Preface: The following scholarly article examines Vladimir Jabotinsky's attempts to save European Jews from the impending Holocaust and how his efforts were hampered by the ghetto mentality. The paper was written by Ari Rubin, son of JDL International Chairman Irv Rubin; it received a triple-A grade.

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The calamities of the Holocaust will forever leave their imprint on the human race. The multitude of lives extinguished in the period between 1939 and 1945 are a sobering reminder to the generations: be ever vigilant in the fight against hatred, tyranny and oppression. A unique event in human history, the Holocaust is both the ultimate display of human suffering and the most potent example of pure evil ever manifested in human beings. Examining the details of that horrific event makes it all too clear that steps could have been taken to save many lives. The hindsight of sixty years provides a clearer understanding of the events than previously possible. Additionally, the facts stated herein do not negate the horrors of the Holocaust, nor do they cast blame on anyone who suffered through them. Yet to understand and learn from the past, one must fully come to terms with the errors of the past. The lone cries of the Jewish hero Vladimir Jabotinsky echo through the ages. His message of resistance and survival was dismissed by Jews suffering from an oppressed, fearful mind-set. If they had listened to that great man, millions of Jews would potentially have escaped Hitler’s wrath. Though it is troubling, an examination of some painful issues surrounding the Holocaust will hopefully help to empower individuals so that never again will such an episode transpire.

Due to the destruction of the state of Israel by the Roman empire in 90 AD, the Jews spread out around the globe. The Jews of pre-World War II Europe were heavily assimilated into the culture of their respective nations. With nationalistic feelings absent, many Jews viewed themselves primarily as Germans, Poles, Austrians, etc; their religion was a distant second (Schechtman 45). One trend was quite uniform among the Jewish population – their ability to succeed. Their highly disciplined work and social ethic gave them the edge in the business world. Jews therefore became quite content and comfortable with their lives. There were episodes of antisemitic attacks, but the average Jew paid little attention to them (Medoff 11). The success of the group had the consequence of fueling jealousy and hatred of some non-Jews; these antisemitic feelings were capitalized on when Germany needed a scapegoat for a failed economy. The climate of Jew-hatred was, by the 1930s, easily discernible, yet Jews were generally not alarmed. Holocaust survivor and resistance fighter Diane Jacobs relates that they “knew there was trouble, but they didn’t want to believe something terrible could happen to them.”

One man, visionary prophet Vladimir Jabotinsky, recognized the signs of danger and sounded the alarm to European Jews. Born 1880 in Odesso, Russia, Jabotinsky began his career as a writer. He recognized that Jews faced an assault on two fronts – one being antisemitism and the other the fact that Jews would always be a minority. Jabotinsky called for Jews to return to their rebuilt homeland of Israel, a state to be protected by a strong Jewish military force. He got approval from Britain to create a Jewish military unit which fought along side the allies during World War I. He made it clear that the goal of Zionism was the creation of a Jewish state, a concept other Zionists were reluctant to advocate (Schechtman 37). As a brilliant writer and orator, Jabotinsky influenced many Zionists and founded political movements instrumental to the birth of Israel. According to author Barbara Amiel, Jabotinsky realized the path to statehood would be difficult, but that it was the destiny of the Jewish people to reclaim their land. Menachem Begin, former Prime Minister of Israel, wrote of him: “I felt in my whole being that Jabotinsky was great, that he saw far ahead and combined nobility of spirit with an iron logic” (411).

The Jews in Europe were in danger, and Vladimir Jabotinsky was determined to save them. Europe, according to Jabotinsky, was a “zone of incurable antisemitism” (qtd. in Schechtman 124). Jabotinsky viewed certain countries as “zones of danger” to Jews (qtd. in Schechtman 334). He prophetically remarked that “time was imperiling the very existence of millions of European Jews. . .” (qtd. Schechtman 334). However, he was hopefully that he could convince large numbers of people to emigrate before it was too late. The first zone of danger he turned his attention to was Poland, a country with a ten percent Jewish population.

The Polish government didn’t want the blood of innocent people on its hands. Rather than give into existing anti-Jewish sentiment, the Polish government would, according to Jabotinsky, support “a Jewish-initiated scheme of large-scale orderly and voluntary evacuation.” A public declaration in 1937 calling for evacuation set off a storm of anger, even though Jabotinsky had always called for massive immigration movements to Israel (Schechtman 340). The message was not a new one by any means; it was stated with newfound urgency. Yet it ignited the passions of the left wing Jewish community both in Europe and the rest of the world. In a highly ironic twist, the mainstream Jewish community (that would later sit contented in the face of death) reacted in harsh anger to Jabotinsky’s pleas. They literally threw stones at him and mocked him as a fascist (Schechtman 340-341). A paper formerly aligned with Jabotinsky declared, “blood will flow if evacuation propaganda be permitted in the Moment” (qtd. in Schechtman 340). Davar, a leftist newspaper out of Tel Aviv commented, “the Führer Jabotinsky. . . concluded a pact with the Polish Government to deport Jews from Poland in yearly installments” (qtd. Schechtman 341). Condemnation of the evacuation proposal wasn’t voiced uniformly throughout the Jewish population, but those who did criticize didn’t spare a bit of venom.

