ABSTRACT
The Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel were organically related events – the death of millions of Jews in the Second World War profoundly affected Jewry throughout the world. Some traditional Jews believed that the Holocaust was a punishment upon the community because of its sins but would be followed by the founding of a Jewish state; others thought the creation of Israel was the consequence of Jewish suffering. Whatever the cause, Hitler’s policy unintentionally assisted the Jewish community in Palestine: 60,000 Jews initially left Germany for Israel and contributed substantially to the growth and development of the homeland. In addition, from the beginning of the war in 1939, the creation of a Jewish state became the primary aim of Zionists. In order to achieve this objective the Jewish community had to persuade the allies of the virtues of their plan. As far as the British were concerned, though the Balfour Declaration of 1917 supported the establishment of a
Jewish homeland in Palestine, the 1939 White Paper effectively rejected this proposal and projected a future in which there would be no predominantly Jewish presence.
