Trudy Gold
The Aaronsohns, NILI and the Zion Mule Corps
Trudy Gold - The Aaronsohns, NILI and the Zion Mule Corps
- Good evening, everyone, and welcome from a rather gloomy London. I hope you listened to the first presentation tonight on the South African election. I thought it was absolutely stunning. And now, excuse my voice. I’ve got a bit of a cold. But now we are going back to the history of Zionism, and today I’m looking at the First World War in relation to the Zionist movement. And I suppose the first question I would pose to you is what on earth side should the Zionist organisation take in 1914 when war broke out? Now, don’t forget that Zionism in 1914 was a very small movement in the Jewish world. For the bulk of Western Jews, they were citizens of the countries in which they lived, of the Jewish religion. Many of them felt secure in the countries in which they lived, in Britain, in France, despite the Dreyfus affair in Germany, where 100,000 Jews volunteered to join the German army. In Russia, they were conscripted in. To the Eastern Europeans, the bulk of religious Jewry, only the michyah could lead them back. So, Zionism, although it’s a world movement and different strands are already beginning to appear, different responses to Zionism, which I’m going to deal with next week, in the main, it’s a small movement with its headquarters in Berlin. Now, the headquarters of the Zionist organisation were led by a German citizen, Otto Warburg. Germany, the main powers, Germany, Turkey, Austro-Hungary, ranged against whom? Britain, Russia, and France. What side would you take?
David Ben-Gurion actually went off to America to raise money for the Turks because he saw it this way. He was already in Palestine. Palestine is part of the Turkish empire. Consequently, we should be favourable to the Turks. Jabotinsky, who was one of the rising stars of the Zionist movement, he took a different view. He thought the British would win the war. So, consequently, he believed it was in the interest of the Zionist organisation to go on the side of the British. Meanwhile, in Germany, you even had Jews who’d made it to Palestine going home to fight for Germany. They were such a loyal group. And, in fact, 35,000 German Jews were decorated for bravery, winning the Iron Cross, 1st or 2nd Class. And a further 12,000 died in battle for the fatherland. There was a petition, the petition of 92, written by a German Jew called Fulda, signed by most of the great intellectuals of Germany, saying that Germany is fighting the war for for German culture. Einstein was one of the only intellectuals of note who had such a horror of war who refused to sign the petitions. So there was a problem. In the end, the Zionists decided to move their headquarters to neutral Sweden. And, actually, the whole issue was solved for them. Why? Because the Turkish governor of Jaffa began to expel Russian-born Jews as enemy aliens. Later on, German and Austrian Jews living in London and in Britain were going to suffer the same fate when war broke out in 1939. It took a long time for the British to actually realise that Jews were not enemy aliens. There was an extraordinary incident in the Second World War, after the invasion, the German invasion of Belgium. The library in Hampstead was actually surrounded by MI5, who took away 13 German Jewish intellectuals who were studying in the library. They also raided Heath Street.
So strange things happen in war. But going back to this, what I want to talk about today are two or three really distinct episodes which very much show the story of Jews in World War I. Now, I’m only showing the story of Zionists. There is a whole course on the British fighting for the British, British Jews fighting for the British, German Jews fighting for Germans, in the Habsburg empire in Hungary. And, in fact, we have covered much of this on the website, those of you who are interested. But, first of all, I want to turn to a fascinating little settlement called Zichron Yaacov. And it was founded by a group of Jews who came from Baucau in Romania. And it was founded mainly because of the efforts of the man I’m going to show you now. Can we please see the next slide, please? There you see Moses Gaster. Moses Gaster was one of the most fascinating characters to come out of the annals of 19th, 20th-century Jewish history. He was born in Romania. He was of Sephardic descent and rabbinic descent on his mother’s side. He had one of those encyclopaedic minds. He was trained in both Judaism and in general, in secular subjects. He became the main expert on Romanian language and folklore, so much so that he codified the Romanian language and wrote their most extraordinary encyclopaedia of folklore. However, he fell foul of the antisemitic regime and he fled to London, where he later on became a haham of the Sephardi synagogue, a passionate Zionist, the vice chairman of the world Zionist organisation. He lived in Maida Vale.
