Winston Churchill and Sir Herbert Samuel (1921). Source: Times of Israel. Public Domain.
Author: Eduardo Freire Canosa
Author: Eduardo Freire Canosa
The object of this webpage, "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 four 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 first three were originally written in German, and the fourth in Russian. The source of a translation to English or to Spanish is the 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." All Spanish text is translated to English by the author.
"Galiciana" is the name of the online Digital Library of Galicia. The website is managed by the Central Library of Galicia and is sponsored by the regional government. Xunta de Galicia launched the project officially on June 15, 2012. By the close of 2013 the digital library boasted more than 147,000 pages of monographs, charts and pamphlets, and more than 87,000 pages of historical Galician periodicals and newspapers. The access to the collection is free and open to everyone.
The government of Spain was not interested in the events of Palestine or the progress of Zionism over the historical period covered by this work, and secular Galician newspapers reflected this.
Only the Catholic press displayed keen interest in both topics after the fall of Jerusalem in 1917 and 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 second-class status given to its enclaves and sanctuaries under the Mandate. Well-informed Galician newspapers and periodicals of Catholic stripe subsequently criticized Zionism sharply together with the unqualified British support for it.
Lengthy articles and news stories hearken back to events at least a hundred years old. The focus is on the plight of the Jews in Europe, on Judaism, Zionism and Palestine. This "News from Galiciana" section runs from April 10, 1813, to 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.
IndexClicking on a number will take you to the corresponding chapter right away |
|
1. Moses Hess
2. Leon Pinsker 3. Theodor Herzl 4. Ziv Jabotinsky |
Source: Wikipedia.
Moses Hess (1812-1875) was a German-Jewish philosopher, early Communist and Zionist thinker. He was born in Bonn under French rule at the time. He married a poor Catholic seamstress, Sibylle Pesch, "in order to redress the injustice perpetrated by society." Although they remained happily married until Hess' death, Sibylle may have had an affair with Friedrich Engels as he was smuggling her from Belgium to France to be reunited with her husband. Sibylle claimed the relationship was non-consensual and accused Engels of rape. Marx, Engels and Hess had taken refuge in Brussels in 1845 and lived on the same street. By the end of the decade, however, Marx and Engels had fallen out with Hess. Hess died in Paris in 1875. He was buried in the Jewish cemetery of Cologne. In 1961 he was re-interred in the Kinneret Cemetery of Israel along with other Socialist-Zionists. He is considered a pioneer of Labour Zionism. Full article here.
April 10, 1813. Los guerrilleros por la religión, la patria y el Rey, diario polémico-religioso de la Coruña, number 74, pages 195-96.
Adiáforo. You said prior some stuff about tolerance, Philaleto, wanting to insinuate that a bit of this methodology seeps into the paper of the abbé of Valdeorres.1
Philaleto. Read what the pamphlet full of piffles says, Adiáforo, and you will see that on pages 43 and 44 its learned author stamps a dark libel on the good inquisitor Lucero,2 presents as fact that the Inquisition 3 hangs Jews from the pulleys merely for being Hebrews and likes this Jewish people of today to be still the one of whom God said, "Israel is my son." It is apparent that the good Doctor has not read holy Scripture much and that he stands in need of Franklin 4 teaching him a few lessons. If Jews are the sons of God they must be so through the flesh because they descend from Abraham, but what does the Apostle say? "Not all those tallied as Israelites are Israelites nor all those who descend from Abraham are his sons, but only they who receive the promises delivered by God to Abraham; however these branches are presently cut off from their trunk, propter incredulitatem fracti sunt" (Rom. II). Who then gave our Doctor of new lights licence to tag "son of God" a people whom God censured for their disbelief and stubbornness? And why is this illuminato so generous to and so compassionate an advocate of the Jews when he should know, being a prelate, that neither the Church—mother so compassionate—nor he himself—whom I presume during Mass prays to and intercedes before God for all pagans and heretics—prays for the Jews? Does he not realize that these are the most resolute and obstinate enemies of Christianity, and that if they could but for a moment erase it from the face of the earth they would sacrifice all their wealth and cash to do so?
February 15, 1850. Revista Médica, periódico de la Academia de Emulación de Santiago, number 48, page 240.
The widespread use of jennet's milk in illnesses derived from lassitude or from thoracic diseases was initiated in France by a Jew during the monarchy of Francis I. This king felt surpassingly weak; the fatigues of war and intemperance whittled him down to a state of languor that worsened each day. The king was told about a Jew of Constantinople who had the reputation of curing this type of ailment. Francis I sent a letter to his ambassador in Turkey with the charge of bringing the Israelite physician at all costs. He arrived, and the only remedy he prescribed was jennet's milk. This remedy had an excellent effect; at once all the courtiers, male and female, took up the same regimen.
December 24, 1856. La Oliva: periódico de política, literatura e intereses materiales, number 94, page 1.
The situation of the Jews has improved markedly under the present government of Russia.1 Today they can send their children to institutes of privileged learning. Furthermore medical doctors and lawyers may become civil servants of the State, and the five-year exemption from military service will prove very advantageous to this class of citizens. The deputies who observe the Jewish religion will convene shortly in St. Petersburg to agree on various points for improving the lot of the Israelites.
July 16, 1859. Boletín para el clero del Obispado de Lugo, number 29, page 1.
