NOTES ON THE DIPLOMATIC HISTORY
OF THE JEWISH QUESTION

NOTES ON

THE DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF
THE JEWISH QUESTION

WITH TEXTS OF PROTOCOLS, TREATY
STIPULATIONS AND OTHER PUBLIC
ACTS AND OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS

BY

LUCIEN WOLF

PUBLISHED BY THE
JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND
Mocatta Library and Museum
University College
(University of London)
GOWER STREET, LONDON, W.C. 1
1919

All rights reserved
[iv]

PREFACE.[v]

The substance of this volume was read as a Paper before theJewish Historical Society of England on February 11, 1918.It has now been expanded and supplied with a full equipmentof documents—Protocols of Congresses and Conferences, TreatyStipulations, Diplomatic Correspondence and other public Acts—inthe hope that it may prove useful as a permanent record,and serviceable to those of our communal organisations whoseduty it will be to bring the still unsolved aspects of the JewishQuestion before the coming Peace Conference.

Besides helping to indicate the lines on which Jewish actionshould travel in this matter, the State Papers here quoted mayalso serve to remind the Plenipotentiaries themselves that theJewish Question is far from being a subsidiary issue in theReconstruction of Europe, that they have a great tradition ofeffort and achievement in regard to it, and that this tradition,apart from the high merits of the task itself, imposes upon themthe solemn obligation of solving the Question completely andfinally now that the opportunity of doing so presents itselffree from all restraints of a selfish and calculating diplomacy.It is not only that the edifice of Religious Liberty in Europehas to be completed, but also that some six millions of humanbeings have to be freed from political and civil disabilities andsocial and economic restrictions which for calculated crueltyhave no parallels outside the Dark Ages. The Peace Conferencewill have accomplished relatively little if a shred of this blackestof all European scandals is allowed to survive its deliberations.

[vi]This collection does not pretend to be complete. The aimhas been only to illustrate adequately the main lines of thetheme with a view to practical questions which may arise inconnection with the Peace Conference. American documentshave been only sparely quoted, for the reason that the AmericanJewish Historical Society has already published a very fullcollection of such documents. (Cyrus Adler: "Jews in theDiplomatic Correspondence of the United States.") The manygenerous interventions of the Vatican on behalf of persecutedJews have also been omitted partly for a similar reason (seeStern: "Urkundliche Beiträge über die Stellung der Päpste zuden Juden") and partly because they have very little directbearing on the diplomatic activities of the Great Powers duringthe period under discussion.

My grateful acknowledgements are due to the ForeignOffice for kindly permitting me to copy the documents relatingto Palestine, which will be found appended to Chapter IV, andto Lieut. J. B. Morton, who was good enough to relieve meof much of the work of reading the proof-sheets. I have also tothank Mr. D. Mitrani for the generous help he gave me inpreparing the Index.

L. W.

Gray's Inn, London.
December 1918.

CONTENTS....