A National Movement Under Persecution: Zionism in Nazi Germany

This chapter deals with the activity of the Zionist Federation of Germany from the rise of the Nazi Party to power in 1933 until the dismantling of German Jewish political movements. After opening with some background about pre-1933 German Zionism, it shows how the decline of emancipation and harsh implications of the Nazi anti-Jewish policy created a more comfortable environment for the development of Zionism in Germany. A major part of the efforts of German Zionists was devoted during these years to promoting Jewish immigration to Palestine. This activity was essentially in line with the Nazi agenda for a few years. Still, parallel to the preparation to immigration, the chapter shows how German Zionists attempted to develop a base to renewed Jewish life in Germany for those who would stay behind. The November 1938 pogrom and the harsh anti-Jewish measures that followed it brought an end to the Zionist Federation of Germany.