Haavara FAQs: How did Zionist leaders respond when Hitler's rose to power in early 1933?

How did Zionist leaders respond when Hitler's rose to power in early 1933?

You would think Zionist leaders condemned Hitler's rise to power?

On the contrary, from the get-go, the Jewish Agency was one of the first to congratulate Hitler on becoming the German chancellor and to assure him that they were against all anti-Nazi boycotts. What the heck, Zionist leadership even sent Hitler a condolences cable when President Hindenburg died in August 1934 (The Seventh Million, p. 29).

Reinhard Heydrich on Zionism and how it's comparable to German National Socialism

What is mind-boggling is how all Zionist leaders clearly saw the dangers to Europe's Jews nine years before the Final Solution, and instead of confronting and resisting Hitler's fascism, Zionists sought accommodation hoping to exploit Hitler's antisemitism to achieve their political goals (e.g. the creation of the "Jewish state"). Zionists' policy of accommodation and collaboration was precisely Theodor Herzl's marching order just a few decades earlier: don't confront antisemites; they will become Zionists' best friends (the martial art of Jujutsu in politics, see The Transfer Agreement, p. 226). For example, once David Ben-Gurion was done reading, he declared Mein Kampf 1934:

"Hitler's policy puts all the Jewish people in danger", Ben-Gurion hoped that Nazis' victory would become "a fertile force" for Zionism [what about for Jews David, did you care about them!] (The Seventh Million, p. 18)

The same goes for Ze'ev Jabotinsky, who stated in early 1933:

"The Third Reich's policy towards the Jews calls for a war of extermination. It is being conducted in a way that exceeds the bounds of humanity."(The Seventh Million, p. 18)

which Jabotinsky asserted two years later, too. All this explains why Zionist leaders used to speak of Shoah in the past tense a decade before the calamity was underway.

JTA Sept. 3rd, 1933 Quoting Nahum Sokolow: "Hitlerism enables us to convert all Jews to Zionism."

You would not think the Zionist movement could sink low and compare themselves to National Socialism to impress Hitler. (The Transfer Agreement, see Zionists' letter to Hitler in the last paragraph on p. 175)
You wouldn't think Ben-Gurion & Co. could hoist Swastikas on their Haavara fleet?
You wouldn't think they did hoist the Swastika a year ahead of the German Navy?
You wouldn't think Zionist leaders could welcome wearing the yellow star of David nine years ahead of Hitler asking Jews to do so?
You wouldn't think Zionist intellectuals (who saw firsthand the the dangers of Nazis) could praise the "benefits of Nazism"? What the heck, even Emil Ludwig envisioned Jews erecting a status for Hitler in Palestine as a token of their appreciation!
You wouldn't think that such appeasing policies would prepare many of Europe's Zionists to work as collaborators (a.k.a. as Kapos) in the death camps and ghettos? God forbid, Zionists cannot sink that low kissing up to the great leader!

Here is Zionist Edwin Black quoting Jüdische Rundschau's (Jewish Review, ZVfD's official Zionist newspaper) letter to Hitler when he became the chancellor. Pay attention to how Zionists attempted to convey to the Nazis the similarities we outlined earlier between Zionism and National Socialism. Make sure not to skip Black's last sentence in defense of Zionists; he had to inject Hasbarah to make us digest treason as if it is actually "saving lives":

SS officer Leopold Von Mildenstein Inspecting A Zionist Kibbutz In Palestine During The 1930s

Jüdische Rundschau was free to preach Zionism as a wholly separate political philosophy-- indeed, the only separate political philosophy sanctioned by the Third Reich.

In 1933, Hebrew became an encouraged course in all Jewish schools. By 1935, uniforms for Zionist youth corps were permitted--the ONLY non-Nazi uniform allowed in Germany. When the Nuremberg Laws in late 1935 stripped German Jewry of their citizenship, it became illegal for Jews to raise the German flag; the same law, however, stipulated that Jewry could raise the Star of David-emblazoned Zionist flag.

