Historic Records Show Kaiser's Role in Zionism,
Efforts to Organize Jewish Force to Aid Germany

By JOSEPH FRAENKEL

(Jewish News London Correspondent)

In Bonn, a few years ago, I vis-
ited the archives of the German
Foreign Office where I found
thousands of documents relating
to Zionism, dating from 1897, but
in the main covering the period
of the first world war and just
after. There were letters of Theo-
dor Herzl, Max Nordau and David
Ben Gurion, reports of German
Ambassadors; the bulky corres-
pondence of Prof. Otto Warburg,
of the Zionist Executive, and Zion-
ist representatives, with the Ger-
man Foreign Office; of Rabbis,
Agudists and anti-Zionists. This
material is of great importance
to the history of Zionism.
For Theodor Herzl the Jewish
problem was a political issue of
world importance, and from the
start he endeavored to win the
sympathies of the Great Powers in
favour of a Jewish Palestine. His
activities soon came to the notice
of several governments; and the
German Ambassador in Berne, on
Sept. 24, 1897, sent a report to
the Foreign Office in Berlin on
the first Zionist Congress in Basle,
held Aug. 29-31, 1897.
The first three pages contain
the Ambassador's summary of
Herzl's book, "The Jewish State."
The Congress was originally to
have taken place in Munich, but
this plan "failed due to the oppo-
sition of the German rabbis" who
declared that "Zionism was con-
tradictory to the religious views
of Jewry."
The Zionist Congress, the Am-
bassador wrote, was attended by
a total of 191 delegates, "namely,
54 from Russia, 52 from Austria,
33 from Germany, 12 from Switz-
erland, 12 from England, nine
from France, four from Romania,
four from the U.S.A., three from
Bulgaria, three from Palestine,
two from Holland, and one each
from Sweden, Serbia and Algeria."
The Congress was opened by Dr.
K. Lippe, senior president, whose
proposal to send a message of
gratitude to the - Sultan was ac-
cepted -- "a demonstration which
was severely criticized by the en-
tire Swiss press," the Ambassador
observed. He went on to quote
from Herzl's speech: "The return
to Zion must be preceded by our
return to Judaism." The German
envoy regarded this sentence as
"the program of Zionism."
The Ambassador reports Max
Nordau's address on "The General
Position of the Jews" in some-
what greater detail. Dr. A. Mintz's
speech on the "Position of the
Jews in Austria" is also men-
tioned.
A few days after the Congress,
the Ambassador concluded, the
Berlin pastor Dr. Johannes Lap-
sius delivered a lecture "On The
Oriental Question." Lapsius stated
in Basle that "when Turkey was
liquidated, the Jewish people would
seize Palestine and no one would
be able to prevent this. But once
the Jews were back in their own
country, a religious struggle would
develop amongst themselves,
leading to the rebirth of the Jewish
people. Though, for the time being,
the Zionist movement bears a
mainly nationalistic character, it
has nevertheless a strongly relig-
ious undercurrent."
The report was read by Kaiser
Wilhelm, the Foreign Minister and
other officials; they all initialled
it, indicating the date. The Kaiser
received it on Oct. 4 and in two
sentences outlined the German
Foreign Office policy on Zionism.
Though Kaiser Wilhelm had, on
Herzl's initiative, already received
some information on Zionism from
the Rev. William H. Hechler,
Chaplain to the British Embassy
in Vienna, and from the Grand
Duke of Baden, this Was the first
time that he had seen a confiden-
tial report from his envoy in
Berne, and his comments read as ,

