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ABSTRACT
The question of relations with Germany after the Holocaust was one of the most volatile issues on the Israeli-Jewish agenda. The approach formulated from the end of the Second World War called for a comprehensive and total boycott that would continue for generations to come. However, from the moment the reparations issue appeared on the Israeli-German agenda in the fall of 1951, a consistent retreat from the anti-German boycott policy ensued. This development reached its peak with the establishment of historic diplomatic relations between Jerusalem and Bonn in May 1965. In the following article, I intend to show that the Israeli right-wing movement, namely the Herut Movement acted with all its power to maintain the Israeli-Jewish boycott policy against Germany and was in fact the leading political/public entity in the State of Israel to act on this issue.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Jacob Tovy is a researcher specialized in the political history of the Jewish community in Palestine during the British Mandate and the State of Israel during the first two decades following its establishment. To date he has published three books in Hebrew, one of which has been translated to English.
Notes
1 In the State of Israel during the period under study, party-run newspapers were often the main source for understanding the position of political movements on various issues. Thus, for example, in the case of the Herut Movement: Primary archival sources that exist are rather slim, and it is the party organ that compensate by and large for this shortcoming.
2 The Herut Movement was established in June 1948. In 1973 it amalgamated with additional entities into a political framework called the Likud that exists to this day.
3 See, for example, Weitz, “The Herut Movement against the German Reparations;” Ozacky-Lazar, “The Herut Movement's Struggle against the Reparations Agreement;” Segev, The Seventh Million, 194–208.
4 In my research I used a variety of archival documents from the Jabotinsky Institute that relate to the attitude of the Herut Movement towards Germany. Most of these documents are published here for the first time.
5 Dawidowicz, The War Against the Jews, 48–69.
6 Gelber, New Homeland, 4–6.
7 Hazit Ha-am, 19 and 26 May 1933; Ben-Yerucham, Book of Bethar, 517–18; Schechtmam, Fighter and Prophet, 193–5, 214–20; Goldstein, Zionism and Anti-Semitism, 331–9; Robinson, A Useful Storm, 111–14.
8 Of course, this perspective was also widespread among Jewish communities worldwide.
9 Barzel, “Israel and Germany,” 5–16, 27, 37–58, 71–8; Gilead, “Public Opinion,” 28–36; Segev, The Seventh Million, 174–7.
10 A left-wing Socialist-Zionist party. Established in 1948.
11 The Israeli Communist Party. Established in 1919.
12 Similar to the Herut Movement, organizations of Holocaust survivors also remained firm behind the fundamental perspective against Germany. However, their actions were limited compared to those of the Herut Movement.
13 The issue was raised in various forms: parliamentary questions; motions for the agenda; motions of non-confidence in the Government and personal statements.
14 During this period, the Herut Movement held between eight and seventeen seats out of the Knesset's 120 members – that is, they constituted 6.5–14 percent of the MKs in the house.
15 The Communist Maki party was also active in the street, and the intensity of its presence may be similar to Herut's, but certainly was not greater. The left-wing Socialist Zionist Mapam party also didn't sit idle, but the scope of its activities most certainly fell short of those of the right-wing.
16 Utterances heard in plenum sessions of the Knesset, in meetings of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, in deliberations of the party's central committee, in demonstrations and mass assemblies, in editorials and opinion pieces in the press and in discussions in the media.
17 Concurrently the utterances of representatives of other parliamentary and non-parliamentary entities in various forums were also examined.
18 A left-wing Socialist-Zionist party. Established in 1930.
19 Weitz, “The Herut Movement against the German Reparations,” 107.
20 Don-Yehiya, “Between Nationalism and Religion,” 72–3.
21 Shapiro, Chosen to Command, 106–33.
22 In a research dealing with the way Begin related to the Holocaust, the author states that “the Holocaust was a leading factor [for Begin's] decision-making” and an element that shaped his views and beliefs. Peleg-Uziyahu, “Menachem Begin and the Holocaust,” 292.
23 For example, in his mind's eye, Begin viewed the reparations affair in terms of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion sitting in the company of the Nazi murderers of his family and haggling with them over money in exchange for conciliation. See Grosbard, Menachem Begin, 123.
24 Shilon, Begin, 171–2; Gordis, Menachem Begin, 50; Perlmutter, The Life and Times, 11–12, 99.
25 Herut, 7 September 1949.
26 Herut, 17 October 1949.
27 Herut, 13 July 1949.
28 Herut, 31 August 1949.
29 Herut, 24 March 1950.
30 Knesset Minutes, vol. 5, 8 May 1950, 1305.
31 Knesset Minutes, vol. 7, 15 November 1950, 211–12.
32 Herut, 21 March 1951.
33 For an in-depth examination of the reparations affair, see: Tovy, Destruction and Accounting; Jelinek, Deutschland und Israel, 39–216; Hansen, Aus dem Schatten der Katastrophe, 155–367.