And it was in his house that the first draught of the Balfour Declaration was written in 1917. Present were Balfour. Present were Chaim Weizmann, Sokolow. And other visitors to his house were Lenin, Churchill. He was a great, interesting intellectual. He was a reader at Oxford University. He was an expert on the Samaritans. He was an expert on the Cairo Geniza. An absolute fascinating individual. But he was the main force behind the establishment of Zichron Yaacov, this settlement in Palestine made up of Romanian Jews. What happened was there was a terrible outbreak of antisemitism in Romania, which we’ve already covered on the website. And we’ve dealt with how Moses Montefiore actually visited Romania to try and hasten, to try and stop things. But what happens is that a whole group of Romanian Jews went to Palestine, where they founded a settlement. Now, let’s have a look at some of the people who went, because amongst them were the famous Aaronsohn family. And I want us to have a look first at, let’s have a look at Aaron Aaronsohn. He is going to become one of the greatest agronomists in the world, is going to lead a spy ring against the Turks, and is going to be instrumental in the boundaries of Palestine, and dies, tragically, in a plane crash in 1919. He comes to Palestine with his parents, and they have four children. And amongst those children was his sister Sarah. Let’s see her picture, please. The beautiful Sarah Aaronsohn. And I want to now look at Avshalom Feinberg. Next slide, please. He was the fiance of her sister Rivka. So the parents are amongst the founders. There’s a hundred Romanian pioneers.
They purchased two plots of land. This land that they come and settle in Palestine is bought, and it was bought from a French citizen of Christian Arab origin. And in 1883, let’s see the next slide, please. This is Zichron Yaacov. It was taken over by Baron Edmond de Rothschild. The next slide, please. Baron Edmond de Rothschild was a great Zionist, and he was persuaded to put money into the settlements in Palestine and he becomes its patron. There was a lot of problems, actually, because he brought in French advisors, and many of these young pioneers didn’t want to be told what to do. But in 1885, he established a winery, the first in Israel, with a bottling factory at Zichron Yaacov. And it becomes, of course, the beginning of what later became the very successful Israel wine industry. And he’s one of the great patrons of the early settlers. Rosh Pina was another one of these settlements. These, as I said, these are settlements that are purchased and are, in the main, funded from France by Baron Edmond de Rothschild. Now, can we go back to Aaron’s picture, please, if you don’t mind, Georgie? Can you swing me back? Yeah. Now, Aaron, he was the beloved genius of the family. He was a Zionist to his core. Remember, he’d come from antisemitic Romania.
He spoke Hebrew. He also knew Yiddish, English, Arabic, Turkish, French, German, and some Italian. And like it seems that practically every one of these families of pioneers had their own specific . He was on a sponsorship from Baron Edmond. He studied agriculture in France. And then he worked in Metula, which was a new colony in the North that had been bought, again, by the baron from a Christian Greek diplomat in the Middle East. So this is land that has been bought for settlement. But it’s important to remember that the landowners are quite often absentee. And the settlement, Degania, was founded in 1896. He left Paris. He wants to establish an organisation for agricultural technology. And he teams up with the members of a German Templar community. He started a business for importing and selling agricultural machinery. He’s living in the North. He’s an agriculturalist. He realises, he’s the kind of Zionist, and as I said, I’ll be talking about this next week, who believed passionately that every stick and stone in Palestine had to be turned by the Jews. He believed that there’d been something unwholesome about the diaspora. The diaspora had made us into middlemen, into merchants. Now, as you all well know, Jews had been excluded from manual professions. The Zionists, there is a whole strand of Zionism that wants to go back to the earth, to make the desert bloom. Only then, if you fulfil every niche of the economy, can you create the wholesome state. Now, he also imported seeds and vines. He has a dream. He’s going to make the land of Israel bloom. And he’s a genius. He has huge expertise.
