This year, 2023, marks the centenary of three events, which directly affected the Jews and changed the course of history. All three events facilitated the return of the Jews to their ancient homeland.
Hitler, the Beer Hall Putsch 8 November 1923[1]
In 1923, on 8 November, Adolph Hitler proclai…
Hitler, Turkey and the British Mandate for Palestine Read More »
This year marks the centenary of the decision by the League of Nations to entrust Great Britain with the Mandate for Palestine. Following World War I and the partition of the Turkish Empire, the League of Nations set up the mandate system to assist the liberated territories to advance toward self-go…
One Hundred Years Ago: 1922, Britain and the Palestine Mandate Read More »
Mount Zion was conquered by Israel’s Harel Brigade on 18 May 1948, and became the only part of Jerusalem’s Old City to stay in Israeli hands until the armistice. The force on Mount Zion served as the forward position in the defence of southwest Jerusalem. For 19 years, from 1948, Jerusalem was d…
Mount Zion Tunnel Read More »
When the State of Israel was declared by David Ben Gurion on 14 May 1948, the Jewish community of Cochin, in southwestern India, were ready to immigrate. “Their whole purpose was to immigrate to Israel and that was their goal”, says Mira Elia of the Cochin Jewish Heritage Centre in Nevatim, in t…
The Cochin Jews – Israel’s Oldest Indian Community Read More »
Excavating under Jerusalem’s Old City, Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists have discovered what they think may have been a 2000-year-old city council building.1 Director of the excavation Dr Shlomit Weksler-Bdolach described the structure as one of the most magnificent public buildings fr…
More Discoveries Under Jerusalem’s Old City Read More »
In one of many remarkable stories of Jewish emigration to Palestine following World War II, Jewish members of British Intelligence worked with the Romanian authorities to bring Jews to Palestine and later to the new state of Israel. The story begins in 1944, when Shaike Dan, a Romanian born Jew who …
The Ransom of the Romanian Jews Read More »
Following World War II, Jan Masaryk (1886–1948), Czechoslovakia’s foreign minister, provided help to Holocaust survivors. He worked with Gaynor Jacobson, the Prague repre-sentative of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJJDC), to provide support for Haganah operations to smuggle J…
Czechoslovakia’s Crucial Role in the Birth of Israel 1 Read More »
World War II is generally viewed as the glorious victory of good over evil. Hitler’s Nazi Germany was defeated and the Jews were liberated from the concentration camps. But the reality is not so comforting. The conflict provided the opportunity to plunder the Jews and strip them of all that they o…
World War II and the Plunder of Jewish Property Read More »
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is widely regarded as an independent and neutral organisation, however, during the Holocaust, the ICRC failed to protect Jews and, following World War II, it worked with the Vatican to protect Nazi war criminals and collaborators.1
The ICR…
The Red Cross and the Holocaust Read More »
Speaking during a ceremony at the Vel d’Hiv Holocaust memorial monument in Paris, President of France, Emmanuel Macron, confronted the record of French complicity in the Holocaust. Macron acknowledged France’s collaboration with the Nazis and its direct role in the roundup and deportation of Jew…