Since the Lord has wanted to make use of Moses to establish the Jewish religion, which is the first foundation of Christianity, the name of the holy Prophet and his writings are insufferable to skeptics, and for that reason, they spare nothing to obliterate even his memory...
It is true that Jews and Christians have always regarded him as a great prophet. Why then maliciously deprive him of a glory that is rightly his, acquired long ago? All the more is that glory grounded when characters of truth are detectable in his text: he instructs us concerning the creation of the world, he transmits his sacred conversations with God and gives us the noblest idea of the Creator that human understanding can fathom. The text portrays the Creator's divine perfections in the warmest colours and prescribes laws full of equity and most capable of preserving the union and instituting good order. What is reprehensible about this? Should one mistrust a man who reasons so well and whose humbleness reaches the extreme of revealing his defects to us?
God makes use of Moses to lead a predilect people and authorizes his mission with the greatest wonders, those marvels he recounts in his books. Can this be a reason for treating him like an impostor when ours are more potent for regarding him as a holy Prophet? Can we with any justice refuse to believe him when he relates to us what he has seen and done, especially when a great body like the Jewish nation attests on his behalf?
From the time that Innocent III evolved the diabolical plan to destroy the moral stamina of the Jews (the bearers of Spanish culture to the world of Christendom) by forcing them to wear a badge of shame on their garments, until the audacious kidnapping of a Jewish child from the house of his parents (which occurred under the government of Cardinal Antonelli) Papal Rome symbolizes an inexhaustible well of poison to the Jews.1,2 It is only with the drying-up of this source that Christian German Anti-Semitism will die from lack of nourishment (p. 35).
The great teachers of the knowledge of God were always Jews. Our people not only created the noblest religion of the ancient world, a religion which is destined to become the common property of the entire civilized world, but continued to develop it, keeping pace with the progress of the human spirit. And this mission will remain with the Jews until the end of days, i.e., until the time when, according to the Promise of our Prophets, the world will be filled with the knowledge of God. The "end of days", so often spoken of by the Prophets, is not to be understood to mean, as some misinterpret it, the end of the world, but it denotes the period when the development and education of humanity will reach their highest point (pp. 47-48).
It seems that on account of the hatred which surrounds him on all sides, the German Jew is determined to estrange himself from Judaism as far as possible, and endeavours even to deny his race. No reform of the Jewish religion, however extreme, is radical enough for the educated German Jew. But the endeavours are vain. Even conversion itself does not relieve the Jew from the enormous pressure of German Anti-Semitism. The German hates the Jewish religion less than the race; he objects less to the Jews' peculiar beliefs than to their peculiar noses. Neither Reform nor conversion nor emancipation throw the gates of social life open to the Jew, hence his anxiety to deny his racial descent (pp. 58-59).
To our educated German Jews, the feeling of hatred toward the Jews displayed by the Germans has always remained an unsolved puzzle. Was not the entire effort of German Jews since the days of Mendelssohn 1 directed toward becoming wholly Germanized, to thinking and feeling as Germans? Have they not striven carefully to eradicate every trace of their ancient nationality? Have they not fought in the "War of Liberation"? Were they not Teutomaniacs and French devourers? Did we not chant but yesterday with Nicholas Becker, "They shall not possess it, the free German Rhine"? 2 Did I myself not commit the unpardonable stupidity of sending a musical composition of this "German Marsellaise" to the author of this song?
And yet I had to feel, in a personal way, the same disappointment that German Jewry in general experienced after it had given repeated demonstration of its patriotic enthusiasm. I also had to experience the sad fact that the German to whom I sent my manuscript, glowing with patriotic emotion, not only responded with an icy tone, but as if to fill the cup of bitterness to the brim, wrote on the reverse of his letter, in disguised script, the words, "You are a Jew." I forgot then that Germans not only discriminated against the Jews after the War of Liberation, but even persecuted their erstwhile comrades in arms against the French with the frequent cries of Hep, Hep.3 I, on the other hand, took Becker's Hep Hep as a personal insult and accordingly wrote him a letter in undisguised script, making a few unpleasant remarks, which this honest German passed over in silence, most likely feeling ashamed of his rudeness. Today I could have apologized to this German poet for, as I see clearly now, it was by no means intended as a personal insult (pp. 71-72).
The Teutomaniac loves not the State but race dominance in his love of the Fatherland. How then can he conceive granting equal rights to other races when equality is still an Utopia for the large masses of Germany? (p. 73).
First published in the Trierische Zeitung on 18 September 1840, "Der deutsche Rhein" immediately took the public arena by storm. According to Hagen Schulze, every German newspaper printed it within only one month. Conradin Kreutzer, a music director in Cologne, sold 1200 copies of his musical arrangement for the text in less than two days; other professional and amateur composers submitted hundreds of arrangements to competitions announced in the periodic press. Becker's poem inspired residents in his hometown of Geilenkirchen to organize a torch-lit parade in his honor, and the poem also accompanied numerous public occasions.3 Hep, hep. Here is an evocative Mexican Army cadence.Lorie A. Vanchena. The Rhine Crisis of 1840: Rheinlider, German Nationalism, and the Masses, pp. 242-43. PDF available from KU ScholarWorks | http://kuscholarworks.ku.edu. Accessed 24 April 2024.
