Westland: The 1944 Plan for a Jewish State in Northern Germany

PHOTO: The map of the proposed Jewish State “Westland” in Thuringia and Saxony of Northern Germany – exactly as it was proposed to the Allies in 1944

EDITOR’S NOTE (Nick Stamatakis) The document that follows was preserved in the archives of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was transmitted from the Greek Embassy in Rome by Ambassador Georgios Exintaris in October 1944. I want to express my sincere gratitude to Fotini Tomai.  She was a longtime archivist and historian at the MFA. In her capacity as guardian of the Ministry’s diplomatic collections, she uncovered the memorandum as part of the correspondence sent to Athens by the Greek Ambassador in Rome, Georgios Εξηντάρης, on or about 19 October 1944.

The document records a submission by a group identifying itself as a “Jewish Committee,” represented by Adolf Ernst, which advanced a striking and unusual proposal: the establishment of a Jewish state named “Westland” in northern Germany. This initiative was presented at the close of the Second World War, as the Nazi regime was collapsing and the Allies were beginning to discuss the reorganization of post-war Europe.

The Greek Embassy in Rome functioned at that moment as a hub for exchanges between Greek diplomats, Allied authorities, and various émigré or refugee groups. Ambassador Exintaris, an experienced diplomat who had served in several key postings, duly transmitted the proposal to Athens. The fact that such a memorandum reached a Greek mission highlights both the fluidity of the wartime diplomatic environment and the diversity of Jewish political visions circulating in 1944.

It is equally important to note that the “Jewish Committee” responsible for the memorandum appears to have been distinct from mainstream Zionist organizations, which were pressing for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. The wording of the proposal — envisioning a Jewish polity on German territory rather than in the Middle East — reflects strands of anti-Zionist or non-Zionist Jewish thought that persisted through the war years, emphasizing alternative solutions for Jewish survival and political self-determination.

What follows, therefore, is not only a historical curiosity but a rare primary source illuminating the range of Jewish responses to the catastrophe of the Holocaust, the role of Greek diplomacy in preserving such records, and the archival work of Fotini Tomai, who ensured the survival and accessibility of this document for researchers today.

BELOW THE DOCUMENT AS IT WAS PUBLISHED AT THE NEWSPAPER “TA NEA”

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GENERAL HISTORICAL BACKGROUND FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN EUROPE AND NOT IN PALESTINE

The proposal published here must be understood against the backdrop of the wartime debates over the “Jewish Question” and the future of Europe after the defeat of Nazi Germany.

By the summer of 1944, Europe’s Jewish population had been devastated by the Holocaust. Millions were displaced, stateless, or in hiding. While the Zionist movement pressed for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, not all Jewish groups agreed with that course. Opposition came from non-Zionist and anti-Zionist committees, particularly among those who doubted that a Jewish community could survive surrounded by hostile Arab states or feared that Palestine would become another flashpoint in world politics.

At the same time, the Allied powers were beginning to consider the political map of post-war Europe. Proposals circulated for new borders, territorial amputations of Germany, and even international protectorates. It was within this atmosphere that the idea of detaching industrial regions of Thuringia and Saxony to create a Jewish state in the heart of Europe emerged.

Such an initiative was not entirely unique: before and during the war, various alternative Jewish “homeland” projects had been floated — from the Madagascar Plan (proposed by the Nazis) to the Soviet Birobidzhan project, and to more minor suggestions of resettlement in South America or East Africa. Yet the 1944 memorandum attributed to Adolf Ernst and the Jewish Committee stands out for insisting that the only way to guarantee peace in Europe was through the establishment of a Jewish state within Europe itself, on land carved from Germany’s core industrial base.

The fact that this document was transmitted by Ambassador Georgios Exintaris from the Greek Embassy in Rome highlights how even peripheral diplomatic missions became conduits for the extraordinary range of ideas being advanced in the chaos of 1944. Though the “Westland” proposal never entered mainstream Allied deliberations, it reflects the diversity of Jewish responses to catastrophe and the sense, widely shared at the time, that the collapse of Nazi Germany opened the possibility of radical new political experiments.

BELOW IS THE DOCUMENT SENT TO THE GREEK EMBASSY IN ROME BY THE “JEWISH COMMITTEE” IS TRANSCRIBED AS BEST AS WE COULD – HERE IS THE PDF FOR THOSE OF YOU INTERESTED IN THIS UNIQUE DOCUMENT (JEWISH STATE IN NORTHERN GERMANY PROPOSED BY THE “JEWISH COMMITTEE” img180 (1)

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TA NEA / Weekend 13-14 April 2002
Memorandum sent to all the Allies
The representative of the Jewish Committee, Adolf Ernst

“And Yet There Was a Solution…”
A 1944 proposal for the establishment of a Jewish state in Europe

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“…Because the forces acting within a system may indeed change gradually, but their coincidence and cooperation at a certain moment in time may cause sudden and profound transformations.”
— Byron Theodoropoulos
(From the Introduction of the book Morphogenesis in the International System, I. Sideris, Athens 2002)

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The tension in the Middle East with the protracted Arab-Israeli conflict, perhaps more urgent than ever, makes timely the publication of a rare document that comes to light for the first time.

It is the text of a memorandum for the establishment of an independent Jewish State in Europe, which was drafted in August 1944 in Rome and other European cities. This memorandum was submitted to the Jewish Committee by its representative, Adolf Ernst.

The memorandum was sent to all the Allies, to the Foreign Office and the State Department. The proposal was for the creation of a Jewish State on land that would be detached from Germany and would include areas of Thuringia and Saxony.

The author notes characteristically: “The establishment of an independent Jewish State in Europe is the only means that can ensure lasting peace on this continent.”

This proposal was made at the time when the Allies had begun their final offensive for the liberation of Europe (France had already been liberated on August 25).

(The article is accompanied by a map of Germany with the caption: The map submitted by the Committee to Georgios Exintaris).

The full text reads:

“It is necessary to create a Jewish Homeland in Europe, on land that will be ceded by Germany. The Jews, even most Zionists, oppose the idea of settling in Palestine, because they cannot survive without the help of neighboring Arab countries, while Turkey would also be drawn into war to prevent their presence there.

Only Russia seems to accept the settlement somewhere near Turkey. The greatest blow to Germany’s industry would be to detach from it the central industrial part of the Thuringian Valley and Saxony.

The Constitution of the new country would be designed based on the model of Burma and the USSR. All Jews, as well as refugees, would have equal rights. Jews would be able to settle without restrictions, create their own communities, and ensure their safety.”

✦ By Fotini Tomai – Konstantopoulou
(Diplomatic Officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Historical Researcher at the Hellenic National Research Foundation)