And botanically, he mapped the land and became the leading expert on the subject. In 1906, he’s on a field trip to Mount Hermon, where he discovered a new form of wheat. This was a huge discovery. It’s known as the mother of wheat. It made him world famous. In the world of agriculture and agronomy, he becomes the man. And on a trip to America in 1909, he secured financial backing for a research station in Atlit, where he built up a large collection of geological and botanical samples, and he establishes a library. He is so famous that he’s working for the Turkish authorities. He becomes the.. Can we see, can you go on to the slide of Djemal Pasha, which is after Edmond de Rothschild, if you don’t mind? Thank you. Djemal Pasha was one of the three leaders who ruled the empire. And in World War I, in 1915, there’s a crop-destroying locust invasion. So in March to October of that year, it stripped the country of almost all its vegetation. Now, this is a disaster for the Turks. So they take the world-leading agronomist of the Middle East and he’s given permission to move around what they called Southern Syria. That’s what this area was called by the Turks. Remember, the borders are not drawn. That’s not going to happen until after the defeat of the Turkish empire. And he makes detailed maps of the area. Now, he also was worried about Greek rule, about Turkish rule.
He also was aware of the problems in Armenia, which, of course, is going to lead to the Armenian massacre. He understands the expulsion of Russian and Eastern-European-born Jews as enemy aliens. And he decides he’s going to work for the British. And during World War I, fearing for Jewish safety, with his assistant, Avshalom Feinberg, and his sister Sarah, they organise a group called Nili. And Nili is an organisation that is going to spy for the British against the Turks. And later on, I’m just going to continue with his life, he was one of the experts consulted on the northern boundary of Palestine. At the end of the war, at the peace conferences, they were having, they were redrawing the map of the Middle East. Palestine is going to include, at that stage, what is now Transjordan, what is now the West Bank, what is now Gaza and what is now Israel and the tip of Syria. And he was one of the experts consulted on the northern boundary for Palestine, focusing on the need for irrigational water. He envisaged a boundary, this is important, that would ensure the inclusion of the sources of the Jordan, the Litani and the Yarmouk rivers. And it’s going to become the official Zionist line at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.
Now, he knows the land inside-out, and it is he who recommends the plan of attack of the Allies through Beersheba that Alami ultimately used to take Jerusalem in December 1917 as part of the Sinai and Palestine campaign. The information given by Nili mainly prepared by Aaronsohn and his future brother-in-law Feinberg, Scheinberg, led to the British being able to mount a surprise attack by passing Ottoman defences in Gaza. In 1917, though, Weizmann sends him to America on a fundraising mission for the Zionist organisation ‘cause Weizmann is in London, and, of course, he is going to be the prime mover behind the Balfour Declaration of November 1917. He sends his friend Aaronsohn from Palestine to America to raise funds and also to garner support. And it’s there that he learns that Nili was discovered and that his sister was arrested and tortured. Now, I’ll come on to her in a minute, but Aaronsohn, he was actually killed in a plane crash over the… So he learns of his sister’s death. He was killed in an aeroplane crash on his way to the Paris Peace Conference in May 1919. And the director of military intelligence confirmed how important the group was to British intelligence. In fact, he had met up with a man called Richard Meinertzhagen, who I’m going to talk about later, who was so impressed by him. He said he was the most impressive, cleverest man he ever knew. And he’s going to become a great Zionist supporter in Palestine.
Now, can we please go back to the picture of Sarah, if you don’t mind, Georgia? What happens is that they are discovered that they are spying for the British. Her story, she’d actually been born in Palestine and encouraged by her brother. She studied languages. She married, in 1914, a Bulgarian Jewish merchant who she lived with in Istanbul. She had many languages, but the marriage was unsuccessful. She returned to Palestine. She had partially witnessed the Armenian genocide, and it had a most powerful impact on her. And it was that that also impelled her to assist the British. Their spy network consisted of about 40 people. So in September 1917, it was discovered. She was captured, she was tortured. And she managed to ask permission to go back to get some clothes, and she shot herself. But, unfortunately, it wasn’t successful, and she died in terrible agony. And there was a terrible scandal because the religious wanted to refuse her a proper burial. But, in fact, there was such an outcry. And now, of course, her last letter, she dreamt of a national home for the Jews in the land of Israel. She and her brother were totally committed Zionists, and she became one of Israel’s great heroines. And if we could just have a look at Rivka’s boyfriend, fiance, Avshalom Feinberg.
