ABSTRACT
The Haavara transfer agreement of August, 1933, placed Palestine in a unique position in the emigration policies of the German government. In a note to the Prussian Interior Ministry early in April, 1933, the Foreign Office proposed granting multiple exit and reentry visas to German Zionist leaders so that their ties with and influence on foreign Zionists might be strengthened. While Sturmabteilung tactics had included boycotts and pogrom-style violence against the Jewish community, the Schutzstaffel sought a solution to the Jewish question through various forms of controlled emigration from Germany. The Interior Ministry lamented the lack of manual or agricultural skills of most German Jews; it saw this as an obstacle to the smooth and speedy emigration of Jews from Germany and praised retraining efforts of Umschulungslager as conducive to German and Jewish interests alike. The Zionist movement was used as an instrument of domestic Jewish policy to promote the dissimilation and emigration of German Jews.
