Haavara FAQs: When was Haavara Agreement stopped? Why was it halted, and by whom?

When was Haavara Agreement stopped? Why was it halted, and by whom?

A Haavara document for a transaction that occured during WWII in June 1940

It seems that the trading portion of the Haavara Agreement was stopped in late 1939 by the British, soon after the Nazi occupation of Poland. Francis Nicosia stated that Haavara was allowed to clear the orders in its pipeline, and it was shut down in late 1939, see Zionism and Anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany, p. 265. On the other hand, it seems that the money-transfer portion of Haavara was allowed to function after the war was declared, see Adam Hofri, p. 104-5. Both Tom Segev and Avraham Barkai reported an end date of December 1941, see Intria Ltd., London.

It appears that the Haavara Agreement continued during the war to clear assistance payments from the US to German Jews via London and Tel-Aviv Haavara offices, see The Seventh Million, p. 22, From Boycott To Annihilation, p. 104; case in point see Edwin Black describing how "Relief Marks" were bought and sold. In any case, since the Jewish Agency's offices continued to function in Germany until May 1941, see Zionism and Anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany, p. 276. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that what Segev wrote was correct, and Haavara was halted in December 1941. If that is true, then it is also safe to assume that Haavara was stopped due to American pressure after Hitler declared war on the US in December 1941. Strangely, Haavara Ltd. paid its "investors" as late as 1951, see The Yishuv In The Shadow Of The Holocaust, p. 94.

Adolf Eichmann & company coined a special Gold Medallion in honor of the Nazis' relationship with Zionists! Do you have any ideas why he visited Palestine in 1937?

So much we don't know about the Haavara Agreement. For example, we would love to know the size of the transactions. Why did the British and the Americans allow Haavara to continue after the Nazis invaded Poland? Was Haavara used for other purposes other than clearing assistance payments? When was the last transaction executed? And who stopped it and why? It seems that the more we dig, the more questions we unearth.

As you contemplate these facts, keep in mind that Zionist leaders knew that Nazis were exterminating Jews; that is an open secret. For example, here is Nahum Goldman (one of the leading Zionist figures and one of the most important founders of the "Jewish state") on Nov. 24th, 1941, predicting that 4 million Jews would perish when WWII ended. YES, that was three weeks before the US officially entered the war, see JTA, Nov. 24th, 1941.