Could you go back? That’s right. He was also part of the group. He studied in France. He worked with Aaron, and it was he who went off to, he was the main, prime mover in making contact with the British in Egypt. He was actually killed by Bedouin on his way back to Palestine. Now, I’ve got you the quote of Aaronsohn. He told Allenby to ignore Gaza and concentrate on Beersheba “because that is where the water is, and you cannot conduct your campaign without water. I know where the water lies.” And, evidently, Aaronsohn also told Allenby that Richard the Lionheart failed not because he fell victim to Saladin’s sword, but because he fell victim to mosquitoes and malaria in the swampy marshlands of the belt. So, as a result, that’s what decimated his army. And Allenby realised that Aaronsohn was right. So who was General Allenby? Can we have a look at his slide, please? He’s going to play a big part in the story of the Jews in Palestine. To give him his full name, Field Marshal General Hynman Allenby, First Viscount Allenby. And his dates, you can see, 1861 to 1936. He tried to enter the Indian Civil Service, but failed, he failed the exam. He suddenly sat the exam for Sandhurst, and he passes. He joins the regiment in South Africa. He returns to South Africa later that year, in 1888, and he tries for the entry exam for the Staff College in Camberley. Sat again. He passed. He was a very, very tenacious man. Douglas Haig of the 7th Hussars also entered the Staff College, and Haig and Allenby are going to be two huge rivals. He’s promoted to major general. He returned with his regiment for the outbreak of the Second World War.
He landed in Cape Town. I mean, I know so many of our South African listeners, it’s fascinating how many of the officers who are later going to be in Palestine, they earned their bones in the Boer War. Lord Kitchener describes him as a very popular, capable cavalry brigader. And in World War I, he’s initially on the Western Front. He had huge interests. He read books on every conceivable subject, including the Bible. He was fascinated by the Bible. He was fascinated by obscure knowledge. He came out as a very cold character, but had a very close passion for his family and for his son, who, tragically, was killed at the front. And every day, he would say to his lieutenant, “Have you any news of my little boy today?” In the Middle East, Lloyd George very much wanted a very dashing commander. He offered it to ??, who refused it unless promised a decisive victory, which Lloyd George couldn’t give him. So Lloyd George, Allenby was second choice. He arrived in the Middle East on the 27th of January, 1917. And it’s on the 31st of July he received news that his son has been killed. He did break down, he recited a Rupert Brooke poem, and then he threw himself in his work. General Wavell said, “He went on with his work. He asked for no sympathy. Only those close to him knew how heavy the blow had been.” Now, taking the advice of Nili and Aaronsohn, he mounts a surprise attack at the Third Battle of Gaza at Beersheba, where he’s involved, again, where Richard Meinertzhagen, I’m keeping him for a little later 'cause he deserves a lot of stories.
And he is involved, of course, in the capture of Jerusalem. And I want to mention, when he entered Jerusalem through the Jaffa Gate, he had huge respect for the city. You see, for these Englishmen, these old colonial types, they have been bred on the Bible. And for them to enter Jerusalem, to see, you know, to know about the Jaffa Gate. Remember the great poem, the Rupert Brooke poem, “Till building Jerusalem in England’s green and pleasant Land.” I can remember as a child at my English public school being very bewildered by this. I think I was eight years old, and I thought, but Jerusalem is in Jerusalem. It’s the capital, it’s Israel. Why do they want to build it here? And this is what he said when his army entered Jerusalem. “To the inhabits of Jerusalem, the Blessed and the people dwelling in its vicinity, the defeat inflicted on the Turks by the troops under my command has resulted in the occupation of your city by my forces. I, therefore, have now to proclaim it to be under martial law, under which form of administration it will remain so long as military considerations make necessary. However, lest any of you be alarmed by reason of your experience with the hands of the enemy who has retired, I hereby inform you that it’s my desire that every person pursue his lawful business without interruption.