England with its industrial organization represents the nervous system of humanity which governs and regulates its digestive system; France represents social stimulation; Germany, brain power; and America the assimilation of all cultures into one (p. 124).
In the organism of humanity there are no two peoples that attract and repel one another more than the Germans and the Jews, just as no two other mental attitudes exist more kin though diametrically opposed than the scientific-philosophical and the religious-moral (pp. 124-25).
The rigid crust of orthodox Jewry will melt when the spark of Jewish patriotism, now smouldering underneath, is kindled into a sacred fire heralding the arrival of Spring and the resurrection of our nation. On the other hand, Western Judaism is covered by an almost indissolvable crust of the dead residue of the first manifestation of the modern spirit, an extinct rationalist enlightenment. This crust will not be melted by the fire of Jewish patriotism; it can only be cracked by an external pressure under whose weight everything that has no future must give up its existence. In contrast to Orthodoxy, which cannot be obliterated by an external force without endangering the embryo of Jewish Nationalism that slumbers internally, the hard shell that envelops the hearts of our cultured Jews will be shattered only by a blow from without, one which world events are already preparing and which will probably fall in the near future (pp. 176-77).
The age of race dominance is at an end. As soon as even the smallest nation, Germanic or Romance, Slavic or Finnic, Celtic or Semitic, advances its claims to a seat among the historical nations, it will find sympathy in the powerful civilized Western nations.
Like the patriots of other unfortunate nations, German patriots can attain their aim only by means of a friendly alliance with the progressive and powerful nations of the world. But if they (the German patriots) continue to conjure themselves, as well as the German people, with the might and glory of the "German Sword," they will only add grave new mistakes to the old unpardonable ones, they will only play into the hands of the reaction and drag all Germany along with them (p. 233).
Accepting his premises it can be stated that the Holocaust occurred because these three factors concurred:
Source: Wikipedia.
Leon Pinsker (1821–1891) was a physician and Zionist activist. Born in southeast Poland he was educated in Odessa where he studied Law, but he was unable to practice because of discrimination. He supported equal rights for Jews, but the Odessa Pogroms (1871 and 1881) curtailed his optimism. These events motivated him to found and lead the Hibbat Zion ("Lovers of Zion") Movement in 1881. Disputes in the Odessa Committee and the Ottoman restriction on Jewish emigration barred Pinsker from resettling in Palestine. He died in Odessa in 1891. His remains were later brought to Jerusalem in 1934. Full article here.
April 10, 1867. Boletín Oficial del Arzobispado Eclesiástico de Santiago, number 182, pages 153-55.
Austria: 1,648,147.
Belgium: 1,336; Denmark: 8,263.
European Turkey: 260,000.
France: 79,964;
These twelve states belonged to the North German Confederation: Baden: 23,248; Brunswick: 1,078; Coburg-Gotha: 1,611; Hannover: 11,452; Hesse: 18,114; Lubeck: 13; Mecklenburg-Schwerin: 3,126; Mecklenburg-Strelitz: 676; Oldenburg: 4,497; Prussia: 254,785; Saxony (kingdom): 1,419; Saxony Weimar: 1,458. Subtotal: 321,477 Israelites.
These were located in the Southern German States: Bavaria: 56,033; Birkenfeld: 739; Wartemberg: 11,088. Subtotal: 67,860 Israelites.
Holland: 58,626; Ireland: 322.
Italy before unification. Papal States: 9,236; Piedmont: 6,799; Tuscany: 7,188. Subtotal: 23,223 Israelites.
Russia: 1,423,784.
Sweden: 956; Switzerland: 4,216;
Corrected true total: 3,898,174 Israelites.1
There are no statistics for the number of Israelites living in England. The estimate is 2 million.2
May 26, 1867. El Buscapié, periódico semanal de intereses generales, number 56, page 1.
El Boletín del Clero de Lugo in an article entitled, "The Jews and the Pope," reflects on the letter sent by the two Hebrew Lehman brothers 1 to the Israelites encouraging them to show their gratitude to the Roman Pontiff for the many benefits they have always received from the Vicar of Christ.
July 12, 1876. El Diario de Santiago: de intereses materiales, noticias y anuncios, number 1206, page 1.
The newspaper El Imparcial says: "The Israelites of the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany have sent to His Majesty the King 1 arguments for restoring the civil rights and freedom of religion enjoyed by the Jews in Spain until 1492. A ministerial newspaper reproduced those arguments but it deems that the petition will be refused for two reasons: (1) it is not incumbent upon the King alone but upon him and the Courts to judge this instance, and (2) Israelite worship is prohibited by Article 11 of the Constitution which officially endorses the Roman Catholic Church and the remittance of clergymen's salaries."
August 14, 1878. El Diario de Santiago: de intereses materiales, noticias y anuncios, number 1802, page 2.
The thirteenth general assembly of the Israelite Alliance met the day before yesterday, Monday afternoon, with M. Crémieux 1 the notable politician presiding. The session was more solemn than ever. In attendance were eminent Jews of Europe and America, representatives of the prominent Israelite societies of Berlin, London, Vienna, Wroclaw, Brussels, Königsberg and New York, plus delegates of the Hebrew press in the United States.
Mr. Kompert 2 the famous novelist of the Ghetto voiced his delight that his race had finally witnessed the grant and sanction of its civil and political rights by an European Congress. Several speakers expressed the same sentiment. The session closed after drafting instructions for committees worldwide and agreeing to meet again in 1879.
