Russian economist and once Putin’s principal economic advisor (now at Cato Institute) Andrey Illarionov discusses in detail Putin’s “history” presented on the 20th and 24th December concerning alleged Polish-German plans to resettle Polish Jews in Madagascar and shows them to be
lies: no such plans ever existed. There was a Polish-French plan, which was formulated in consultation with a Jewish organisation JEAS which was concerned with resettlement of Jewish refugees from Germany. Illiarionov discusses the history of Zionism and ideas of creating a
a refuge for the Jews outside Palestine, such as the British idea to create one in British Uganda (part of Kenya) and compares them with the Soviet creation of a Jewish autonomous region in Crimea (rejected by Stalin) and in the very harsh condition of the Khabarovsk region,
which Stalin approved. The whole article is long and (as always) very well informed, here is only my translation of its conclusions.
Conclusion
The climatic conditions in Crimea and especially in Birobidzhan are incomparably more difficult than in the other projects to create
Conclusion
The climatic conditions in Crimea and especially in Birobidzhan are incomparably more difficult than in the other projects to create
a home for the Jews. As a result of the policy of state antisemitism and the practice of domestic antisemitism, the number of Jews in the territory of present-day Russia has decreased manyfold over the past century.
The number of Jews in Israel, which became the Jewish State, has grown about 100fold over the past century. This is an absolute world record for the growth of the population of an independent state.
The German plan for the forced relocation of European Jews to Madagascar existed only between June 3 and September 17, 1940.
The documents cited by V. Putin relate to September 20, 1938 and January 5, 1939. At this time, the German Madagascar plan did not exist even in design.
The documents cited by V. Putin relate to September 20, 1938 and January 5, 1939. At this time, the German Madagascar plan did not exist even in design.
The telegram of the Polish ambassador J. Lipski dated September 20, 1938 and the recording of the conversation between Minister J. Beck and Hitler dated January 5, 1939 did not refer to any German plans, but to the Franco-Polish Madagascar plan.
Implementation of this plan
Implementation of this plan
before the outbreak of World War II would probably save millions of human lives.