follows: "I am all in favor of
the 1Vlauschels going to Palestine;
the sooner they take themselves
off and go there the better. I shall
not put any obstacles in their
way."
"Mauschel" is a derogatory ex-
pression, a term of abuse applied
to the Jews. It was also used by
some Jews themselves, particu-
larly assimilated ones, when refer-
ring to "Ostjuden". Strange as it
may seem, Herzl, on Oct. 15, 1897,
published an article entitled "Mau-
schel" in the Zionist weekly "Die
Welt"; but in this instance the
name was used to discredit the
assimilated Jews, particularly the
anti - Zionists who disgraced the
Jewish people.
The Kaiser's use of the expres-
sion "take themselves off", too,
was not exactly encouraging. Nev-
ertheless, he kept his promise not
to "put any obstacles in their
way." A year later, while staying
in Constantinople, the Kaiser re-
ceived Herzl in audience and short-
ly afterwards, on Nov. 2, 1898, he
saw him again in Jerusalem. Herzl
had hoped to receive a "Declara-
tion," but in this he was disap-
pointed. The "Declaration" did not
materialize until Nov. 2,
1917, and then it was not the Ger-
man Kaiser but the British For-
eign Secretary, Arthur J. Balfour
who issued it.
But the Kaiser did often inter-
vene with the Turkish authorities
in favor of Zionism, thereby pro-
tecting Jewish colonization in Pal-
estine from many dangers.
During the First World War,
some 1,500,000 Jewish soldiers
fought in the frontline, both of
the Allies (Britain, France, Rus-
sia and the U.S.A.) and of the
Central Powers (Germany, Austro-
Hungary and Turkey). More than
150,000 were killed in action and
some 400,000 injured. In addition,
tens of thousands fell victim to
Russian pogroms.
The Jews of Turkey were pa-
triotic Turks, just as the Jews of
Germany and of England were pa-
triotic Germans or Englishmen.
A document, dated April 6, 1915,
reports on "the proposal made at
one time by the engineer Loewy,
for the protection of Jewish colo-
nization by forming a militia. The
Porte had, in principle, adopted a
favorable attitude, and it there-
fore seemed likely that Loewy, who
had in the meantime visited Con-
stantinople, would succeed in real-
izing his plan." But Djemal Pasha's
influence in Constantinople thwar-
ted this as well as other prospects.
The callousness of Djemal
Pasha's regime inevitably led to a
change in the pro-Turkish attitude
of the Jews in Palestine.
Some thousands of the Jews,
expelled by Djemal Pasha, fled
to Alexandria, and it was there
that Vladimir Jabotinsky cam-
paigned for the establishment of
a Jewish Legion to fight by
England's side for the liberation
of Palestine. Thus, the "Zion
Mule Corps" first came to be
formed by Joseph Trumpeldor,
which was to distinguish itself
at Gallipoli; and in due course
Jabotinsky also succeeded in
forming the Jewish Legion.
Ben Gurion opposed both the
Zion Mule Corps and the Jewish
Legion because they were to fight
on the side of Britain. Russia and
England were allies and many
Jews-Ben Gurion among them-
regarded Russia, the land of po-
groms, as their arch-enemy. Ben
Gurion was one of thoSe in favor
of Ottoman citizenship for the
Jews, who could, by enlisting in
the Turkish Army, demonstrate
their loyalty to Turkey. He be-
lieved in the ultimate victory of
the Central Powers, hoping that
this would lead to Jewish coloni-
zation in Palestine as a Turkish or
German-Turkish Protectorate.
Several documents in the Ger-
man Foreign Office archives men-