Furthermore, since your city is regarded with affection by the adherents of three of the great religions of mankind, and its soil has been consecrated by the prayers and pilgrimages of multitudes of devout people of these three religions for many centuries, therefore, do I make it known to you that every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, traditional site, endowment, highest bequest or customary place of prayer will be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of those to whose faiths they are sacred. Guardians have been established at Bethlehem and Rachel’s Tomb. The tomb at Hebron has been placed under exclusive Moslem control. The hereditary custodians at the gate of the Holy Sepulchre have been requested to take their accustomed duties in remembrance of the magnanimous act of the Caliph Omar who protected the church.” He sent for all the community leaders to reassure them. He wanted to avoid any notion of a religious law. So he actually sent Indian soldiers in the British Army, who were Muslim, to guard the Islamic sites. When he entered, he said this: “Only now have the Crusades ended.” It’s fascinating, if you think about it, the ongoing war between Christianity and Islam. And, of course, it takes another year until the Battle of Megiddo in the 21st of September. And then Damascus falls on the 1st of October. The Ottoman Empire capitulates on the 30th of October, 1918.
And, of course, he’s going to be in charge of the military administration, which is going to cause quite a lot of problems. Much more about that from myself and many other colleagues. Now, can we go on, please? Of course, Chaim Weizmann, the great old Zionist, has already scored a huge victory because the Balfour Declaration, which I’m going to talk about next week, has already given the Zionists the promise of a homeland in Palestine. Promises have also been made to the Arabs, but a lot more about that. And it’s Weizmann, of course, who has sent Aaronsohn off to America. And that’s why he was spared when the rest of Nili were arrested and, of course, murdered. Now, going on to the other extraordinary thing that happened is the Zion Mule Corps. Can we see the next slide, please? Now, the Zion Mule Corps was a force of about 700 troops which is going to fight with the British at Gallipoli under an extraordinary man called Colonel John Henry Patterson. It’s going to be the first Jewish fighting force for 2,000 years. Later, it’s going to become part of the Jewish Legion, and many of its members are going to have a very important part to play in both the Yeshu, the Haganah and the IDF. Now, when World War I broke out, we’ve already mentioned that several Palestinian Jews with Russian citizenship had been forced to flee Palestine, and they were living in British-controlled Alexandria.
And it was there that two of the most extraordinary individuals, Joseph Trumpeldor and Vladimir Jabotinsky, come together and plan to set up a Zion Mule Corps. Now, before I want to look at that, though, I do want to have a little look with you at the incredible story of Patterson. Can we go on, please? There you see Colonel John Henry Patterson. Now, if I could, just bear with me a minute because, as usual, I’ve got my slides, I have got everything out of order. I’m putting it down to the flu. All right, I’m going to give you a bit of his background because he is an incredibly interesting man. Now, the British Army, quite often, they threw up these incredible adventurers. Now, he was born in Ireland to a Protestant father and a Catholic mother. He joined the British Army at 17. In 1898, he was commissioned by the Ugandan Railway Company to oversee the construction of a bridge over the Tsavo River in present-day Kenya. It was lion-infested country. 140 men were, in fact, killed by lions. And he becomes a hero because he actually shoots the lions. He writes a book called “The Man-eaters of Tsavo,” and it becomes the basis of three Hollywood films. He’s already a seriously famous individual. He is the lion hunter. The colonial secretary, Lord Elgin, of Elgin marbles fame, appoints him, by this time, he’s a colonel, to the post of game warden, superintendent of the game reserves in East Africa. He writes a book on that, “In the Grip of Nyika.” Unfortunately, he was involved in a scandal over the shooting of the first Baron Blyth in circumstances which, to put it mildly, are rather blurred. He was probably, in fact, Blyth was probably shot by his own wife, Ethel.