These underhanded attacks on Jabotinsky’s character were both unwarranted and unfounded. He was a major proponent of rights for Jews in Diaspora; he was not advocating the total abandonment of Jewish life outside of Israel (Schechtman 344). His impassioned pleas and efforts directed to moving Polish Jews to Israel stemmed from the fact that he knew their lives were in jeopardy. Jabotinsky got such a rude reception because he was contending with the firmly entrenched ghetto mentality of the Jew. Those who suffer from the ghetto mentality are unable to cope with reality; they hope that by giving into the will of authority, they will be able to avoid punishment. The Jews of Europe were unable to deal with their fate, and they took it out on Jabotinsky. The Zionist Organization of America took a highly contradictory approach by first condemning the plan and then admitting “logic may be with Mr. Jabotinsky” (qtd in Schechtman 341). Some individuals had the capacity to understand the situation, yet they still couldn’t take the necessary actions and get out of Europe; those who did soon realized how lucky they were. Years after the war, leading literary figure Shalom Asch announced, “I deeply regret that I had fought against Jabotinsky’s evacuation plan” (qtd. in Schechtman 341). The course of history would have changed if more Jews recognized the truth.

Jabotinsky continued to fight, even though his people seemingly didn’t want his help. American Jewish leaders “met [British official] Lord Lothian on June 18 and succeeded in convincing him to withhold his intended declaration of support for Jabotinsky’s Jewish army proposal” (Medoff 81). They feared that any armed Jewish movement would spur further antisemitism. The order by the British government would have created a viable Jewish fighting force, which would be extended to the state of Israel as a permanent defense agency after the war. A group of fearful Jewish leaders put to rest Jabotinky’s efforts in that area. Concerning the American Jewish leaders, Jabotinsky stated, “the Jews are still shy of saying any decisive word lest they be charged with warmongering. . . . I have never seen American Jewry so scared of local antisemites as they are now” (Medoff 82). Vladimir Jabotinsky died of a heart attack in 1940. His reforms to Zionism, prophetic calls for evacuation of European Jewry and his great wisdom make him one of the greatest Jewish leaders of the last century. Yet his work could not save the Jews unable to cope with the awful truth of their situation. Reports were coming in of great atrocities committed by the Nazis, but collectively the Jewish world did next to nothing.

With Jabotinsky’s warning ignored by most Jews, European Jews were left with few options. Those Jews who knew of the murders pinned their hopes on the Allied powers and believed pressure from abroad would save European Jews. Many influential Jews took the opposite course and actually impeded efforts to help. Again, the ghetto mentality came into play.

American Jewish leaders secretly fought against a bill in 1939 that would have opened European Jews a route to immigrate to Alaska. The leaders feared such a move would create antisemitism in America (Medoff 76). American Jewish leaders were more concerned with imagined consequences for American Jews than with saving actual lives. European Jews who made it out begged American Jewish officials to do more. Their pleas fell on deaf ears. One high ranking Jewish official even barred Jews from organizing their own functions on behalf of European Jews. He told the people that “parades and demonstrations would only result in a strengthening of the Nazi propaganda in America and the creation of a counter offensive in this country against the Jews” (Medoff 96). This is the greatest example of the ghetto mentality. The reports were clear and irrefutable: Jews were dying in Europe. Yet the only thing influential Jewish leaders could think of was the impact their actions would have in America.

There were Jews who realized their responsibility to not only fellow Jews but society as a whole; they worked to rescue victims of the Holocaust. But on the whole, Jewish leaders did not do nearly enough and were consumed by unrealistic fears. Those who were in the know but didn’t act had to live with the guilt of not helping. The Torah states, “Thou shall not sit idly by thy brother’s blood.” Some Jews did just that.

Some may argue that there was no reason for the Jews to fight back and that they did the right thing by quietly going to their deaths. Some organizations argue that it is much better to talk civilly with one’s enemies and to treat them as a friend rather than as a foe. Sometimes it is better to show restraint in the face of opposition. The Jews of Europe were restrained in the face of rampant Jew-hatred, allowing it grow and penetrate the hearts and minds of non-Jews. They waited for a peaceful solution to their problems and they didn’t fight. They didn’t leave. Vladimir Jabotinksy made every effort humanly possible to make them listen, to no avail.

There are times for peace, and, yes, there are definitely times for war. The Jews in Europe didn’t understand that concept. The Jews in Britain and America didn’t understand it. If society is to take a lesson from the Holocaust, it is that one must not be silent, one must not be complacent, one must not turn a blind eye in the face of evil. It will not go away; it will consume and destroy. When all good people of conscience realize this, society will truly have changed for the better.

Sadly, not that much has changed in the mainstream Jewish population. Many Jews today are just as smart in the business world and just as ignorant when it comes to saving themselves as Jews were sixty years ago. The ghetto mentality is not only alive, it’s thriving. Some Jews build up false feelings of guilt and question the validity of the Zionist movement. And Jews continue to ignore problems when they appear, hoping things will simply improve on their own. On December 17 of this year, the Nazis and KKK are planning to hold a parade in Skokie, IL – a town with thirty-eight thousand Jews (of seventy-five thousand total population), of which seven thousand are survivors of the concentration camps. The Jewish establishment is telling Jews to be quiet when the Nazis come to town. Not only is the threat still out there, Jews continue to think in the same manner.

Like Vladimir Jabotinsky before them, some Jews are firmly based in reality and understand the world; in certain cases, they have dedicated their lives to fighting Jew-haters. They remember the mistakes of the past and have pledged never to see them repeated. The six million did not die in vain!

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