A(iii) and C Immigration Certificate Categories must have included dependants; else that numbers will be way off. Such a fact will become CLEAR once you examine British Mandate's Palestine Blue Books and its Statistical Abstract publications:


It should be noted how the below table accounted for the non-German citizens (mainly Polish Jews) who immigrated to Palestine out of Germany before WWII. It seems that the Jewish Agency tracked them although the British Mandate didn't. When you inspect the data closely, you will find that on average 1 out every 7 or 8 immigrants to Palestine from Germany wasn't a German citizen:

Here is what Areih Tartakower and Kurt Grossmann reported in The Jewish Refugee (which was written during WWII in 1944) on page 384 . It appears they relied on the Jewish Agency's to build their reports. Pay attention how their 1933 & 1934 data are in sync completely with what the Jewish Agency have reported in late 1935 (see earlier slides). Therefore, it is safe to concluded that this reported is the 2nd best when the primary sources are not available, and that is what we used to populate 1939 data. That said, it should be noted that their 1939 data is available ONLY for 1st quarter, and we relied on Survey of Palestine, p. 204 to fill the gap:

Citing Palestine Blue Book for 1935, p. 173:

Citing Palestine Blue Book for 1936, p. 144:

Citing Palestine Blue Book for 1937, p. 164:

Citing Palestine Blue Book for 1938, p. 354:

Citing Jewish Agency Statistical Handbook of Jewish Palestine, p. 100 :
Here Survey of Palestine p. 204 that gives us an idea of German Jewish immigration between April 1st to end of December 1939:

Here is the immigration certificates' data as recorded in the Statistical Abstract of Palestine for 1937 1st edition on page 35 for years between 1932 and 1937:

Here is the immigration certificates' data as recorded in the Statistical Abstract of Palestine for 1940 on page 32 for years between 1934 and 1939:

Since Capitalists and Labor Certificates' data (a.k.a. Schedule A & C respectively) for 1938 and 1939 are not available, those could be inferred them from Jewish Agency's Statistical Handbook Of Jewish Palestine For 1947 (p. 103) where the data for Capitalists and Labor Certificates plus their dependants were reported accurately. This is very reasonable since what the Jewish Agency and the British Mandate reported, for years prior to 1938 and after 1939, matched completely (the exact same number). Pay attention to the footnote below the table; it contains relevant information.
and here is similar data from 1943 7th edition on page 17 relevant to years between 1940 and 1942. Pay attention to the footnote; it contains relevant information with regards to travelers; those by definition made it into the official tallies; same goes to illegals as you shall see shortly from the Mandate's & the Jewish Agency's official publications:

and here is similar data from 1944-45 8th edition on page 40 relevant to years between 1943 and 1945:

It should be noted that travelers who overstayed their visas and decided to take residence in Palestine; often were granted immigration certificates as Capitalists (meaning from Category A). See Jewish Agency's note for details:

From the same prior source (SAoP, Statistical Abstract of Palestine for 1944-45), here is also the final tally with regards to how many Capitalists gained entry because they qualified, pay attention to Tables 1, 2, 7 & 8: on p. 36 - 38.

Concerning the below Table 8, it seems that the British Mandate LUMPED all dependants together per year, and it wasn't just for Schedule D Certificates. A simple examination of the prior certificates per year shall prove our point, else Table 8's numbers would way off:


Here are immigration statistics for Palestine per year broken by religion (a.k.a. "race") between 1920 and the end of 1945 taken from the Survey of Palestine p. 185. It should be EMPHASIZED that the figures below were based on the certificates' reports since they match the same statistics reported by the mandate eight years earlier in 1937 (meaning they were not updated over time to account for errors), as we have shown earlier. On the other hand, the mandate started to report immigrants by country of origin ONLY after 1936. Such data were not provided for 1933, 1934 and 1935. Once such data is examined, starting from 1936 and up (from p. 187 to 193), you shall discover a discrepancy between 5 to 10% that we shall address shortly, and it seems travelers should fill in the gap:

Here are immigration statistics to Palestine per year broken up by religion (a.k.a. "race") and country of origin between 1922 and 1944 taken from the Survey of Palestine p. 186:

Here are immigration statistics to Palestine per year broken up by country of origin between 1926 and 1937 taken from Statistical Abstract of Palestine 1937, 1st Edition from p. 36. Once you examine a break down of those who immigrated by the country of origin starting from 1936 (see Survey of Palestine, page 187) and it, then it will be safe to assume that 99% those who immigrated from Germany, Danzig, and Austria were Jews :

Here are immigration statistics to Palestine per year broken up by country of origin between 1935 and 1942 taken from Statistical Abstract of Palestine 1943, 7th Edition from p. 19. AGAIN, once you examine a break down of those who immigrated by the country of origin starting from 1936 (see Survey of Palestine, page 187) and it, then it will be safe to assume that 99% those who immigrated from Germany, Danzig, and Austria were Jews :

Here's similar data but from the Survey of Palestine starting from p. 187 - 204, which broken up the data by religion, sex, and country of origin. Pay attention that numbers below don't match what was reported earlier in the certificates report. It seems that the figures below are way more accurate since they break downs the final tally by country of origin, religion and sex. For example, the total number of Jews who immigrated to Palestine in 1936 was: 27,910 (= 13,074 + 14,836), of them 7,668 German Jews (including Danzig's Jewish immigrants). It seems this table didn't account for travelers who were recorded at 1,817 for 1936. When 1936 travelers are added; the total becomes close to what was reported on page 185:

The total number of Jews who immigrated to Palestine in 1937 was: 9,855, of them 3,407 German Jews (including Danzig's Jewish immigrants). It seems this table didn't account for travelers who were recorded at 691 for 1937. When 1937 travelers are added; the total becomes close to what was reported on page 185:

The total number of Jews who immigrated to Palestine in 1938 was: 11,441 of them 6,053 (including Danzig's & Austria's Jewish immigrants) German Jews. It seems this table didn't account for travelers who were recorded at 1,427 for 1938. When 1938 travelers are added; the total becomes close to what was reported on page 185:

The total number of Jews who immigrated to Palestine in 1939 was: 13,914 of them 7,971 (including Danzig's & Austria's Jewish immigrants) German Jews. It seems this table didn't account for travelers who were recorded at 2,491 for 1939. When 1939 travelers are added; the total becomes close to what was reported on page 185:

Related Links

• Statistical Abstract of Palestine 1944-45, 8th Edition in PDF, and here is the relevant Immigration & Naturalization data.
• Statistical Abstract of Palestine 1943, 7th Edition in PDF, and here is the relevant Immigration & Naturalization data.
• Statistical Abstract of Palestine 1937, 1st Edition in PDF, and here is the relevant Immigration & Naturalization data.
• Statistical Abstract of Palestine 1936 in PDF
• Palestine Blue Book for 1935
• Palestine Blue Book for 1936
• Palestine Blue Book for 1937
• Palestine Blue Book for 1938
• General Monthly Bulletin of Current Statistics - 1945 in PDF
• Statistical Handbook Of Jewish Palestine For 1947 by the Jewish Agency For Palestine in PDF , and here is the relevant Immigration related data.