The Jewish people march resolutely toward the new Jerusalem and it's not hidden from anybody that a great destiny awaits them. After all it's the only race that has kept itself young, strong and pure.
February 7, 1880. El Trabajo, number 161, page 2.
An anti-Jewish riot has just taken place in Fez, habitual residence of the Emperor of Morocco. A Moor rode over some Israelite boys playing out on the street and a Jew ran out of the house to defend them. His act triggered a city-wide rumour that the Jews wanted to emancipate. All rabbis found on the street were assaulted and the Jewish quarter came perilously close to being set on fire. Some Israelites were murdered and their corpses torched by the furious Moors.
More than thirty pregnant Jewish women aborted when they saw the brutal aggression directed at their husbands and children and the great peril run by the Israelite population.
February 10, 1880. El Trabajo, number 163, page 1.
Tangier. Stirred by the persecution and abuses which the Jews of the empire of Morocco have been subjected to for some time, most representatives of the European sovereigns have called on the Sultan to halt the harassment of the unfortunate Israelites. The U.S. consul made his protest in very vigorous and meaningful terms.
March 9, 1880. Gaceta de Galicia: Diario de Santiago, number 337, page 2.
The rabbis of Fez mailed a letter to the Anglo-Hebraic Association of London giving details about the assassination of the Jew named Abraham el Aloof and about the crusade launched against the Israelites in Morocco, to whom Muslim authorities deny all justice.
Thus the days have returned when the Jews must cross Muslim neighbourhoods barefooted, even if there are no mosques or holy sites, and the Jews must not cover their head. One did so on a rainy day and was seriously beaten. The adules (notaries public) declined to attest the pitiful state he was left in. The cali (judge) also refused, adamantly, noting that "Jews, Christians and slaves have no blood."
It is hard to believe that the European diplomatic corps in Tangier will remain indifferent much longer to the cruel persecution suffered by the unhappy members of the Hebrew community to the dishonor and scandal of our epoch.
June 20, 1881. Gaceta de Galicia: Diario de Santiago, number 705, page 2.
The following note is reprinted from the newspaper El Liberal.
The Minister of State received the day before yesterday a telegram from Conde de Rascón the representative of Spain in Constantinople informing that a Hebrew from Russia had come to the government of the Sultan pleading protection for Hebrew Slavs. This Israelite spoke on behalf of 60,000 natives of south Russia counties who were abused, mistreated and ousted by subjects of the Czar.
The Israelites convinced themselves that their lives were in peril, so they abandoned their homes in great numbers and sought the protection of other European nations.
This huge mass of Israelites, rejected and persecuted by the conservative Germans and having passage through Serbia denied, wishes to go to Austria if it can not stay in Turkey or head to the free countries of North America as a last resort.
This Israelite spokesman subsequently came to Conde de Rascón and the two had a long conversation. He speaks antiquated and flawed Spanish like almost all of his 60,000 companions do.
The Minister of State informed the king yesterday about the matter and the king requested that a telegram be sent to Constantinople stating that he and his government would view with satisfaction the return of those migrant Israelites to their old homeland.
"It is necessary to mend in part the blunders of our ancestors," said the king, "and this was one of their biggest."
A moment of calm has followed the anguish of the massacre, and persecutors and persecuted may catch their breath a little. Meanwhile the Jews are being repatriated from Palestine with funds collected precisely for their emigration to Palestine. But Western Jews have learned once more to put up with the yell, Hep, Hep, as their fathers did in bygone days. The fiery explosion of anger sparked by the affront borne has given way to a precipitation of ash blanketing the scorched earth. Close your eyes and hide your head like the ostrich, but if you don't take advantage of this transient pause and contemn lifesaving means more radical than the poultices of quacks applied to our unfortunate people during millennia a lasting peace will never be yours.
September, 1882
(p. 166).
* * *
And so Judaism and Jew hatred go together throughout history. As with the eternal Ahasuerus 1 the hatred seems to never end. Only a blind man can dispute that Jews are the chosen people of universal hatred. The peoples can be quite different from one another but they shake hands in their animosity toward the Jews, on this all peoples concur. The amount and tone of the spite depends on the degree of civilization owned, but the spite manifests itself always and everywhere through violent acts: persecutions rooted in envy or concealed under a mask of tolerance and protection (p. 170).
Summarizing what has been said: The Jew is a zombie to the living, an out-of-towner to locals, a hobo to the settled, a beggar to the affluent; an exploiter millionaire to the needy, a foreigner to patriots and a despised competitor to everybody (pp. 172-73).
Pathetic image ours! We are not deemed to be a nation and so we have no say in their councils even in the matters which concern us. Our fatherland is the foreign nation, our unity the diaspora, our solidarity the universal hostility, our weapon meekness, our defence flight; our originality conformity; our future the day after. What an appalling role for a people to play who in olden days had their Maccabees! (p. 175).
And then there is the faith in the Messiah, the belief in the arrival of a benevolent supernatural power, plus the religious proposition to endure the divine punishments patiently, all of which has made us neglect our national liberation, unity and independence. We set aside the idea of the fatherland with a greater eagerness the greater grows our material comfort. And so we sank ever deeper. The ones without a fatherland got to forget the fatherland. Hasn't the hour arrived at last to bear out how much disgrace that has meant for us? (p. 176).