But Patterson returns to England with her. There were rumours of an affair. Never actually charged, but scandal. He was a womaniser. Something like many of you will have seen films about the Happy Valley community in Africa. You know, the British, they play hard and they fought hard. He, of course, served in the Second World War. He was awarded Distinguished Service officer. He served in South Africa after the war. And then he’s back in Ireland. He is commander of the Belfast Regiment during the Home Rule crisis. And then, of course, World War I breaks out. Now, what happens is Jabotinsky approaches General Allenby to talk about the foundation of a Zion Mule Corps. He comes to London to talk about it. And the British are short of men, they’re short of supplies. They decide they don’t want to set up an actual fighting corps. But what they could do with is really a mule corps who will help at Gallipoli. So, consequently, he is going to become the commander of the Zion Mule Corps. And later on, he is going to be the commander of the Royal Fusiliers which is going to be the second Jewish Legion that Jabotinsky is going to set up. And, in fact, Jabotinsky is going to be the first Jew to cross the Jordan under General Allenby’s command. He, from the beginning, was a Zionist. He had huge admiration for both Jabotinsky and Joseph Trumpeldor. He also writes about the antisemitism he had to deal with both from his superiors and his subordinates. He threatened to resign if it wasn’t brought under control.
Now, what happens to him? This is what he writes about the Zion Mule Corps. “A Jewish unit had not been known for 2,000 years, not since the days of the Maccabees, those heroic sons of Israel who so valiantly, and for a time so successfully, fought to wrest Jerusalem from the Roman Legion. It is curious that General John Maxwell,” who was his commander under Allenby, “should have chosen me. He knew nothing of my knowledge of Jewish history or my sympathy for the Jewish race. I never dreamt that in a small way, I would become the captain of a host of the Children of Israel.” And, of course, during the actual Legion campaign, they did cross the river to open the way for General Edward’s ANZAC division. After the victory, Chaytor writes to Patterson. “So few people have heard of the Battalion’s work or the remarkable fact that we finally reopened Palestine to the Jews. A Jewish force was fighting on the Jordan a very short distance from where their forefathers, under Joshua, first crossed into Palestine.” So do you see the importance of this? For some British officers, like Patterson, and also like this Australian, you know, they’ve been schooled on the Bible. Now, the Zion Mule Corps was only in Gallipoli. It’s going to be very brave and very useful. But it’s going to go into, under Jabotinsky, to the Royal Fusiliers, and they are the ones that are going to fight in the liberation of Palestine. Now, by the end… I’m continuing with the Jewish Legion, and I will go back next week. By the end of the campaign, the Jewish Legion was reduced from nearly a thousand to only six officers and 150 men. They fought incredibly bravely.
There was a lot of antisemitism. Anglo Jewish women came over to try and tend them, but they were sent to Cairo to tend British officers. And it also has to be said, one of the problems was that at the end of the First World War, the British commissioned officers and men to fight the Bolsheviks in Russia. And many of them, of those soldiers, were later sent to Palestine, and they brought with them “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” in their knapsacks. And Patterson was one of those who was very well-aware of the antisemitism. And Jabotinsky himself was actually awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by Allenby. He actually gives it back. He writes to his wife, “Arabs drew encouragement from the fact that the British do not honour their promises. It will end like Kishinev.” He sent the letter to Allenby. “Heavy burden of disappointment, despair, breach of promises, and antisemitism.” He was released from military service. Allenby was absolutely furious. But to go on with General Patterson, with Colonel Patterson, he had a fascinating post-war life which is so tied up with Zionism. He retired in 1920 after 35 years of service. He retired with the same. He was a colonel when he went in. He was a colonel at the end. It was generally accepted that he sacrificed this, and he was a scandal, but, also, he sacrificed opportunities to protect his Jews. And he wrote a marvellous book with the Zionists at Gallipoli and with the Judeans in the Palestine campaign. In retirement, he continued his support for Zionism. He later on went to America, where he became an active member of the Bergson Group. Now, he became very close to Jabotinsky. Jabotinsky died in 1940. He and Patterson continued their relationship right up until Jabotinsky’s death.
