GERMAN JEWS FLOCK TO PALESTINE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 196, 22 August 1935, Page 10

GERMAN JEWS FLOCK TO PALESTINE

“A HOME-COMING” Abundant Enthusiasm

In Palestine they de not speak ol German refugees, but of those who come up to the Land, lhe Jews from Germany are part oi an “Ah.a, ’ a home-coming. those who have come dunug the last two years since the Hitler peiM < t lion begun numbei over 20,000, ano thuy ire continuing to arrive steadily at the rate ol 800 to 1000 a month. Tho official figures oi the Jewish Agency lor the immigration in 1933-31 give a total ol 7200 in the toi mer and 9300 in Lhe latter year. Bui in addition to those who camo a» iiu migrants or, entering as tourists, re ceiving permission from the Govern merit to stay as residents, a nunibei of tourists stayed without permission lhe immigrants from Germany are ol all classes and vocations, they m elude a larger proportion oi persons entering with capital, or, as they arccalled in tho icgulations of inucpen dent means, than the rest ot the lutinigrants. In each year there have been over 3000 such persons with a capital oi at least £lOOO and, in tact, esti mated at an average ol £‘2ooo. Tin large majority have been German*, and they have started enterprises ui all kinds. A recent survey oi Indus trial undertakings established in 193-1 showed that the majority were con ducted by German Jews Several lactones on a. large scale are springing up in the area of Haifa Bay, which is destined to be in the principal uianu facturing region. The? largest is an iron

ioundry ( ol which the director was one ui the heads el the A.E.G who is already producing pipes on a considerable scale, and has disposed of the ' whole expected product lor 193.5 Alien m lull working the factory will give employment to 3UU, and most ol the present workmen are from Germany. Thu largest German clement, however, is composed of young men and women ol the Pioneer Organisation, the Llaluz, winch is the most signi licant representative ol the renascent Jewish people. Some thousands ol them have prepared lor manual work lor liie on the soil oi in the factory by a year ol training eithei in Ger many it* ell oi in France, Denmark or uthci countries uf refuge Some thousands more are undergoing then training to-day in tho villages and communal settlements ot Palestine itseli It is sometimes said that German Jews m Palestine keep aloof from the rest ol the community, introduce their old ways, speak their olj language.

I and harp on the* way things, were done in Germany. There u a classification ol those who come to Palestine— (a) irum Germany, (b) from conviction, that criticism may apply Io a small section ui the older immigrants. Il emphatically docs not apply to the mam body. They bring an enthusiasm and an eagerness to be. integrated into thu new file, togethei with the method and orderliness ol their lurmer home. Un the other side is a wholehearted Jctei minatioii to integrate them into lhe 1110 oi the countn flic w.n in lor the. new-conn is is beyond all praise l lieie are a lew- purely German agricultural -elth'inenls anj they an marked by iieatiii >s and orderliness like the oldei German colonics ol thi Christian ‘Temple.’ They include several villages ol smallholders when •■ach sett lei occupies about one acre partly with intensive market, garden nig and partly with a chicken Inrm. each lias his own house, built to a 1 oattern and hearing on tho gate & number and letter-box, in tho expectation that some day the Palestine post-

man will deliver letters. Each of the settleis, who was formerly engaged in a liberal profession or in commerce has invested his capital ot £lOOO m Ins house and land; and, following the I’alestiuo principles, they organise themselves in a co-operative group. besides the young men and women who come from Germany trained foi manual work, there is a younger and still more hopeful element ot the German immigration. ft consists ol boys and girls between the ages ot 1 I and 17 who come straight from the German schools in order at the same limo to tini-h their school education ami to begin their practical training in the free atmosphere ot the Jenisl. National Home, and to be integrated more fully into the lilo while they uro very young. In llfdj /AH) camo in this way and were distributed between a children’s village near l.ydda, a children’s institution that lias been moved Irom Berlin to Haifa, and the ■■olonics and co-operative settlements. Another otkl aro due to come during ItKJ.S. They bring .vith them special instructors from Germany who have some experience of the country, and they spend hall the day ill the field and hull in schooling. They are selected bands ot German youth, picked tot physical, intellectual, and moral excellence; and they take to tlio new life, which in some ol tho settlements is spartan, with abundant enthusiasm, operative settlement has made room