DoubleTapper: Today in Jewish History

Today in Jewish History

1616: In Holland, under the rule of Prince Maurice of Orange, it is decided that each city could decide for itself whether or not to admit Jews. In those towns where they were admitted they would not be required to wear a badge of any sort identifying them as Jews.

1808: The Infamous Decree (decret infame) of Napoleon canceled all debts owed to Jews by those serving in the military or by women if it was signed without the approval of their husbands or parents. It also abolished freedom of trade of the Jews by forcing them to acquire permits (which were almost never given) from the local prefects, and it prevented Jews from settling in the area of the Upper and Lower Rhine.

1861: The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed. The ghetto walls came tumbling down and the Jews were fully emancipated. Jews played an active part in the creation of the modern Italian state and they enjoyed a level of social and legal acceptance.

1895: Birthdate of Samuel Horwitz in Brooklyn, New York, this comedic star gained fame as one of the Three Stooges, Shemp Howard.

1902: Theodore Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, is authorized to obtain three letters of credit, each for a million francs.

1921: At the Cairo Conference attended by Winston Churchill and T.E. Lawrence (better known as “Lawrence of Arabia”) it was agreed that Transjordan (an Arab State) should be separated from Palestine “thus enabling Britain to fulfill its wartime pledges to both the Arabs and the Jews.” The decision reinforced the right for Jews to “be able to settle the land from the Mediterranean to the Jordan, from the Galilee to the Negev.” Then called Palestine, this comprised the area of both Israel and the West Bank today.

1935: The Palestine Maccabee Association announced that it would not participate in the 1936 Olympics to be held in Germany because of that country’s treatment of its Jewish citizens.

1936: In response to the receipt of a copy of Victor Gallancz’s The Yellow Spot: The Extermination of the Jews in Germany from Harold Laski, Churchill wrote Laksi urging the Laborite to find a way to gain support from the Labor Party for the re-armament program designed to thwart the threat of the Nazis.

1936: A mass demonstration of Polish Jews, left-wingers, and liberals protests anti-Semitism in Poland.

1937: The Palestine Post (now the Jerusalem Post) reported that in addition to five young Jews who were murdered by Arabs during the past few days, including: Samuel Gottfried, 26, of Rosh Pina, Palestine.

1937: The Palestine Post (now the Jerusalem Post) reported that The Jewish Agency of Palestine's Executive in London submitted a memorandum to the British government which claimed that the Arab disturbances which began on April 19, 1936, did not end on October 12, 1936, as claimed by the British government and the Arab Higher Committee, but continued uninterruptedly, claiming many Jewish lives.

1939: At a meeting in Tel Aviv, Palestine today, “the National Council of Palestine Jews…decided to a call a 24 hour strike” to start on Monday, March 20th “ “as the first step in its program of ‘drastic political action’ against Great Britain’s plan” for Palestine. “The Council condemned the plan as ‘the liquidation of the Jewish national home and strangulation of the Jewish settlement (in Palestine).’”

1942: The 60,000 Jews in Tunisia are restricted to publishing only one newspaper.

1942: In eastern Poland, the Belzec Concentration Camp opened as 1,500 Jews arrive from the Lviv Ghetto in the western Ukraine. At that time 30,000 Lublin Polish Jews were transported to this death camp.

1942(28th of Adar, 5702): In Pochep, Russia, 1,816 Jewish villagers were massacred in an anti-tank ditch.

1943(10th of Adar II, 5703): More than 1200 Jews from Lvov, Ukraine, were killed at Piaski, Poland, as retribution for the March 16 murder of an SS trooper by a Jewish man. Eleven Jewish policemen were hanged in the ghetto, 1000 Jewish slave laborers were executed, and an additional 200 Jews were murdered.

1947: The Palestine police issued a “broadsheet” today “offering an unspecified reward for information leading to the arrest of 18 wanted men” described as “terrorist chiefs.” The list which includes photos and physical descriptions is in alphabetical order beginning with Menachem Begin (later a Prime minster of Israel) of the Irgun. The penultimate spot on the list goes to Nathan Friedman Yellin, Abrahm Stern’s successor as head of the Stern Gang. The last name on the list is Itshak Yexernitsky who has been captured by the British but has escaped their custody.

1947: Leaders of the Arab League are scheduled to meet in Cairo today where they will map out their propaganda program to oppose the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine and how best to present their case at the upcoming meeting of the United Nations.

1947: “Just before noon today a (British) Army officer blew his whistle” in Jerusalem, Palestine marking the end of martial law in several areas including Mea Shearim.

1950: The Jewish Agency for Palestine (already in the new state of Israel) announced tonight that it was prepared to receive 20,000 refugees from Iraq. This issue has taken on a great deal of urgency for Iraq’s 150,000 Jews, since the Baghdad government has given them a year to leave the country for Israel. As part of the price of departure, the Jews must basically leave behind most of their possessions and wealth for use by the Iraqi’s.

1954(12th of Adar II, 5714): In the Negev, an Israeli bus was attacked by “a group of Arabs who had infiltrated into Israel from Jordan. The driver and ten passengers were killed.

1969: Golda Meir became Prime Minister of Israel. A dedicated Zionist, she devoted her entire life to creating a national homeland for the Jewish people where we could flourish in peace and safety.

DoubleTapper: Today in Jewish History