Sources And Calculation Methodology

Sources And Calculation Methodology

Immigration Certificate that the British Mandate issued in the 1930s for the Jewish Agency, which it assigned to  settler-Jewish Colonist to immigrate to Palestine

To calculate how many Jews were saved due to the Haavara Agreement, it became clear that we needed to identify two critical statistics: i) How many German Jews immigrated to Palestine and, most importantly, ii) Based on what immigration visa program they gained entry (i.e., Capitalist, Labor, Student, Dependant, ..etc.). Since the numbers reported by most historians are all over the place, often not sourced from primary sources, and all circularly cited each other, we've determined that we must rely on the British Mandate & Jewish Agency primary sources. We found that the Mandate reported numbers between 49,712  (see column Q) and 46,543 (see column D) German Jews who immigrated to Palestine between 1933 and 1939 (see column Q in the spreadsheet), which included Jewish immigrants from Danzig and Austria after Anschluss (marked with brown background; see images of the primary sources for the details). To our surprise, the Jewish Agency reported a total of German Jews that was close to British figures (see column R, 43,286 = 39,066 + 4,220 travelers; here is another JA source that reported something similar during WWII, too). Although we found what we precisely needed from British Mandate's Palestine Blue Books (see columns X to AE), the data for 1933, 34 & 39 is unavailable (if you have access to them, please let us know). That said, we found the relevant missing data from the Jewish Agency's publications, which we consider the second best after the Mandate's official publications. We found that 9,415 German Jews immigrated via the Capitalist Certificate visa program (see columns X). Capitalists were those immigrants who proved they had at least P£1,000; they gained automatic immigration visas (a.k.a. certificate).

Hitler's Message To The West: If Jews are such noble citizens and you care about them, how come you're not letting them in?

Those Capitalists were accompanied by 9,243 dependants (see columns Y) for a total of 18,698. Note that A) our Capitalist and Labor Certificates dependants' data are missing for 1939 (marked with a yellow background in the spreadsheet), which could be inferred from the Survey of Palestine, p. 204. B) The Mandate didn't provide a breakdown of the immigration data by country of origin and religion for years below 1936, and for 1936 and above, Jews were the immigrants at an average rate of 99%. Therefore, it was safe to assume that 1% of those German immigrants were not Jewish (mostly German Templars of Sarona, Wilhelma, and Umm al-'Amad). C) Since the rise of Hitler in early 1933, the British instituted a rule that favored German Jewry when GB demanded that 10% of the total Labor Certificates grants must be allotted to German Jewry (a kind of an affirmative action). D) Also note that we discovered that one of every seven who immigrated to Palestine from Germany wasn't a German citizen (most of whom were Polish Jews; Sam Cohen, the architect of Haavara V1, was one of them), and we strongly suspect that Nazis excluded those from the Haavara Agreement.

It appears that Tom Segev, Edwin Black, and Yehuda Baur have reported a similar number of Capitalists; they reported 20,000, which must have included dependants (see The Seventh Million, p. 22, The Transfer Agreement, p. 379, and Jews For Sale?, p. 17). Also note that our numbers were close to what Mr. Tartakower & Mr. Grossman (who both wrote The Jewish Refugee in 1944 during WWII for the World Jewish Congress, see p. 384); the discrepancy was related to the fact that they reported data up to the first quarter of 1939; the rest could be taken from Survey of Palestine, p. 204. Based on our analysis, they must have used the Jewish Agency's publications to make their report (their numbers matched what the Jewish Agency reported for 1933 & 1934).

Vital Statistics

 Since those who used Labor Certificates to immigrate (along with their dependants and from all nations) numbered 90,540 (see Column N), and since 16,832 German Jews immigrated to Palestine because the Jewish Agency assigned them Labor Certificates (sum columns Z & AA), then that implies 18.6% (a.k.a. the "saving rate") were saved because the Jewish Agency assigned their head of household Labor Certificates.
 If non-German citizens (who immigrated to Palestine from Germany) were excluded from the calculation, the rate would drop to 15.8%.
 If those who gained entry based on British affirmative action (meaning the Jewish Agency played no role in saving) were excluded along with the non-Germans who immigrated out of Germany, the "saving rate" drops to 8.11%. Thus, Zionists were responsible for saving 6,611 German Jews whom the British affirmative action played no role in saving. It is very telling how German Jews were assigned labor certificates by the Jewish Agency at rate much less than Romanian Jews who were comparable in size and who were not being persecuted.

