Number of words: 260

Up to 1933 the flow of immigrants stemmed overwhelmingly from eastern Europe, but among them were the occasional idealists or far sighted individuals from Germany or Austria.

In 1933 Hitler came to power, thereafter the Jews from Germany and central Europe arrived in a torrent. This was the beginning of the Fifth Aliya.

This new wave of arrivals differed in several respects from their predeccessors. The Jew of the German speaking lands had been among the first to be emancipated, and in spite of the endemic antisemitism all about them they had advanced in the arts, in politics, in commerce, in almost every field of endeavour, to the forefront of national life. Many were so assimilated that they were recognized as Jews only by anti-semites, but even those who maintained their Jewish identity  liked to think of themselves as Germans of the Mosaic persuasion, and were intensely proud of their Germanic culture.

When after 1933, they were compelled to uproot themselves, those who settled in Palestine brought their German culture with them. They were slow to aquire Hebrew, or did not aquire it at all, and a German language press grew up to serve them. New banks and trading concerns sprang up. German became the language of commerce. There was a great inflow of  doctors, lawyers, artist, musicians. Life in Palestine, in spite of the tragedy which lay behind the Fifth Aliya, became more urbane. The cities acquired a decidedly European aspect, with wide boulevards, ornate cafes and all the amenities of modern living.

Excerpted  from Israel by Chaim Bermant