Bidspirit auction | Three Historical Memorandums - The

Three Historical Memorandums - The Jewish Agency for Eretz Yisrael - Stencil - 1942-1943 - Rare - A. 2 leaves (4 pp.), memorandum of the bureau for public diplomacy of the Jewish Agency, the ”Struma Affair”, 01.03.1942. The memorandum details the tragedy of the Struma (a ship of illegal immigrants to the Land of Israel) on the background of additional illegal immigration attempts from ”the Nazi hell”. The memorandum also describes the efforts of the Jewish Agency and its appeal to the British Government to allow the ship to enter the country. According to the memorandum, these efforts failed and the ship, which succeeded in escaping Romania, was drowned (by a Soviet torpedo) before the longed for permit to enter the country by the British arrived. The tragedy of the Struma is considered the greatest disaster in the history of illegal immigration and the greatest disaster of a sinking of a civil ship during World War II. 760 Jewish refugees from Romania, 103 of them children, drowned with the Struma. Condition: Very Good. B. 2 leaves (4 pp.), a copy of a correspondence between the British Government and the Jewish Agency regarding recruitment after the search of the Recruiting Office in Tel Aviv, internal, 21.5.1943. The correspondence is between Moshe Shertok (Sharet) on behalf of the Jewish Agency and J.S. Macpherson – the Chief Secretary of the Mandatory Government in the Land of Israel. The mandatory government was dissatisfied with the large-scale recruitment of the Yishuv to the British army and its attitude towards it was cold and slightly suspicious. The British feared the military intensification of the Yishuv in the Land of Israel and especially the involvement of the Jewish Agency in it. The correspondence indicates that the British had searched the Recruiting Office in Tel Aviv and had investigated some of the recruits. According to Shertok, these investigations were meant to find improper recruitment methods practices by the Jewish Agency in order to blacken its name. The letters also describe additional actions taken by the British Government against the Jewish Agency and its efforts to prevent the Jewish Agency from recruiting more Jews to the British army. Interesting and rare. Condition: Very Good. C. English memorandum (10 pp.), the speech of Moshe Shertok, the Chairman of the Jewish Agency, at the ”Carnegie Hall”, New York, 17.3.1943. A speech defending Zionism and its goals, describing the life of the Yishuv in the Land of Israel and rejecting any other territorial solution for the Jews. Condition: Very Good.