34 Neuberger, “Morals, Emotion and Realism,” 284–5.
35 The Movement's secretariat was quick to turn to key party members demanding they immediately harness themselves for “the war against negotiation with Germany.” JIA, H1 – 1/2/3, The Secretariat to Jeremiah Halpern, 14 October 1951; JIA, H1 – 1/2/3, Yaakov Rubin to Anita Muller-Cohen, 17 October 1951; JIA, H1 – 1/2/3, Yaakov Rubin to Markowitz, 18 October 1951; JIA, H1 – 1/2/3, Yaakov Rubin to Shlomo kor, 11 November 1951.
36 See, for example, Knesset Minutes, vol. 10, 7 January 1952, 904–5; Herut, 4, 26 and 31 October, 2 November and 15 December 1951 and 2, 7, 8 January 1952.
37 See, for example, Herut, 2 November and 4 December 1951.
38 Herut, 28 October and 11 November 1951.
39 Herut, 5, 13 and 26 November 1951.
40 ISA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs 43/10, Information Department to the Israeli ambassador in London, 7 January 1952; Davar, 1 January 1952.
41 JIA, H1 – 1/2/3, Yaaokv Rubin to Eliyahu Meridor, 10 December 1951.
42 JIA, H1 – 1/2/3, Eliyahu Meridor to Yaacov Rubin, 24 December 1951.
43 JIA, H1 – 1/2/3, Yaakov Rubin to David Bukszpan, 25 November 1951.
44 JIA, H1 – 1/2/3, Yaakov Rubin to David Bukszpan, 18 January 1952.
45 JIA, H1 – 1/2/3, Yaakov Rubin to David Bukszpan, 25 November 1951.
46 Herut devoted almost all of its editions between 7 and 9 January to the issue of negotiations with the Germans. No other Israeli paper did this. A media scholar concluded that Herut's struggle was so absolute-engulfing “that on its first page during those days all distinction between headlines, news items, articles and commentary, and between organizational announcements and slogans [against the Agreement] was entirely blurred.” See Mann, The Leader and the Media, 119–20.
47 Herut, 2 and 4 January 1952.
48 Herut, 31 December 1951.
49 Barzel, “Israel and Germany,” 210.
50 Herut, 6 January 1952; Yedioth Ahronoth, 6 January 1952.
51 Arieh Naor, who serve as the Government secretary during Begin's tenure as Prime Minister, wrote in retrospect concerning the speech: “[Begin] never spoke in such language, not before that and not after that.” See Naor and Lammfromm, Menachem Begin, 91. The day after the demonstration Herut published Begin's speech. In response the Attorney General submitted a lawsuit against the newspaper for “publishing things that constitute a conspiracy for incitement and rebellion.” In the end, the lawsuit was dropped. JIA, L14 – 5/1, A lawsuit against Herut, 1952.
52 Weitz, The First Step to Power, 105–11; Ozacky-Lazar, “The Herut Movement's struggle,” 150–2; Herut, 8 January 1952.
53 Following the demonstration the Knesset decided to suspend Begin from the house's sessions for three months. Weitz, The First Step to Power, 123–4.
54 Herut's total mobilization in the reparations struggle can be evidenced in the following anecdotal incident: A Herut MK, Arie Ben-Eliezer, who was bedridden by a serious illness, requested that his doctors allow him to go to the Knesset to vote. Following consultation, the doctors acquiesced to his request, and Ben-Eliezer set a precedent when he was carried into the Knesset on a stretcher.
55 See, for example, Herut, 21, 23, 24, 25 and 26 March, 23 and 24 April, 8, 20, 21 and 28 May and 12 June 1952; ISA, 7563/3 A, Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Meeting, 6 May 1952, 6–10; A non-confidence motion in the Government submitted by the Herut Movement. Knesset Minutes, vol. 11, 6 May 1952, 1928–31; JIA, H1 – 9/10, Outlines for Hasbara, September 1952; Herut, 4, 8, 9 and 11 September 1952; ISA, 7563/6 A, Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Meeting, 5 September 1952, 20–21.
56 The person who carried the bomb was Dov Shilansky, a future MK (and the parliament speaker) from the Likud Party. He was a survivor who lost most of his family members in the Holocaust.
57 Tovy, Destruction and Accounting, 273–5.
58 Herut, 30 October 1953 and 11 March and 14 November 1954 and 25 September and 11 October and 29 December 1955.
59 See, for example, Herut, 12 March and 10 May 1954.
60 Sulam, 1 November 1949.
61 Sulam, 13 January 1952.
62 Sulam, 14 September 1952.
63 Sulam, 15 February 1953.
64 One of Herut's senior officials described this process bitterly saying: “Willingly or unwillingly, the public has been turned into a bribed public [in favor of Germany]. It was bribed by money, by trains [from the reparations money] by general compensations and by indemnifications.” JIA, H1 – 15/2, Central Committee Meeting, 7 May 1964.