When Jabotinsky died in America, a group of his supporters, led by Peter Bergson, which was a pseudonym for Hillel Kook. He was the nephew of the chief rabbi of Palestine. They created a branch of Irgun in America to really try and create a Jewish fighting force to fight with the British against the Nazis. Later on, to bring the world’s attention to what was going on in Europe. And whilst he was in America, the British cut off Patterson’s pension out of spite. They left him in severe financial difficulties. But, nevertheless, he continued, always there for Zionist causes. He was also very close to Jabotinsky’s secretary, a man called Benzion Netanyahu. And the latter, named Benzion Netanyahu, named his first son Yoni, Jonathan, in honour of Patterson. Patterson was present at Yoni’s circumcision and gave him a silver cup. “To my beloved godson Yonatan, from Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Patterson.” He died in 1947 in America. He and his wife were buried in LA. And according to his grandson, his wish that they should be interred in Israel, ideally close to the men he had commanded in World War I. And later on, in 2014, with the support of his godson’s brother, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he was interred in the Avihayil Cemetery, where some of the men from the Royal Fusiliers and the Zion Mule Corps are buried. And it was attended by family descendants of the Legion.
And Netanyahu referred to him as the godfather of the Israeli Army. Now, let’s go back to the Zion Mule Corps because, obviously. Let’s go on, please. Patterson, go on, please. The next one. Now, this is Richard Meinertzhagen, who is another one of those incredible characters who was going to be so important in Zionism. His dates are 1878, 1967. Very, very controversial. Born into a very wealthy banking , family. His mother was sister to Beatrice Webb, who, of course, was co-founder of LSE and very involved with the Jews in the East End, and later involved in the story of the Palestine mandate. He was German and English. He was very well-connected. He came from an aristocratic background. His niece, Theresa Mayor, actually married Victor Baron Rothschild. He went to Harrow, then into banking. He joined the Territorials. He married his commander’s daughter, marriage dissolved. He was a very clever man. He was passionate about ornithology. He also was encouraged as a child by Herbert Spencer and also Charles Darwin, who was a family friend. He loathed banking, so he went into the army. India, Burma, big game hunting. Transferred to Africa, seconded to the foreign office. He saw himself as a scientist and explorer, maps, landscapes, wildlife drawings. He crushed tribal revolts in Kenya by shooting the witch doctors and having all his advisors shot. He was a very brutal man. But he collected tribal artefacts. He was removed from Africa.
They felt that he went much too far. But here’s the war office in London. He’s rehabilitated because he’s got amazing contacts in South Africa. And in World War I, he’s an intelligence officer. And he is then chief of British military intelligence in East Africa. And he’s transferred to the Middle East. He makes contact with Nili and becomes very close to Aaron Aaronsohn. And as I mentioned before, he later said he respected him more than anyone he had ever met. Because as a result of that and the mapping he had done, it really did lead to the British victory. He also was very important in something known as the Haversack Ruse, the first false British battle plans to fall into Ottoman hands. And what he did was he planted a haversack with false battle plans captured by the Turks, and made the British think that, the Turks think they were actually going to invade from Gaza. He attended the Paris Peace Conference and he becomes the chief political officer involved in the creation of the mandate. He was very, very pro-Zionist. Three days after the partition of Palestine, Weizmann cabled him. “To you, dear friend, we owe so much. May God bless you.” Weizmann wrote about him in “Trial and Error.” “At our first meeting, he said he’d been an antisemite until he met Aaronsohn.”