The ZVfD's quick success in lobbying the Zionist option to the Reich advanced the priority of their second imperative: convincing German Jewry to relinquish ten centuries of German national existence. But the bulk of German Jewry wanted another solution to their predicament.
They wanted to stay, even as second-class citizens--even reviled and persecuted. The hot springs and baths, the outdoor Konzerten of Bach and Mozart, the readings of Goethe, Oriental carpets on the floor, exotic fruits from Africa, a noble tradition they had fought for, died for, profited by. These people were integrated. They were Germans. They wanted to stay, even helots.

Adolf Eichmann on Zionism and how it's comparable to German National Socialism

Zionism said no. While mainstream Jewish organizations were frantically assembling theories and position papers suggesting a tapered-down but still (German national existence, the Zionists were doing the opposite. On June 21, 1933, long ZvfD memorandum was sent directly to Hitler outlining those Zionist tenets that were consistent with National Socialist ideology. For example: "Zionism believes that a rebirth . . . such as that in German tradition resulting from a combination of Christian and national values and national values, must also come about within the Jewish community. Racial background, religion, a common fate, and tribal consciousness must be of decisive importance in developing a lifestyle for Jews too. ... Zionism's objective is to organize Jewish emigration to Palestine in such a way that it improves the Jewish situation in Germany. ... Jewish settlement is based on agriculture. All productive work, be it of an agricultural, craftsmanship, or industrial nature, is performed by Jewish workers who are inspired by a new idealistic work ethics".

Look who is copying from Joseph Goebbels' propaganda playbook. Birds of a feather always flock together

The German Zionist memo to Hitler contained the obligatory appeal to Nazi prejudices about Jewish laziness and calculated comparisons between the two movements. This was the only way to converse with the Nazi regime. (The Transfer Agreement, p. 175)

[Do you think Mr. Black & Co. would find similar excuses to water down Mufti's action nine years later when he met Hitler in November 1941 (not 1933)! When Mr. Black wrote this hasbarah, he knew well that Zionist leaders at the time were BIG on eugenics and race theory. Isn't it obvious that both sides, the Nazis and Zionists, had ideological affinity? For the love of God, Zionists were even ahead of Mussolini kissing Nazis' behind!]

To be fair to Mr. Black, he wrote one of the best assessments of the Zionist mindset when Hitler rose to power:

During the first days after Hitler's boycott against Germany's Jews [early 1933], the Zionist movement's hierarchy in Europe and America was busy trying to plot a course of action. Their objective was not to mobilize Jewish and non-Jewish resources for the preservation of Jewish rights in Germany. Rather, they sought a means of turning the miseries of German Jewry into a new impetus for a Jewish Homeland in Palestine.

Zionist leadership had, in fact, refused to oppose the Nazi expulsion ideology from the outset. (The Transfer Agreement, p. 78-9)

[What Mr. Black articulated here is precisely how David Ben-Gurion described exploiting Jews' plight during the 1930s. David called the exploitation of Jewish misery the LEVER that would end up creating the "Jewish state." This LEVER was used during and after WWII ended in the DP camps to achieve the maximum possible leverage.]

Finally, you wouldn't think the founding father of the "Jewish state" could nudge Nazis into murdering Jews four years before the Final Solution? God forbid, Zionist leaders wouldn't give Hitler ideas on how to murder Jews a month after the Kristallnacht pogrom. You wouldn't think Ben-Gurion would sink that low by encouraging Hitler to get started on murdering Jews two months before his infamous hate speech at the Reichstag. You wouldn't think the founding father of the "Jewish state" could foment Jewish pain and suffering, thus Jews' plight would become the LEVER that will create the "Jewish state"? Well, be careful what you wish for. Please be seated. Here are the boring details from Ben-Gurion's official biographers cited by the NY Times.