65 Ben-Gurion presented his outlook regarding the importance of Germany for the future of the State of Israel in various forums. See, for example, ISA, Government Meeting, 8 January 1956, 17–18; ISA, Government Meeting, 15 December 1957, 33–6; Knesset Minutes, vol. 22, 15 July 1957, 2391; Knesset Minutes, vol. 23, 24 December 1957, 482–3; BGA, Ben-Gurion's Diary, 30 December 1957.
66 Stauber, “The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” 173–4; Stauber, “Israel's Quest for Diplomatic Relations,” 215–16.
67 See, for example, Herut, 26 March 1956 and 2 March and 2 September 1959 and 16 June 1961 and 26 January 1965.
68 JIA, H1 – 4/2, Central Committee Meeting, 4 November 1954.
69 ISA, Government Meeting, 8 January 1956, 10–37; ISA, Government Meeting, 15 January 1956, 19–20.
70 Knesset Minutes, vol. 20, 2 July 1956, 2154–5.
71 Knesset Minutes, vol. 18, 30 March 1955, 1405–6; Knesset Minutes, vol. 20, 18 July 1956, 2297.
72 See, for example, Herut, 6 June, 12 and 17 August 1955 and 18 January, 5 February and 25 March 1956 and 24 April, 20 September and 4 October 1957.
73 Lamerhav, 30 June 1957.
74 Knesset Minutes, vol. 22, 15 July 1957, 2389–91; Herut, 30 June and 5 and 17 July 1957.
75 Herut, 17 April 1953.
76 Herut, 16 April 1953.
77 Knesset Minutes, vol. 14, 30 June 1953, 1758.
78 Knesset Minutes, vol. 21, 10 December 1956, 429.
79 Knesset Minutes, vol. 14, 15 July 1953, 1946.
80 Knesset Minutes, vol. 17, 23 March 1955, 1241.
81 Knesset Minutes, vol. 14, 29 July 1953, 2065.
82 Knesset Minutes, vol. 14, 5 August 1953, 2145.
83 Knesset Minutes, vol. 24, 16 July 1958, 2319–20. One of the readership of Herut, brought to the attention of the editor of the daily the phenomenon of the showing of German films in Israel, and the editor promised that the Movement and his paper would do “everything possible in order […] to remove [this] disgrace from upon us.” JIA, L14 – 10/3, Isaac Remba to Haim Shapira, 29 June 1958.
84 Conclusions of the Education and Culture Committee concerning import of German films. Knesset Minutes, vol. 26, 1071.
85 A left-wing Socialist-Zionist party. Established in 1954.
86 Segev, The Seventh Million, 285–7; Weitz, “The Road to ‘An Other Germany’,” 257–8.
87 This was expressed in the scope of coverage in parties’ organs on the affair; activities on the street (primarily demonstrations) organized by the movements; and the extent to which each party related to the affair in the Knesset plenum.
88 See, for example, ISA, Government Meeting, 22 December 1957, 19; Lamerhav, 23 and 29 December 1957; Al Ha-Mishmar, 19 and 27 December 1957; Kol Ha-Am, 25 December 1957.
89 Knesset Minutes, vol. 23, 24 December 1957, 481–2.
90 Herut, 20 December 1957.
91 Herut, 25 and 29 December 1957 and 8 January 1958.
92 For an in-depth examination of the affair, see: Hansen, Aus dem Schatten der Katastrophe, 492–7; Segev, The Seventh Million, 293–301.
93 Herut, 25 June 1959.
94 Knesset Minutes, vol. 27, 29 June 1959, 2373.
95 See, for example, ISA, 7566/7 A, Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Meeting, 30 June 1959, 19; Herut, 26 and 29 June 1959. At the same time, other political movements and non-parliamentary entities tended this time to emphasize the moral motive more than in other crises that broke out due to German-Israeli relations.
96 ISA, 7566/7 A, Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Meeting, 30 June 1959, 19, 38; Knesset Minutes, vol. 27, 1 July 1959, 2416.
97 See, for example, Herut, 2 and 3 July 1959.
98 Herut, 7, 14, 17, 19, 26 and 29 July and 30 August 1959.
99 Herut, 30 June and 5, 7, 8 and 21 July 1959.
100 Herut, 29 June 1959.
101 Herut, 5, 9, 12, 13, 14 and 26 July 1959.
102 Carmel, It's All Politics, 549–50.
103 Segev, The Seventh Million, 302–3.
104 It appears that the Israeli public identified the Herut Movement as the standard-bearer on the question of relations with Germany, and therefore its senior officials were often requested to appear on public forums that dealt with this issue. See JIA, L14 – 10/3,Yehuda Shoval to Isaac Remba, 21 April 1959; Herut, 29 June 1959.