tion Ben Zvi and Ben Gurion. It
seems incomprehensible that both
these men, loyel Turkish residents,
should have been expelled by
Djemal Pasha. Richard Lichtheim,
the Zionist representative in Con-
stantinople, in April 1915 informed
Prof. Otto Warburg that the two
men had left Palestine for Egypt.
It can be assumed that Germany
intervened in vain to enable them
to return. To Djemal Pasha, Ben
Gurion and Ben Zvi were aliens,
hailing from Russia, Turk e y's
enem y; in addition they were
working for a Jewish State,
according to Herzl's idea.
A few months after their expul-
sion, and after various adventures,
Ben Gurion and Ben Zvi arrived in
the U.S. A year later there were
rumors that Djemal Pasha had sus-
pended the expulsion of Jews from
Palestine, presumably as a result
of German intervention, and was
even considering inviting those
expelled to return. On Aug. 31,
1916, therefore, Ben Gurion and
Ben Zvi asked Louis D. Brandeis,
chairman of the "Provisional Ex-
ecutive Committee for General
Zionist Affairs," to support their
application to the Turkish Govern-
ment for permission to return to
Palestine. A copy of this letter
was sent to the German Foreign
Office.
They describe their interroga-
tion on Feb. 9, 1915 concerning
their membership of the Poale
Zion and about Hashomer, "a
secret organization." Both were ar-
rested, but soon discharged. How-
ever, Djemal Pasha was convinced
that the "Poale Zion is a secret
organization detrimental to the in-
terests of the Turkish Govern-
ment" and ordered their expulsion.
Ben Zvi and Ben Gurion pro-
tested against their expulsion and
against the libelling of the Poale
Zion. In fact-as they wrote to
Brandeis-the Poale Zion in Pal-
estine was not a "conspiracy",
nor was it ever "hostile" to Turk-
ish interests.
They also informed Brandeis
that on March 15, 1915, they had
sent Djemal Pasha material prov-
ing his accusations to be un-
founded, and demanded that they
be recognized as loyal inhabitants
of Palestine. But Djemal Pasha
ignored their plea and one of them
-Ben Zvi-called upon him. "The
dictator remained adamant and de-
clared: "You are Poale Zionists
and I am well aware of your mo-
tives. Your object is the establish-
ment of a Jewsh State in Palestine,
but your labors are wasted. I shall
not revoke the decree ordering
you to leave the country.' "
When Ben Zvi and Ben Gurion
heard the rumor that the Pasha
was considering the return of the
refugees, they both-in their let-
ter to Brandeis-declared their
readiness to go back, even during
the course of the war. This would
have been regarded as a great
victory for Zionism, and if the
Turkish government had indeed
permitted it, many others expelled
would also have returned.
Ben Gurion and Ben Zvi asked
Brandeis to commend their appli-
cation to Abram J. Elkus, the
American Ambassador in Constan-
inople, for his intervention in favor
of theri return.
A copy of Ben Gurion's and Ben
Zvi's letter was addressed to the
German Foreign Office in Berlin,
but all intervention was useless.
A year later Ben Zvi and Ben
Gurion realized that Trumpel-
dor and Jabotinsky had acted
wisely and foreseen the outcome
of the war, and both enlisted in
Jabotinsky's Jewish Legion.
On Aug. 2, 1915, one year after
the outbreak of World War I, a
Jewish member of the Duma,
N.M. Friedmann, stated in the
Russian Parliament that 4.11% of

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

38 Friday, September 17, 1965

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all Russians killed in the war were
Jews while the Jewish percentage
of the population was only 4.05%.
Jews had returned from abroad,
even from as far as America, to
volunteer for service. In spite of
this, pogroms and looting were
daily occurences, and thousands
of Jews were driven from their
homes.
Among the material in the Ger-
man Foreign Office archives is a
large volume of documents relat-
ing to the German occupation and
military government of Poland.
On Aug. 4, 1915, the Germans took
Warsaw, a city with a Jewish popu-
lation of about 300,000, and soon
afterwards they conquered "Con-
gress - Poland" (Russian Poland)
and Lithuania, a region inhabited
by 2,000,000 Jews.
In 1914, Dr. Max Bodenheimer,
the veteran German Zionist, had
already founded a "Committee for
the Liberation of Russian Jewry,"
subsequently renamed "Committee
for the East." Since the Zionist
Organization as such was anxious
to preserve a neutral attitude dur-
ing the war, Bodenheimer resigned
as chairman of the Jewish National
Fund.
Dr. Franz Oppenheimer, who
had performed valuable services
for the co-operative settlements
in Palestine, became the commit-
tee's chairman.
The Foreign Office archives
contain letters from anti-Zionists,
warning Bethman - Hollweg, the
German Ohancellor, against the
Zionists, whom they denounce as
hostile to German interests. This
may well have been the reason
for permitting some German rab-
bis to go to Warsaw and work
there in league with assimilation-
ists and Orthodox Jews-against
Zionism. There were also Zionists
among the German Jews who went
to Poland, and one of their aims
was to counter anti-Zionist agita-
tion.
Dr. Ludwig Haas was appointed
director of the Jewish Department
of the German civil administration
in Poland. He had been a member
of the Democratic Party
in the German Parliament
from 1912 and was on the Execu-
tive of the "Centralverein deutsch-
er Staatsbueger juedischen Glaub-
ens." He volunteered for the army,
took part in the battle of Flanders,
was commissioned and won the
Iron Cross. As director of the Jew-
ish Department, he acted as liai-
son officer between the German
occupation forces and the Polish
Jews, whom he helped whenever
he could.
Haas helped to draft the consti-
tution of the Warsaw Kehilla.
Though he was assisted by two
anti-Zionist German rabbis, he
drifted towards Jewish national-
ism. It is possible that he was in-
fluenced by some of the Zionist
leaders then visiting Warsaw.
In an eight-page report from
Warsaw, addressed to the Secre-
tary of State for Foreign Affairs
on January 23, 1917, Haas
writes that he had informed
Counsellor Von Rosenberg at the
Legation about the mood prevail-
ing among Poland's Zionist youth
who were in favor of forming
"Jewish Legions" as part of the
Turkish army. Von Rosenberg was
rather pessimistic about the
chances of implementing this plan,
fearing that Turkey would oppose
it, for the formation of Jewish
Legions would no doubt be linked
with Jewish claims on Palestine.
But Von . Rosenberg agreed that
Haas should study the plan care-
fully and submit it to the For-
eign Office in writing, where-
upon Haas suggests-Berlin could
ask the German Ambassador in
Constantinople for his views on
the project.
Some Jewish circles thought it
inadvisable for the Jews to be
attached to the Polish Legion;
Polish anti-Semitism was virulent

