The Transfer Agreement: The Dramatic Story of the Pact Between the Third Reich and Jewish Palestine (Paperback)

~ (Author), Abraham H. Foxman (Afterword) "SHOCK WAVES rumbled through the world on January 30, 1933..." (more)
Key Phrases: Sam Cohen, German Jews, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A fascinating book creating controversy all across the country. Black applied his established investigative journalism techniques to history. The result is an extraordinary book. -- Bill Kurtis, CBS Morning News

A struggle to write a painful chapter in Jewish history. What Black began uncovering was a tangled account of an anguished moment in history, one that he at the center had to piece together from...forgotten archives, pre-WWII newspapers, and government records. -- Jan Cawley, Chicago Tribune Magazine

Black poses the controversial question: 'Was it madness or was it genius?' The many fascinated readers will have to decide for themselves. -- Booklist, American Library Association --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

First published to international acclaim in 1984, The Transfer Agreement stunned readers worldwide with its revelations of a pact between Zionist leaders and Hitler's Third Reich. Concluded in 1933, this controversial pact transferred 55,000 Jews and $100 million to Palestine on the condition that Zionist organizations call a halt to their economic boycott of Nazi Germany -- a potent tactic that was threatening to topple Hitler's government, then only in its first year in power. The debate over this controversial deal virtually tore apart the Jewish world in the pre-World War II era, and it remains unresolved today. Whereas the transfer agreement indeed ultimately saved lives, rescued assets, and helped lay the foundation for what would become the Jewish state in 1948, it also -- arguably -- allowed the Nazi regime to survive its first year and, over the next twelve, to plumb the depths of ethnic intolerance and implement massive genocide. With the world today confronting such morally complex issues as the compensation for slave labor during the Holocaust and the refusal of Swiss banks to return Jewish assets to their rightful heirs, the transfer agreement and the boycott that preceded it stand out even more startlingly as early examples of Jewish initiatives against Nazi terror. However ambiguous the choices made by the Jewish leaders in the turbulent prewar 1930s, they stand in a new and different light today. The Transfer Agreement is a remarkable and revelatory book that has now found its time.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 484 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; Updated edition (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786708417
• ISBN-13: 978-0786708413
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #524,481 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars UNVAILING A FORGOTTEN PAST, May 15, 2001

By	esar shvartz (long beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This is a typical Edwin Black book. As in his other important Holocaust related work, IBM AND THE HOLOCAUST, he goes into great detail on events, speeches, and other occurrences that took place mainly in 1933 with the rise of Hitler to power. The Nazis did not waste any time and immediately started with the persecution of the approximately half a million German Jews. There was an immediate world wide boycott against German commerse. The labor Zionists in Palestine and elsewhere, being opportunistic in nature, used this calamity that preceded the Holocaust and negotiated a secret deal with the Nazis. The Nazis allowed some Jews to leave Germany for Palestine with money, and in return the Zionists did not participate in the boycott against German goods. Information about this shameful affair was suppressed by all Israeli goverments headed by labor in the last 50 years. Black's description of this affair is very detailed but overly repetitious. A major problem is the lack of sufficient summaries. Black describes the events and more or less leaves it to the reader to arrive to conclusions. Examples: he mentions the complete silence of FDR on the persecution of the German Jews (which lasted later throughout the war) but there is no comment on it. There is a good description of the paranoid hatered of Jabotinsky and his followers by the labor Zionists but no comment on it. In several comments, however, Black expresses the opinion that the transfer agreement was beneficial to the future establishment of Israel because of the German goods and some German Jews that went to Palestine. The price was dealing with the devil. History showed otherwise. The transfer agreement constituted a minor factor in the establishment of Israel, and that is why Ben Gurion and his cronies tried to hide it. The irony is that during the Holocaust the labor Zionists again made deals with the Nazis to save their own people at the expense of others (see PERFIDY by Ben Hecht). This book is a very important historical document. I hope that somebody will use Black's hard work in digging up all the details of this forgotten dark period, to throw more light on the actions (or inactions) of the labor Zionists during the Holocaust (Ben-Gurion, Stephen Wise, Nachum Goldman, etc), because of their sick devotion to socialism and their love affair with FDR.

37 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply one of the most incredible history books I've read!, July 19, 2004

By	K. L Sadler (Freedom, Pa. USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I cannot praise the author, his research, his explanations and his writing enough for this singular tome. Like other reviewers have said, the reader goes into this book, whether Jewish or not, with their mouth open at the incredibility of this occurence. It's easy enough in hindsight to make judgement calls about what the the leaders of the Jewish community world-wide should have done about Hitler's rise to power. However, given the economic situation of the time and the Reich's strategems to place all blame for Germany's economic hardships on the Jews throughout Europe, it's hard to determine that even had the massive boycotts been organized and on schedule, would they have work? And even more important, if Hitler was ousted due to the economic stranglehold on Germany,who or what would have taken his place? And would that have been any less devastating for the Jews in Europe.

There are few obvious heros and anti-heros in this book, except for the Nazis as being the ultimate in villains. One man paid dearly for his attempts to save European Jewry...with his life. It was not conclusive as to whome the assassins were and who put out the price on his head. It's all too easy to blame the reactionary groups, but there are obvious questions about whether his death was one of convenience so that blame could be placed by the leading group of Mapai at the door of the reactionary Jewish groups.

Sam Cohen was a businessman through and through. His reasoning to press The Transfer agreement was purely motivated by money, and not the need to either save European Jewry or to establish Israel as a separate state. It is this 'selling' of the agreement by so many that is so mind-boggling. So many were willing to take the wealth of German Jewry (and later the funds that were supposed to be used to save the lives of Jews who had no homes or businesses to return to) and use it to set up a home in Palestine...it's beyond my ability to pass judgement on these men as to their motivation, yet I am not certain I could possibly decide to shake the hands of these men. The fact that there was a need to set up a Jewish state, and that there was all this money to fund its establishment is beside the fact. At no other time, was any other method even considered to rescue the millions of Jews trapped, even the children...this is so reprehensible as to curdle anyone's blood.

And though this happened, our countries, including the U.S. and Britain were equally at fault for closing immigration quotas, even though they knew what was going on in Germany. It was easier to merely close their eyes and ignore The Holocaust, until it became obvious that no one was safe from Hilter and his cronies.

This story is just so incredible that I wish there was some way to make it into a movie that does the story justice. I don't suppose that is a possibility. But it is a tremendous story that needs to be included in European history, as it's impact was great. Edwin Black did a fantastic job. (...)

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History Written Here, January 28, 2002

By	Magda Hermann (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

I originally read this book when it came out as a Macmillan hardback some years ago. The new Carrol Graf edition has some fascinating new insights by the author as of 2001. Undoubtedly this re-issue was timed to coincide with Edwin Black's other major book, IBM and the Holocaust. Although I have read both books, I am still gripped by the power and drama of Transfer Agreement--must reading for those who to understand the State of Israel, Zionism and its intersection with the Nazis. Powerful reading, this is history written as no one else can.