Naturally the founding of a Jewish haven can not be realized without the backing of governments. To acquire our haven, and to secure a permanent stability for it, the makers of our national rebirth must proceed with utmost prudence and perseverance. What we long for is at heart not novel or dangerous for anyone.2 Instead of the many havens that until this day we have grown accustomed to look for, we now wish to have an unique haven whose existence however must be guaranteed (pp. 186-87).
Source: Wikipedia.
Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) was an Austro-Hungarian lawyer and journalist. He is officially dubbed, "the spiritual father of the Jewish State," because he organized the first Zionist Congress in 1897 with the goal of bringing Jews from all over the world together for the task of building a separate homeland of their own. Full article here.
April 24, 1882. Gaceta de Galicia: Diario de Santiago, number 950, page 2.
Berlin, 20. Dispatches from the Russian frontier, citing letters as the source, furnish "horrifying" details about the attacks on Jews.
In Balta [Ukraine] the people wounded 700 Israelites, 40 of whom are in "very serious" condition.
Women were the object of the "most repugnant" assaults.
Only sixteen out of some hundreds of houses owned by Jews were left standing.
The rest were looted and set ablaze.
Over 20,000 Hebrews were reduced to destitution.
Funds from Odessa have arrived to help these unfortunate ones.
The losses amount to 3 million rubles. Some 200 persons have been arrested, accused of inciting the riots.
Berlin, 21. Tumults against the Jews have reocurred in Letitchev [Ukraine] where some houses belonging to Israelites have been plundered.
Calm has returned to Balta after the great atrocities committed there.
In Karpovitch [Lithuania] the rabble despoiled every tavern owned by Jews. The presence of troops was required to avert general plunder.
The Hebrews are very vulnerable in rural towns due to the absolute absence of police.
Peasants show great animosity toward the Jews. Because of the official censorship Russian newspapers play down the importance of the upheavals that occurred in various localities, but the dispatches and letters received here agree that the events are extremely serious.
May 28, 1882. El Correo Gallego, number 1118, page 2.
In "Fowduo" (Russia) a fierce blaze razed 105 Israelite homes worth more than half a million rubles; the houses were insured. A large number of Jews were victims of horrendous events from Vilnius [Lithuania] to Minsk [Belarus]. Even babies were wrested from their mother's arms and burned alive in her presence.
The coronation of the Czar in Moscow will demur until 1883 because there is evidence of a great Nihilist conspiracy.
June 6, 1883. El Eco de Orense, number 266, page 2.
Berlin. An uprising against the Jews of this German city [Rostok] brought the destruction of 130 Israelite houses. This makes us remember the horrendous persecutions carried out by Russian mobs a while ago.
Are we in the nineteenth century or are we shrouded in the shadows of the Inquisition and the most outsize religious intolerance? Such cruel attempts on the inviolate rights of the human personality must unremittingly be punished by the law.
January 10, 1885. El Correo Gallego, number 1857, page 3.
Tangier, 8. The Israelites have appealed to M. Ordega the French representative for protection in light of the threats by Moroccans who announce a general slaughter of the Jews.
The French minister has offered his mediation so that Moroccan authorities stymie any act of aggression by the populace.
Holy Thursday April 22, 1886. El Correo Gallego, number 2259, pages 1-2.
Today Jerusalem acts as the miserable capital of a province in Asian Turkey and as the residence of a military governor, a chief of police, a superintendent of Omar's Mosque, a Latin patriarch, a Greek one, an Armenian one, a Chief Rabbi and several consuls. Hardly 20,000 persons inhabit it, among them 8,000 Jews. The Latins, almost every one religious, dwell in "Ramich" near the city and in Bethlehem, submitting to the patriarch who lives in St. Saviour's Convent. The Muslims sleep on terraces under multicoloured tents, or by the citadel's gates. The Greeks moil and cook their delicacies inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Protestant mission devotes itself to teaching and walks among these and those, circumspect, stern and reserved.
Meanwhile the 8 or 10 thousand Israelites crowded between Mount Zion—where the Turks camp—and the Arab temple are silent and await Messiah's advent with undeniable tenacity.
Almost all arrive in Jerusalem weighed down by old age and settle there to die in the sacred land and to be buried in the Valley of Josaphat where their elders' bones rest.
These members of a great people, unruffled and austere,—for whom lofty destinies yet wait, according to St. Paul—keep saying their prayer every day facing toward the spot where their temple stood in past centuries, for the Muslims who occupy it presently bar their access to it.
A peerless perseverance that evokes respectful compassion and causes even the most radical orthodox observer to forget the sins, errors and hubris of the so-called deicides!
The biblical groves of Gethsemane, Bethlehem and Bethania are withered, the summits desolate and the roads laden with dust. The arid plain of Josaphat extends off to one side. Some caves open their dark mouth in yellowish ravines and serve as lairs for the Bedouins or for the jackals.
In the middle of this sinister landscape immortal Jerusalem basks in the sun, seated on her four mountains (Zion, Akra, Ophel and Moriah) like a voiceless sphynx lying on the bedsheet of the desert.
