top

January 23: The British apprehend the illegal immigrant ship "Hilda".

February 13: The "Sakaria", the Betar illegal immigrant ship, arrives in Haifa from Romania. All 2,400 passengers are arrested by the British.

September 14: The mobilization of Jewish soldiers is carried out by the Jewish Agency. The first quota of 400 allotted to the Jews is filled within 24 hours. The mobilization effort expands with time, and by September 1942 15 battalions will be set up. Though they constitute part of the infantry force, they are employed for years in guard duty and service jobs only. The request of the Jews to be assigned to combat is not accepted at this stage.

November: Two illegal immigrant ships, "Pacific" and "Milos", arrive at Haifa at the start of the month, carrying some 1,800 Jewish escapees from Europe.

November 25: The Haganah sabotages the vessel "Patria" anchored in Haifa port, in which the authorities assemble 1,900 illegal immigrants, with the intention to expel them to Mauritius. The ship sinks rapidly and 216 of the immigrants die. The government agrees to permit the survivors of the disaster to remain in Palestine, but despite this, 1,645 illegal immigrants from the vessel "Atlantic", whom the British have no time to embark on the "Patria" are evacuated to Mauritius.

December 14: An illegal immigration ship, the "Salvador" sinks off the Turkish shore en route to Palestine, with 103 of 180 passengers lost at sea.

Some 10,600 immigrants arrive in Palestine in 1940, over half of them illegal.

Seven new settlements are established, for of them in the Galilee.

Chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive: David Ben Gurion.

Treasurer of the Jewish Agency: Eliezer Kaplan.

Chairman Youth Aliyah Department: Henrietta Szold.

Chairman of the Immigration Department: Eliahu Dobkin and Moshe Shapira.

January 22: Haganah weapons are discovered at the Ben Shemen youth village. Eleven persons are arrested, including the head of the village, Dr. Siegfried Lehmann.

February 28: Ordinances are published restricting the sale and lease of Arab lands to Jews: The Land Transfer Regulations in accordance with the White Paper. The Yishuv responds with protests and demonstrations.

March 13: The underground Haganah radio "Kol Israel" starts broadcasting.

April 22: The director of the Ben Shemen youth village and seven teachers and employees are sentenced to 3 - 7 years imprisonment.

June: The threat of war in Palestine grows with the surrender of France to Germany and the alliance of Italy with Germany. Syria and Lebanon are now reigned by French forces loyal to the pro-Nazi Vichy government.

June 18: Members of the Etzel command who were imprisoned in summer 1939 are released.

June 19: Death of Zalman David Levontin (1856-1940), one of the first of the Hovevei Zion group and one of the founders of Rishon LeZion and Yesod Hamaaleh. In 1903, Levontin founded the Anglo Palestine Bank in Jaffa and acted as its manager until 1924.

June 26: A group of officers under the command of Avraham Stern secede from Etzel and set up a separate organization called Lehi.

July 5: The British rescind the demand that the Haganah turn over its weapons.

July 15 and 24: Haifa is bombed by Italian aircraft.

August 4: Death of Zeev Jabotinsky.

August 18: Violent confrontation between Haganah and Etzel in Herzliyah.

September 9: The Italian aircraft bomb Tel Aviv. Over 100 residents are wounded.

September 13: The Italian army crosses into Egypt from Lebanon.

September 14: The establishment of a Palestinian Regiment consisting of separate Jewish and Arab infantry, is announced.

September 16: Lehi members rob the Anglo-Palestine Bank of thousands of pounds to subsidize their activities.

September 21: Haifa is bombed again by Italian aircraft.
"Shai", the intelligence service of the Haganah is established.

Nazi Germany and World War II in 1940.

January: The Germans establish a labor camp for Jews at Belzec.

February: The Lodz ghetto is officially founded. In April, the ghetto will be closed off from the rest of the city.

April: The Nazis begin with the construction of a wall to enclose the future Warsaw ghetto.

August: The Nazis begin expelling the 80.000 Jews of Cracow and other Polish towns.

Romania promulgates anti-Jewish laws.

September: The German occupiers extend the Nürnberg Laws to the 4.000 Jews of Luxembourg.

Franz Rademacher drafts detailed plans for transferring Jews to Madagascar.

The British government agrees to the formation of the Jewish Division on the same basis as the Polish and Czech exile armies.

"Jud Süss", a Nazi propaganda film filled with hatred against Jews, begins playing. (See 1925, Jewish history and culture).

October: The Warsaw Ghetto is established. In November, the ghetto will officially declared in existence and the 400.000 jews are forbidden to move outside its boundaries.

The Nazis deport more than 6.500 German Jews from the Rhineland to internment camps in France.

A second Nazi propaganda film against Jews, "Der ewige Jude" - "The Eternal Jew" is launched.

The YIVO Institute moves from Vilna to New York.

Arthur Koestler (1905-1983), Hungarian born writer and journalist, writes "Darkness at Noon".

Charles Chaplin directs "The Great Dictator", a parody of Adolf Hitler that also satirizes Mussolini. The movie discusses antisemitic activities and centers around mistaken identities.