51 Documents: Zionist Collaboration with the Nazis

Brenner has a thesis, which proceeds from the conclusion he wants to find - namely that Zionism is evil. What better way to establish the fact than to link the Zionists with the Nazis?
There are 3 concerns about this book:
1. The proposition is plainly likely to be offensive to many people, not least the children and grandchildren of those who died. Now, offensiveness is not a reason to be silent. But it IS a reason for sensitivity. There is little of that discernible (to this reviewer at least) in this book. The problem is that a neutral version of the controversy Brenner posits would be sensitive: if there is no axe to be ground one would expect sympathy and empathy. The lack of it suggests the purpose is not neutral examination, but polemic.
2. Context is key. These were times so dark as to be almost unimaginable - certainly by comfortable (smug?) western liberals. There is little context to be found here. There is no real examination of the proposition that sometimes one has to reach accomodation with evil to achieve a greater good. Children got out of Nazi Germany because Zionists talked to Eichmann - who would refuse to talk in such circumstances? Brenner believes in guilt by association and tries to butress that belief with quotes which lack context. The result is not a contribution to historical debate - it is skewed history which relies for its effect on the ignorance and prejudices of its readers.
3. There is no attempt to look at what else Zionism is and was. Even if one grants Brenner's thesis, the debate is sterile. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem was an avowed supporter of Hitler - against the British as well as the Jews. Does that make Jordan an illegitimate state? Simply to state the problem in this way demonstrates the intellectual paucity of Brenner's reasoning. Zionism, like it or not, has provided a homeland for people who no one would take in. Yes, that was arguably at the expense of other people. But in that case the debate is about hard choices. Brenner would rather the choice was easy - again that seems to be because he has an answer already and the problem is to phrase the question to give that answer. It's poor stuff.
Ultimately this book says no more than "this boy can't be nice because he mixes with other nasty boys". That is an argument most often heard, and best confined to, the school playground. Grownups will look elsewhere for real debate and argument.

The Dark History of Zionism (14/15 people found this helpful)

Lenni Brenner here follows up his work on Zionist collaboration with Fascism in `Zionism in the Age of the Dictators' with the production of the documents that formed the basis of his research.

Brenner has argued that Zionism, rather than fighting anti-semitism, has often collaborated with it for it's own political ends and, in the process, has betrayed the Jews it was purportedly liberating.

The case is a convincing one. From the founder of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, we hear that anti-semites should be considered friends of Zionism for anti-semitism would lead Jews to believe that they should not seek assimilation in gentile society but would look to leave and found their own state. Thus, anti-semitism was not to be opposed.

Following from this inauspicious start, we find that Zionist leaders in Britain, such as Weizmann, offer the anti-semitic foreign secretary Balfour the support of their movement. We find the founder of the Revisionist tendency within Zionism, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, willingly siding with anti-semitic pogromists in Ukraine. We find Winston Churchill lending his support to Zionism through motives which can only be described as anti-semitic.

And then it comes to the Nazis themselves. We find German Zionists seeing National Socialism as a kindred ideology to their own. We find SS officers visiting Palestine at the invitation of mainstream Zionist organisations in order to help facilitate Jewish emigration to Palestine, including Adolf Eichmann who would record his admiration for Zionist politics. We find the SS producing a commemorative medal with the Zionist star on one side and the SS insignia on the other. We find a Zionist agent in the pay of the Gestapo with the full knowledge and approval of his superiors as he betrays anti-Nazis. And we find the origins of the Israeli navy in Mussolini's Italy wearing Blackshirts and singing Fascist hymns.

It's not a pretty story. And, because it's not pretty, British Zionists have attempted to have this book withdrawn. When people with a vested interest in something want a book withdrawn, you know that you should read it.

I do hope that my previous review of this work was removed from amazon through some technical reason and not due to pressure

51 Documents: Zionist Collaboration with the Nazis

Lenni Brenner

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More of the Same (6/46 people found this helpful)

The Dark History of Zionism (14/15 people found this helpful)

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