German-Jewish emigrants to Palestine under the Germany-Palestine transfer agreement, by which they are enabled to withdraw a portion of their capital in the form of goods, up to the end of 1935 received 42.8 percent of their original funds in cash, it was disclosed here.
This information is contained in the second issue of the Haavara Bulletin, published by the Palestine trustee office for the execution of the agreement.
The Bulletin reported that 38.9 percent of the emigrants’ funds have been invested in various national and private agricultural colonization undertakings.
Final figures of the Haavara transactions to the end of 1935 showed more than 26 million marks were handled in that period and slightly over 30 millions from the agreement’s inception in 1933 to April, 1936.
Of the moneys distributed by Haavara, a total of 11,388,376.47 marks comprised cash payments to clients and others classified as “recipients of rents and pensions.”
Investments in national and public colonization companies are listed at 7,121,60 marks. Of this sum, 3,116,660 marks was invested for the emigrants in the Jewish National Fund; 3,204,043 marks in Nir, Ltd.; and 800,900 in Rasco. Investments in various private colonization companies totaled 3,248,239 marks.
Emigrants from Germany wishing to transfer more than the minimum of £1,000 (about $5,000) which is required for admission to Palestine under the capitalist category, are obliged to invest a portion of the sum in projects such as those listed above, or undertake self-transfer. Jewish National Fund debentures are repayable over a period of twenty years in annual instalments, at an interest rate of 2½ percent.
Distribution of other sums up to the end of 1935 was made as follows:
Investment in various industrial enterprises through self-transfer, 1,679,660 marks; donations to national funds, 1,258,377 marks; investments in various commercial undertakings through self-transfer, 1,450,149 marks and transfer of funds for tourists’ expenditure, 461,471 marks.
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.