Forlorn and barren, ensconced in a bifold of stone-strewn Judea, with a demeanor more of the dead than of the living, with less a trace of occupancy than of sepulchre, Jerusalem still overwhelms all peoples and nations who perceive in her a great majesty fallen down, but fret instinctively that one day they might spy some new legion of spirits storming out of her gates to shatter and do away with the decrepit fabric of our contemporary society.
This eternal city—damnéd or blessed—has supernatural aura; and its name, vibrating deep in our hearts, induces religious dread even upon those more inclined to the denial or to the doubt.
ALFREDO VICENTI.1
September 25, 1886. Diario de avisos de La Coruña, number 8477, page 2.
Last week Bucharest hosted an Antisemitic Congress that lasted three days. Here, in document format, are the resolutions it passed.
The International Antisemitic Congress held in Bucharest approves and resolves to circulate and execute what follows:(1) The Jews are deemed unworthy of staying in the midst of the peoples of Europe any longer.
(2) Until methods to expel them from European states are found, the Congress lays down for its followers of Romania, France, Hungary and potentially others elsewhere the task of petitioning their governments and parliaments:
(a) to proscribe any concession to the Jews by a State, district or commune, even if the Jews resort to using aliases.
(b) to refuse Jews, insurance companies, banks, etc., any job, project or posting remunerated by a State, district or commune.
(c) to ban the sale of property to Jews and to bar their leasing lands, houses or mills from others, or to others.
(d) To preclude Jews opening shops, restaurants, lodgings, hotels, cafeterias, taverns, distilleries or wine stores. To prohibit their being bakers, spice sellers, grain merchants, doctors or pharmacists.
(e) to pressure priests and ministers of every religion to spread these ideas among their parishioners, and to pressure academics and school teachers to avoid buying in Jewish stores or to hire their services.
All nations that embrace these resolutions must pressure their government into enacting germane laws and must create committees to demand the execution of these resolutions in every country by means of public referenda.
June 23, 1887. El Lucense, number 809, page 3.
Vienna, 20. Under cover of the political elections here antisemitic demonstrations have reoccurred in "Dumaszendaheley" (Hungary).
Many candidates ran solely on the line of being an enemy of the Jews, whom they unjustly blame for all the country's ills.
Arsonists set fire to the Jewish neighbourhood; some 80 Hebrew families were left homeless in the greatest misery.
The bloody persecution of Israelites in Hungary hasn't had a precedent for the longest time.
The affluent families of rural towns contemplate emigrating in light of the abuses they are subjected to.
August 9, 1887. Diario de avisos de La Coruña, number 8793, page 3.
A curious statistic about the Israelite colony in the United Kingdom has been published in London.
It turns out that the Jews enjoy in that country two priceless boons: health and wealth.
Great Britain tallies 7,700,000 families, 10,000 of whom are Jewish.
For every 2,500 Christian families no more than one enjoys an annual income equal to or greater than 10,000 pounds whereas one out of every 100 Israelite families does.
In other words, there teems about the figures of the Rothschilds and Montefiores a swarm of little Croesi 1 whose fortunes altogether would relieve the biggest debt of a State.
From a hygienic perspective the statistic also reveals that the Jews have a notable advantage over the Christians of Great Britain. The cases of longevity are seven to eight times more frequent among Jews than among Christians.
January 8, 1891. Gaceta de Galicia, number 5, page 1.
The Daily Chronicle inserts a dispatch from Vienna stating that the Russian Government intends to exclude Israelites from the legal profession.
The telegram adds that all present Jewish lawyers will be expelled from Russia.
March 18, 1891. Diario de avisos de La Coruña, number 10050, page 4.
M. Anatole Beaulieu the expert economist publishes a current events article in the Revue des Deux Mondes on the problem of antisemitism. The following data on the Israelite population and its distribution across the globe is extracted from that article.
The emancipation of this ill-starred race was decreed in 1791 in France with the intervention of Mirabeau, the abbot Grégoire, Duport and, above all, Robespierre.
Most European nations imitated France's example, albeit slowly. England proclaimed the emancipation of its Jewish population gradually over the period 1845-1858; Denmark in 1849; Austria-Hungary in 1867; Italy in 1868 and in 1870; Germany and Switzerland in 1869; Bulgaria in 1878 and Serbia in 1879. Russia and Romania on the eastern flank of Europe, and Spain and Portugal on the western, are the only peoples of the continent who still deny Israelites the rights enjoyed by the Christians.
Russia and Romania harbor more Jews in their territory than the rest of Europe. In particular the Moscovite empire has half of the world's Jews on its dominions.
The precise number of Israelites in all these countries is unknown. M. Beaulieu estimates there to be 8-9 million Jews worldwide, 7 million in Europe.
June 3, 1891. Gaceta de Galicia, number 121, page 1.
New measures have been taken against the Jews in St. Petersburgh. Jewish Army doctors have been ordered to convert to the Russian Orthodox religion or to resign from their post. The decree of expulsion in Poland affects 30,000 Jews.
July 2, 1891. Gaceta de Galicia, number 143, pages 1-2.
A correspondent of The Times reports that 40,000 Jews are disposed to abandon Russia because of the persecution and abuses they endure. The majority inhabits the gubernias of Crimea, Kherson, Kiev and Besarabia.
Sir William White the representative of the wealthy Baron Hirsch sent to Russia to expedite their emigration despairs of obtaining a permit for their resettlement in Palestine.
October 25, 1892. El Lucense, diario católico de la tarde, number 2403, page 1.
Reprinted from La Semana Católica.1
Judaism can not soar higher or Spaniards dive lower.
The perfidious and despicable Jewish race who crucified Jesus; who was a powerful and perpetual ally of the Saracens during the Reconquista campaign;2 who had secret dealings with the African Moors several times to have them invade and occupy our nation anew; who had managed to snatch the money and the most important and rewarding posts of Spain using detestable ruses; who made herself loathsome to every Christian over the centuries because of her heresies and folly; who stirred our most religious and prudent Kings to sweep her off our country as so much pestilence and rubbish, and who is currently being expelled from various European nations by Protestant and schismatic Governments; that perverse Jewish race is gradually sneaking into our house in hypocritical and cunning manner to eventually become lady of the noose and of the blade, and the landlady of lives and revenues like the feudal knights of old and to demand tribute and obeisance from us.
Like scavenging birds, but in good order and concert and assisted by the full might and influence of universal Masonry, the Jews firstly swooped down on barbarian peoples like Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia, whom they already possess. Now they establish centers in Paris, Vienna, London and Berlin to commandeer all the money of Europe through the International Financial Commissions. They direct their attacks primarily against Greece, Portugal and Spain where day by day they gain greater ascendancy and subjugating influence.
If the Jews have 24 prefects or governors in France plus a good portion of the newspapers, in Spain there are many Judaizers who with more or less gall render service to Judaism in the press, on the rostrum and possibly in other spheres or civil servant posts; the Jews impose on Spanish Governments when these must negotiate a loan. As La Verdad of Castellón 3 states, the Jews here are already landlords over half of the Peninsula; they have managed to take over all railway Companies and they will eventually take over everything and kick us out of this blessed land that the Virgin Mary sanctified and on which the blood of so many martyrs of Religion and of the fatherland spattered.
And to show that we do not exaggerate, we will transcribe this juicy little paragraph published by a French newspaper, The Northern Cross,
In the partitioning of Spain among the children of Israel the Andalusian railways have been allotted to Hirsch Junior, the northern ones to Camondo, and the State's finances to Rothschild of London.
But if Judaism can not soar higher, neither can Spaniards dive lower. It seems incredible that the fatherland of Pelayo, Ramiro, Fernando III, El Cid, Jaime de Aragón, Guillén de Entenza, Perez del Pulgar and of the Catholic Kings must perforce suffer the shameful yoke and humiliating leash of the accursed race of Judah! Incredible it seems that the people of Covadonga and Clavijo, Gormaz and Roncesvalles, Otumba and El Bruch, Tunisia and Tetouan accedes to bend their haughty cervix and render their homages to the greedy sons of Jacob, whom our forefathers looked upon with disdain and whom they allocated room in our markets solely out of pity! Incredible it seems that the tattered Israelites have transmuted from beggars to millionaires, from vanquished to victors!
Honest and Catholic Spain must thank Masonry for all this since the Jews avail themselves of this odious sect to implement their plans of treacherous conquest and massive plunder. Presently the Masons and their sympathizers must be rejoicing—they who contested so rabidly our most pious Kings' expulsion of the Israelites from Spain and who endeavoured to open the doors of our fatherland for them with the clauses in the Constitutions of 1869 and 1875 enacting freedom or tolerance of religion.
Liberalism is what has brought the Jewish rabble to Spain again. They arrive not only with their inherited and eternal hatred of Christ and his Church but with the idea of dominating everything and making us their slaves.
And furthermore Europe presently owes the epidemic of morbid Asiatic cholera to them, as it has been archly verified.
The Jewish problem exists wherever Jews dwell in appreciable numbers. The immigrating Jews introduce it where it does not exist. We naturally migrate to places where we are not persecuted, but our appearance there sets off new persecutions. This is true and will remain so until the Jewish problem is resolved politically. It will spring up even in the developed countries, France is a case in point. Impoverished Jews bring antisemitism to England and they have already taken it to America (p. 29).
Nobody will deny the misery that burdens the life of the Jews. They are persecuted in all countries where they reside in appreciable numbers. Although equality of rights exists on paper, it is nullified in practice almost everywhere. Jews can not hope to reach mid-level ranks in the army, in government or in private-sector jobs. There are even attempts to drive them out of the marketplace, "Do not buy from the Jews!" (p. 37).1,2
In Russia the Jewish villages are sacked; in Romania individual Jews are murdered; in Germany they occasionally get beaten; in Austria the antisemites terrorize entire segments of public life; in Algeria preachers in favour of our expulsion crop up; in Paris the so-called high society turns inward and shuts its circles to Jews. The nuances are innumerable (p. 37).
Everywhere the malaise can be reduced to the classical phrase of the Berliner, "Out with the Jews!" (p. 38).
All the peoples that harbor Jews are without exception antisemites, ashamed or unashamed (p. 38).
All educated Jews without financial means espouse socialism. Hence the class struggle is waged on our backs because we occupy the most vulnerable spots in the capitalist and socialist camps (p. 38).
Our commoners become proletarian enemies of the ruling order and subordinate members of all the revolutionary parties.3 Meanwhile the fearsome power of money increases in our affluent classes (p. 42).