Wrote in his own book, “Thank God,” this is what he wrote in his own book, “Thank God I have lived to see the birth of Israel, one of the greatest events of the last 2,000 years.” T.E. Lawrence said of him, “He knew no half measures. He was logical, an idealist of the deepest kind and so possessed of his conviction that he was willing to harness evil to the chariot of good. He was a strategist, a geographer; a silent, laughing, masterful man who took as blithe a pleasure in deceiving his enemy and friend by some jest, as in splattering the brains of a cornered mob of Germans, one by one. Instincts were abetted by an immensely powerful body and a savage brain.” So what a character. But very much imbued by the people of the book. So I’m not saying these are the good guys, either of them, but, my goodness, I think Patterson, on the whole, was a more moral character. But what interesting man. And, of course, the other great hero who I’m going to bring to your attention, but I think to do him justice, I’m going to wait 'til I talk about strands in Zionism. Let’s see his face. Let’s see the faces, please. The man. There you see Joseph Trumpeldor, because it’s he, with Jabotinsky, who is going to actually form the Zion Mule Corps. These are the ones who are going to lead to much admiration amongst certain sections of the British Army. And Trumpeldor is one of the great heroes.
He, of course, dies at Tel Hai. He’s claimed by both the left and the right as a hero. Betar, which was Jabotinsky youth movement, it’s either named for Betar or it’s named for Trumpeldor, Brit Trumpeldor, the Covenant of Trumpeldor 'cause he and Jabotinsky worked together. And according to the left, they weren’t close friends. According to the right, they were very close friends. You know, we are quite a people. If ever we would ever stop amongst ourselves, what an incredible people we might be. That’s my last comment on it. Because I am speaking to you from my phone, I’m going to ask Georgia to look up the questions. And I will get, of course, the picture of Jabotinsky. I will talk about him next week. So either the hero, we will talk about the other slides next week. Georgia, could you look at the questions for me, please, and read them out? Because I can’t see them on my phone.
Q&A and Comments:
[Georgia] Yeah, of course. So we’ve got, the first question is, “Saw 'The Commander’s’”-
Georgia.
[Georgia] “‘Shadow.’” Can you hear me? Can you hear me?
Oh. Oh, wait a minute. Oh, yes, I can.
[Georgia] You can? Perfect.
“Saw ‘The Commander’s Shadow.’ Well worth seeing, the documentary on Auschwitz.” Yes, Michael. In fact, as you know, the Wallfisch family, I’m very close to, and I’m pleased to tell you that Maya Lasker-Wallfisch, I’m going to be interviewing her on Lockdown in August. And, hopefully, her mother will also be part of it.
Q: Dennis says, “Isn’t it interesting that Moses Gaster had the identical dates of Sigmund Freud?”
A: Yeah. It’s interesting. You know, both Moses Gaster and Sigmund Freud were on the board of YIVO. I’m beginning to think in August, because I want to lighten things a bit, with myself and all my colleagues, I might look at some of the boards, like YIVO or the Hebrew University, ‘cause some of the greatest figures in Jewish history are on these boards.
Q: Were there any suspicions about Aaronsohn’s plane crash?
A: Yes. It’s not proven. Rita answers it. Look, I don’t think the British really had any reason to kill him. If it had happened later, maybe. It’s not proven. Look, there’s always a lot of suspicions. He did die in a plane crash. When people die in mysterious circumstances, there’s always a mystery. But at that time, it was the Peace Conference and the British were playing a game with the Zionists. So I don’t… I would think it’s 75% unlikely that his death was. .
Oh, Margaret. “I have a signed letter to an Allenby inviting a gentleman who lived with my grandparents to dinner.”
Oh, fabulous. Monty. “Zichron Yaacov is an interesting place to visit. Very popular with Israelis.”
Michael. “I believe Meinertzhagen was, in fact, Danish, not German.” I don’t think so, Michael. Mind you, it’s problematic because Schleswig-Holstein was Denmark and then German. So let’s do it, would you do the research for me? Elaine, I don’t know anything about the documentary. Because of my bad throat, I haven’t been round to see Anita, so I will try and find out. Are there any other questions? That seems to be it. Okay, thank you, Georgie. And I will see you all next week. Take care. Bye.