Jews - 'ere not likely to re-
ceive fair tre - fment. This was con-
sidered anothe reason for sep-
sidered
arate Jewish comngents.
Ludwig Haas emb;.-12-,,d upon the
subject of the military value of
Jewish Legions with grea, inaus
try and enthusiasm.
Since the Turkish government
opposed Zionist aspirations, the
project was likely to be met with
distrust in Turkey. Haas therefore
thought it advisable for the Ger-
man Ambassador in Constantinople
first to inform the Turkish gov-
ernment about the mood of Jewish
youth in Poland, and to suggest
the despatch of a few Turkish
officers to Warsaw to study the
matter on the spot.
Haas then advises ways and
means of persuading Turkey to
agree to a Jewish Legion. It would
hasten ultimate victory to mobil-
ize East-European Jewry on Tur-
key's side. It should also be em-
phasized that the Poles were in
favor of a Jewish Legion as part
of the Turkish army. Were Turkey
to agree to Zionist claims, this
would ensure her the sympathy
of North America and benevolent
treatment at subsequent peace ne-
gotiations.
Haas quotes the example of a
Russian Jew - he had in mind
Joseph Trumpeldor - who had
organized a small Anglo-Zionist
detachment whch had fought
against the Turks at Gallipoli. This
detachment had aroused world-
wide interest and a Col. Patterson
even wrote a book about it.
Ludwig Haas emphasized that
he was not a Zionist; on the con-
trary; he had always fought Zion-
ism. His proposal was, therefore,
not prompted by Zionist motives,
but was in the interests of both
the Central Powers and East
European Jewry.
There was considerable sympa-
thy for Zionist aspirations in sup-
port of which Germany had often
intervened with Turkey. Otto War-
burg urged-notably in a letter to
the Berlin Foreign Office dated
Feb. 3, 1917 - that this was the
right moment for Turkey to issue
a pro-Zionist declaration enabling
hundreds of thousands of Jews
from Poland and elsewhere to
settle in Palestine over a number
of years. The Germans also knew
that Vladimir Jabotinsky was try-
ing to organize a Jewish Legion
under British command and that
England intended to woo North
American Jewry by issuing a pro-
Zionist Declaration in due course.
It now seemed to be a question of
who would be first with the Decla-
ration-Britain or Turkey.
Richard von Kuehlmann of the
German Embassy in Constanti-
nople, wrote to the German Chan-
cellor, von Bethmann -
dated April 6, 1917, that "renewed
and careful soundings" had can-
vinced him that Turkey would re-
ject any political conditions in
connection with the proposal of
a Jewish Legion. Besides, the mo-
ment was not favorable for ob-
taining concessions for the Zion-
ists.
Two weeks later, April 23, 1917,
Ludwig Haas, who was still work-
ing in Warsaw, received a copy
of the letter sent to the German
Foreign Office by the Ambassa-
dor in Constantinople. "In view of
the situation described by Herr von
Kuehlmann," the Foreign Office
in Berlin did not consider "that
there is any point in renewed in-
tervention with the Turkish Gov-
ernment at this time," the cover-
ing letter stated,.
Thus ended a German-Jewish pa-
triot's project to set up Jewish
Legions, staffed by Turkish officers
and "German . NCO's of Jewish
persuasion," in return for which
Turkey was to allow the Jews to
immigrate into and buy land in
Palestine, and to grant political
autonomy to the Jewish settle-
ments in the country.

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