Government circles told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that they were aware of the plan reported abroad for transferring between 100,000 and 250,000 Jews from Germany to Palestine and British territories with the financial backing of British and American Jews.
The officials refused, however, either to vouchsafe details of the plan or to reveal their attitude towards it.
The plan is assumed here to have arisen from earlier proposals, reported by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on November 26, 1935, for setting up an international bank with headquarters in London to enable Jews emigrating from Germany to withdraw their money. Under the original plan, which was understood to have the backing of Economics Minister Hjalmar Schacht, shares in the bank would be sold to Jews throughout the world. The bank would operate under a transfer agreement similar to that existing between Germany and Palestine, under which emigrating Jews receive their capital in credits which can be used to buy German exports.
The process of transfer, which may be the same under the new proposal, follows:
The emigrating Jew would receive his capital in the form of German goods, minus a twenty-five per cent emigration tax. The goods would be taken over by the international bank, which would proceed to sell them. Meanwhile, the bank would pay the emigrant in the currency of the country where he would settle.
Minister Schacht’s backing was understood to have been predicated on the belief that the project would help to increase German exports, thereby aiding the Reich’s exchange balance, at the same time weakening the anti-Nazi boycott and paying off the Jewish accounts in Germany.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
