The price of flight: German Jews, the Nazi regime and the finance of the Ha'avarah Agreement, 1933--1939 (Palestine)

This work traces the origins, development and operation of the Ha'avarah Agreement (Transfer Agreement) signed between German and Palestinian Jews and the Nazi Administration in 1933 to facilitate the orderly and legal transfer of sequestered German-Jewish wealth to Palestine. Not only does it place the agreement into the broader context of social and political developments in Jewish Palestine before World War II, but also it seeks to explain the economic and political importance of the agreement to the Nazi regime. This is most notable in the years between 1933 and 1936, when Nazi power remained weakest and when Reich authorities pursued every opportunity for financial advantages leading to rapid economic recovery. The deal established the basis for renewed and augmented trade between the Third Reich and Palestine. It also provided a vehicle for Reich authorities to expand trade, with Jewish participation, throughout the Near and Middle East. In this way, this manuscript places the Ha'avarah Agreement within the context of broader Reich trade initiatives, especially those leading to bilateral clearing treaties, which the Reich engineered with twenty-five nations before 1939. The Ha'avarah Agreement, therefore, is understood as a small, but important component in the complex mosaic of reoriented trade strategy, which took place under the direction of Reich Economics Minister Hjalmar Schacht before 1936–37.