Analysis

Immigration Certificate that the British Mandate issued in the 1930s for the Jewish Agency, which it assigned to  settler-Jewish Colonist to immigrate to Palestine

 As you contemplate the earlier statistics, it is worth noting that A) the British Mandate left it to the Jewish Agency how to distribute those Labor Certificate visas as it saw fit, and based on that, the Zionist leadership should be judged, B) the British Mandate made it four times easier for German Jews to immigrate, C) It was British Mandate who demanded that between 10% of all Labor Certificates must be allotted to German Jews (Palestine as a Destination for Jewish Immigrants by Aviva Halamish, p. 126, 129, 146 and in JA's 1933 submission to the League of Nations, p. 5 ), and despite that Zionist leaders tightened the selection criteria for those poor German Jews compared with eastern European Jews. D) Haavara should not be credited with saving those who immigrated via the Capitalist Certificates visa program. Those who would have immigrated with or without the Haavara Agreement way before Hitler rose to power; thus, it was their money that saved them. It should be noted that this visa program was created after the riots in Hebron of 1929.

Our calculations have a profound ramification: This data indicates that the Jewish Agency must have assigned to German Jews fewer Labor Certificates than was previously disclosed, and the actual number of souls saved (16,832) due to the Jewish Agency's selection criteria; two-thirds of those were saved due to the British Mandate affirmative action which demanded that up to 10% of those who immigrated due to Labor Certificates (who numbered 9,054 out of 16,832) must be allotted to German Jews.

JFK said it BEST in 1939: Palestine Was Hardly Britain's to Give Away

Therefore, 10% (9,054 German Jews) would have been save with or without Haavara, and Zionists should not be credited with saving. Actually, this British affirmative action was instituted before Haavara, and the British made such a demand because they knew Zionists would not favor them. Thus, saving 6,611 German Jews by Zionists over seven years is a mediocre number, especially when we factor in that Romanian Jews were granted more Labor Certificates during the same period, although they weren't living in danger. The same logic applies to Greece's small Jewish community who received a comparable Labor Certificates as the German Jewry!

Fake Valor: Daddy, what did you do during the Holocaust while you were in Palestine?

To put things into prospective, please keep in mind that i) it was the British people who saved 10,000 German Jewish children (within a month) after the Kristallnacht pogrom. You would think the Zionist leadership appreciated what the British people did in a hurry. Think again! ii) Dr. Rudolf Kastner also claimed that he saved 1,600 Jews, but that was at the cost of 434,000 Jews. Then we have to ask: who speaks for the dead? Maybe Hannah Arendt! iii) As you digest the earlier facts, please always keep in mind that Hitler kept the doors open until late 1941 for Jews to leave, and he was willing to ship them anywhere on luxury liners at his own expense. iv) Thus, the concept of "saving lives" shouldn't be even contemplated until the Kristallnacht pogrom in late 1938.

As we attempted to validate our data and calculation method, it was brought to our attention that Prof. Aviva Halamish (whom we relied on doing our research) had calculated the "saving rate." However, she excluded dependants for some reason. She reported an average "saving rate" of 25% between 1933 and 1937 (note that she included non-German Jews who immigrated to Palestine from Germany), which is close to what we found. Ms. Halamish's numbers (although for a much smaller time window) increased our confidence in our calculations and methodology.

Immigration Certificate that the British Mandate issued in the 1930s for the Jewish Agency, which it assigned to  settler-Jewish Colonist to immigrate to Palestine

To paint the Haavara Agreement more favorably, it is common for Zionists and Israeli historians (inclusive of Wikipedia's Israeli editors) to state that Haavara was responsible for "saving" 60,000 German Jews. On the other hand, when the primary sources are examined (including the Jewish Agency's Statistical Handbook For Jewish Palestine For 1947), it became clear that the total German Jewish immigration (including those who immigrated before and after Haavara) was close to 50,000. Most historians who cited such a statistic have quoted Edwin Black, and it seems he was the earliest to report such a number (as early as 1983). On the other hand, when we examined what Mr. Black wrote, he never cited his sources (The Transfer Agreement, p. 379). To our surprise, the Jewish Agency's figures (reported way after WWII ended in 1947) were way below the 50,000 figures, even when illegal immigrants (a.k.a. Ma'apilim) were factored in. For example, the Jewish Agency reported a total of 39,066 German Jews on p. 104 between 1933 and 1939 (Austrians were added after the 1938 Anschluss with Germany). It appears that the Jewish Agency excluded non-German citizens (who immigrated to Palestine from Germany) and also didn't include travelers (who later applied to become immigrants, mostly Capitalists) and reported on them separately. German travelers who applied to become immigrants numbered 4,220 in the 1930s, and once they were factored in, that brought the total to 43,286 (=39,066 + 4,220; a similar number appeared in a similar JA publication in 1943 as well). It seems that JA's figures were on the low side because non-German citizens were excluded, and the British Mandate's figures were higher because they included them, besides adding travelers and illegals who were legalized over time.

