Winston Churchill and Sir Herbert Samuel (1921).       Source: Times of Israel. Public Domain.

Author: Eduardo Freire Canosa

Introduction

The object of this website, "Zionism & Galiciana," is to offer a novel backdrop to the gestation of the modern State of Israel. Selected excerpts from four classic Zionist works are juxtaposed with clippings of contemporary Galician newspapers.

The government of Spain was largely unconcerned about events in Palestine or the progress of Zionism between 1813 and 1923, the historical period covered by this work, and secular Galician newspapers of the day reflected this. Only the Catholic press displayed keen interest particularly after the fall of Jerusalem to the British Army in 1917 and with the onset of the British Mandate in 1919. The main concern of the Roman Catholic Church was its diminished influence in Palestinian affairs and the disregard for its desires under the Mandate. Well-informed Galician newspapers and periodicals of Catholic stripe subsequently criticized Zionism and Jews sharply, even viciously, together with the unqualified British support for the establishment of a national Jewish home in Palestine.

The four classic Zionist authors are Moses Hess (1812-1875), Leon Pinsker (1821-1891), Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) and Ziv Jabotinsky (1880-1940). Their classic works are "Rome and Jerusalem" (1862), "Auto-emancipation" (1882), "The Jewish State" (1895) and "The Iron Wall" (1923). The sources for the four are Internet Archive for "Rome and Jerusalem," Araucaria for "Auto-emancipación," Masuah for "El Estado Judío" and the Jabotinsky Institute in Israel for "The Iron Wall." The Spanish text is translated to English by me.

"Galiciana" is the name of the online Digital Library of Galicia. "Galiciana" is managed by the Central Library of Galicia and is sponsored by the regional government, Xunta de Galicia, which launched the project on June 15, 2012. By the close of 2013 the digital library stored more than 147,000 pages of monographs, charts and pamphlets, and more than 87,000 pages of historical Galician periodicals and newspapers. Access to the collection is free and open to everyone.

Lengthy articles and news hearken back to events long long ago. The focus of the selection is on the plight of European Jews, on Judaism, Zionism and Palestine. The period covered spans April 10, 1813, and December 1, 1923.

Whether you are pro- or anti-Zionist or indifferent, the data presented, the news reports and the arguments given will probably rivet your curiosity.