105 Herut, 8 and 9 September 1963.
106 Ma'ariv, 9 September 1963.
107 Knesset Minutes, vol. 38, 10 December 1963, 472–3.
108 Herut, 22 December 1963.
109 Herut, 10 May 1960.
110 Herut, 20, 21 and 22 November 1962; Ma'ariv, 20 November 1962.
111 Herut's demand for discussion of the cultural ties between the two countries led to a pointed parliamentary (and newspaper) exchange that occupied the Knesset for a full five sessions. See Knesset Minutes, vol. 32, 18 October 1961, 135–8; Knesset Minutes, vol. 32, 2 January 1962, 850–7; Knesset Minutes, vol. 32, 2 January 1962, 858–64; Knesset Minutes, vol. 32, 3 January 1962, 873–4; Knesset Minutes, vol. 32, 9 January 1962, 902–12.
112 Harel, The Crisis of the German Scientists.
113 See, for example, Knesset Minutes, vol. 35, 12 November 1962, 96–8; Knesset Minutes, vol. 36(2), 20 March 1963, 1569–70; Knesset Minutes, vol. 36(2), 7 April 1963, 1742–3; Knesset Minutes, vol. 37(2), 3 July 1963, 2269–71; Knesset Minutes, vol. 38, 27 January 1964, 878–9; Knesset Minutes, vol. 39, 17 March 1964, 1426–7; Knesset Minutes, vol. 39, 4 May 1964, 1673–6; Knesset Minutes, vol. 41, 12 October 1964, 5–8; Herut, 31 January and 20 July 1964.
114 Knesset Minutes, vol. 37, 20 May 1963, 1872–3.
115 ISA, 7568/10 A, Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Meeting, 4 June 1963, 2.
116 Some of the demonstrations were conducted together with other movements.
117 Herut, 26 May 1963.
118 Herut, 5 June 1963.
119 The Yearbook of the Association of Journalists – 1963. The Israeli-German Relations – A Symposium, 191.
120 Hansen, Aus dem Schatten der Katastrophe, 596–7, 614, 691–3, 702–3, 710.
121 Ibid., 721–31; Segev, The Seventh Million, 354.
122 In a meeting of the Movement's central committee, one member addressed the situation, saying: “I know the ‘German’ subject isn't popular with the Israeli public [… the] public is so apathetic.” JIA, H1 – 15/2, Central Committee Meeting, 7 May 1964.
123 From 1956, some ten sports matches between Israeli teams and that of West and East Germany was reported in the press; In Basketball (23 May 1959, 29 April and 8 May 1961, 4 June 1964), in volleyball (10 August 1963), in handball (3 June 1963) and in chess (11 September 1956, 4 October 1958, 23 October 1960). Two of the last chess matches were held, respectively, in Leipzig and Munich.
124 Knesset Minutes, vol. 42, 15 February 1965, 1242–5; Knesset Minutes, vol. 42, 15 February 1965, 1265; Herut, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 21 February 1965.
125 Hansen, Aus dem Schatten der Katastrophe, 754–5.
126 Herut, 10 March 1965.
127 This was the second such roll-call vote in the Knesset's history, the first being on 9 January 1952 – on the Government's motion to open negotiations with West Germany on a Reparations Agreement.
128 Knesset Minutes, vol. 42, 16 March 1965, 1541–5, 1567–8.
129 Herut, 21 March 1965.
130 Herut, 14 May 1965.
131 Knesset Minutes, vol. 42, 16 March 1965, 1541–5; Knesset Minutes, vol. 43, 17 May 1965, 1843–5; Herut, 16, 17, 19 and 22 March, 15 April, 4, 12, 14, 16 and 17 May 1965.
132 Knesset Minutes, vol. 42, 16 March 1965, 1545.
133 Lazar, “Excerpts from Chaim Lazar's Diaries,” 85.
134 JIA, H1 – 16/2, Central Committee Meeting, 1 August 1965.
135 JIA, H1 – 15/2, Central Committee Meeting, 1 August 1965.
136 JIA, H1 – 16/2, Central Committee Meeting, 9 August 1965.
137 Herut, 13 August 1965.
138 Herut, 12 August 1965.
139 Herut, 13 August 1965.
140 Herut, 17 August 1965.
141 See Naor, Begin in Power, 212–13; Shilon, Begin, 264, 418; Gordis, Menachem Begin, 231; Grosbard, Menachem Begin, 186, 192, 301–3; Silver, Begin: A Biography, 8.