David Ben-Gurion envisioned that Nazis' Nuremberg Race Laws would become the LEVER that would end up creating the "Jewish state," but how? Click the image for the details

Although the Haavara Agreement had no role in saving the illegal immigrants from Germany and Austria, for the sake of argument, even when they are added, the final tally would be 47,188 (=39,066 + 4,220 + 1,715 + 2,187). It should be emphasized that the British Mandate usually added illegals to their official records (the same logic was applied to travelers, as we have shown earlier), which explains why the Mandate's figures often were higher than the Jewish Agency's numbers. To make a point, we added the illegals to point out that even when the official figures are stretched to favor Zionists, and double counting is introduced, the 60,000 figure is way off the chart. Therefore, we ask: Where did this number come from, and why was it inflated? Why have all been citing unverified figures?

Much time and effort have been spent tracing the source of this mysterious and widely cited figure, and its sources have not been found. That said, Mr. Walter Laqueur's famous map (in The Holocaust Encyclopedia, p. 521) for German Jews' migration has been widely promoted, and that may have contributed to the widespread usage of these statistics. On the other hand, Mr. Laqueur referred to Greater Germany (which included Austria and Czechoslovakia, see p. 522); most importantly, his numbers don't add up to 60,000. Ironically, Walter reported a figure of 46,000 (on p. 522), which is close to our calculation. Anyhow, it is worth noting that even if the actual number was 60,000 and the difference of 13,000+ were all saved due to being assigned Labor Certificates, it would increase the saving rate from 15% to 33%. However, that still doesn't look good, especially considering that it was the British who saved 9,054 of them.

Certificate of immigration issued by the Government of Palestine to Shmuel Rakowski on April-26, 1946

 Also, Zionists and Israeli historians insist on lumping all immigrants who immigrated as Capitalists, their dependants, students, non-Germans who immigrated to Palestine out of Germany, and those in Category D into the "saving rate," which is a farce of an argument. Zionist leaders had no control over those; they had complete control over who was assigned a labor certificate. Based on such criteria, Zionist leadership should be judged (especially when they saw the knife hanging over Germany's Jews). Mr. Baur also presented a compelling argument: those Capitalists and their dependants would have been saved in Palestine or other countries with or without Haavara; the Capitalist visa program was as standard then as it is now. Most importantly, based on our calculation, we have found that 60% of the Capitalists were not German citizens, who were saved because of their money, not due to any help from Haavara. Concerning Category D, the Jewish Agency had no authority over who qualified as a dependant. It was the British who approved the dependants' visas.

Hitler's message to the British and American people: If Jews are such noble citizens and you care about them, how come you're not letting them in?

All these facts explain why two-thirds of those poor German Jews who applied to immigrate to Palestine (via the Labor Certificates visa program) were turned down (Abraham Margaliot, p. 561-562). To put things in another perspective, we've found that 246,000 German Jews (who were primarily penniless by then) left Germany within Haavara's seven years of life (59% of them left in under 10 months in 1939). Once we excluded those who went to Palestine, that was over 14 times what Zionists have allotted to head of households Labor Certificate visas to German Jews (Jews For Sale?, p. 17, 35). Based on the earlier facts and logical arguments, we are forced to ask: If Zionist leaders were "keen" on saving German Jews, why did they provide poor German Jews with a few Labor Certificates over eight years? Did Zionist leaders have cynical motives for providing as few Labor Certificates as possible? 

Zionists' Cruel Selection Criteria

Besides assigning as few Labor Certificates as possible to poor German Jews, Zionist leaders also applied cruel selection criteria that ended up rejecting two-thirds of those who applied. See for yourself (from Zionist sources) how Zionist leaders have selectively chosen which German Jews could be "saved" and who were deemed as suitable to the "Jewish state." Keep in mind this was applied nine years ahead of the Final Solution:

Abraham Margaliot (who is an Israeli Holocaust historian), p. 559 & 660

Here also is a snippet of Lenni Brenner's description of Zionists' cruel selection criteria that were applied to German Jews, which was extracted from his must-read book Zionism in the Age of the Dictators. Pay attention to how we also added the Israeli source whom Mr. Brenner cited; this is quite chilling to read, primarily when it was written by an Israeli:


Abraham Margaliot (who is an Israeli Holocaust historian), p. 561 & 562

We were shocked to discover that the renowned banking family of Hamburg, the Warburg, financed the resettlement of twice as many as German and Austrian Jews, compared with those who immigrated to Palestine. The Warburg family save almost 90,000 German and Austrian Jews between 1933 and late 1941 in a little known program called Hilfsverein which Zionist fought with tooth an nails.

Abraham Margaliot 

Just in case you think this cruel selection criteria was over after the "Jewish state" was created, then please think twice. The sick and the handicapped Jews who survived the holocaust were left for the Gentiles to take care of; especially after Germany paid Israel billions of dollars in reparations (in today's dollars) in the early 1950s: