Nazi Germany—Zionist Organizations: Coordination of Jewish Migration to Palestine

The relation between Nazi Germany and Zionist organizations is presented through a specific 1937 attempt to coordinate Jewish emigration to Palestine. Its significance lies in the collision of distinct political aims around the same movement of people: German officials wanted Jews to leave Western Europe, while Zionist representatives sought to increase the Jewish population in Palestine relative to the Arabs. The book treats this convergence as a troubling episode in the history of antisemitism, not as evidence that the parties shared an identical ideology.

The 1937 Approach

On September 26, 1937, Adolf Eichmann and an assistant boarded a train in Berlin to travel to Palestine. Reinhard Heydrich had authorized Eichmann to accept an invitation from Feivel Polkes, a senior member of Haganah, the Zionist underground organization. Their proposed discussions concerned coordination between German and Jewish organizations to facilitate Jewish emigration to Palestine.

The planned visit did not proceed as intended. Violent unrest led the British to block access to Palestine, preventing Eichmann and Polkes from meeting there. Days later, they met in Cairo and discussed coordinating German and Zionist activities. The sequence therefore records both an attempted visit and a later meeting: the obstruction changed where the discussion took place but did not prevent contact.

Overlapping Demographic Aims

The account identifies a practical overlap between the parties’ objectives. German officials wanted Jews out of Western Europe; Zionist representatives wanted the Jewish population in Palestine to outnumber the Arabs as quickly as possible. Coordination around emigration could serve both aims, even though the aims arose from sharply different political positions and purposes.

The book interprets this overlap as a case in which Nazi and radical Zionist interests converged around changing the population balance. It characterizes the shared demographic project as a form of ethnic cleansing. That is the author’s critical framing of the episode: the point is not to collapse the parties into one political movement, but to expose how opposed actors could cooperate tactically when their desired population outcomes temporarily aligned.

Significance and Limits of the Episode

The meeting in Cairo makes the relationship more than an abstract comparison: it shows that representatives actually discussed coordination after the intended Palestine visit failed. At the same time, the evidence establishes discussion and shared practical interests, not the completion of a comprehensive agreement or the success of the proposed migration program. The episode is therefore significant as a documented moment of contact, but its stated outcome remains limited to the talks described.

The book places the incident within a broader argument about the demographic conflict surrounding Palestine. It suggests that Palestinians become an obstacle within competing Israeli and Arab political projects, an interpretation that extends beyond the 1937 encounter itself. The relation’s enduring significance in this account lies in the way migration, population ratios, and national aims are brought into view together, revealing a disturbing convergence without making the historical actors interchangeable.