Features
The Jewish Company is partially patterned after the big colony companies; it is a chartered Jewish company, if you will. But it doesn't just watch over the exercise of sovereignty rights or pursue colonization ends only.
Like any other company the Jewish Company is founded upon an initial public offering compliant with British legislation and under the protection of England. Its headquarters shall be in London. I can not set down the amount of startup capital now. Our many financiers will fix it. But I will assume a startup capital of a thousand million German marks, in round figures. The fraction dedicated to investments at startup will depend on the manner of procuring the money; this question will be examined later.
The Jewish Company is a transitional institution. It is strictly a commercial venture that must always be at arm's length from the Society of Jews.1
The primary goal of the Jewish Company is to liquidate the real estate and other assets belonging to the emigrating Jews, such as houses and landholdings, and to cede the customer base of their local shops to the new owners. The procedure forestalls crises, ensures that everybody gets what is his, and facilitates the internal emigration of Christian citizens to the places of work and properties vacated by the departing Jews (p. 49).
Social welfare institutions
The question of social welfare institutions is very important for us because we have many panhandlers. Those with a weak character lapse easily into begging because the external pressure discourages them and the indulgent charity of the wealthy spoils them.
The Society of Jews with the help of local units will pay the greatest heed to people's education in this regard. This will generate a fertile ground for many associations that wither unnecessarily. Whoever simply shows goodwill shall be conveniently employed. Panhandlers will not be tolerated. Whoever refuses to work shall do it in the reformatory.
But we are against sending the old to retirement homes.
The retirement home is one of the crueller benefits that our kindness has devised. There an elderly person feels ashamed and humiliated until death. To be truthful, he is already interred. But as for us we wish to preserve their illusion of their utility until the end, even for those who are on the lowermost rungs of the intellect. Those who are incapable of doing physical work must be handed easier tasks. We must deal with the intellectually disabled poor of a generation that is already wilting. But the up-and-coming generations must be educated differently: in liberty and for the sake of liberty.
We shall endeavour to mete the moral happiness that comes from toil to all ages and orders of life. Thereby our people will retrieve their vigor in the country where the workday will be seven hours long (p. 74).
Steward of the Jews
The Society of Jews is the central office of the incipient Jewish movement. It pursues scientific and political objectives. The foundation of the Jewish State, as I describe it, rests on modern and scientific groundwork. If we emigrated today from Egypt we could not do it in the same naive way of old. Previously we will assess our numbers and our strength. The Society of Jews is the modern Moses of the Jews. The undertaking of the ancient and great steward of the Jews is, compared to ours, what an admirable and ancient musical comedy is to modern opera. We stage the same melody with many, many more violins, flutes, harps, violonchelos, double basses, making use of electric lighting, props, choirs, magnificent stage machinery and lead singers (p. 86).
Languages
Perhaps someone ponders the difficulty of having more than one common language. However we can not speak Hebrew among ourselves. Who among us would use it to purchase a train ticket? No one can do it. Withal the matter is very simple. Everyone keeps his own language, the beloved fatherland of his intellect. Switzerland exemplifies the possibility of linguistic federalism conclusively. We will stay in the new country as we are now; we will never stop loving with melancholy our fatherlands from which we were expelled.
We will leave behind the wilted and useless dialects, the idioms of the ghetto, the underground argot of captives.1 Our teachers will see to it. The language most often used in everyday life will become the principal one, without violence. The unity of our people is unique. Truly we recognize ourselves as members of the same people exclusively by the faith of our parents (p. 91).
Flag
We don't have a flag. We need one. In order to lead many men one must raise an emblem aloft.
I contemplate a white ensign with seven golden stars. The white field symbolizes the purity of the new life; the stars represent the seven golden hours of our working day since the Jews head to their new country under the banner of labour (p. 92).
I believe that the Jews will have, like any other nation, enemies enough. But they will not be dispersed over the entire world once they dwell in their own territory. The Diaspora can not be repeated as long as the entire culture of the world does not break down. And only an imbecile could fear such an outcome. The present culture counts on sufficient strengths to defend itself (p. 96).
February 10, 1896
Today I have read Leo Pinsker's Auto-emancipation on loan from Bloch.1 Admirable agreement with his parcel of criticism and much affinity with his constructive project. It is a great pity that I hadn't read this pamphlet before granting permission to print mine. And perhaps this turned out for the better because I would have forgone my book. I will speak about this publicly at the first opportunity and I will probably write an article in Zion on this very topic.2
April 21, 1896
Today I have wrapped up my letter to Nordau which I began writing yesterday.1 Baron Hirsch died yesterday or today in Hungary. I found out about it only one hour after sending my letter to Nordau which now I must annul telegraphically. Yet what a strange coincidence! The pamphlet was finished months ago and I sent it to everybody except Hirsch, and the day I decide to forward it to him, he dies. His participation would have contributed enormously to the success of our cause.
His disappearance is a great loss at any rate. Among the wealthy Jews he was the only one who wished to do something really major for the poor. Perhaps I did not behave well toward him. Perhaps I should have written Nordau two weeks sooner. Today our cause seems weaker because I never gave up the hope of winning Hirsch over.
July 21, 1896
We must found a national association to reforest the country.1 Every Jew will subsidize the planting of at least one tree. Ten million trees!
February 20, 1897
| When I Was a Child in Ferrol, Spain (1953-65) |