Timeline for the History of Judaism
Note: Dates regarding biblical figures and events cannot be confirmed
October 7, 3761
|
The beginning date of the Hebrew calendar, according to scholar Rabbi Yossi ben Halafta, a 2nd century Rabbi. Adam & Eve created (Year 1 of Jewish calendar). |
3630
|
Seth born |
3525
|
Enosh born |
ca. 3500
|
Chalcolithic Period, first settlement |
3435
|
Kenan born |
3365
|
Mehalalel born |
3300
|
Yered born |
3300
|
First confirmed settlement of Gaza at Tell as-Sakan |
3138
|
Enoch born |
3074
|
Methusaleh born |
2886
|
Lemech born |
2831
|
Adam dies |
ca. 2800
|
Early Dynastic period (Akkad) |
2704
|
Noah born |
ca. 2700-2400
|
Old Kingdom period (Egypt) |
ca. 2500-2200
|
Ebla flourishes |
ca. 2500
|
First houses built in Jerusalem |
ca. 2300-2200
|
Priestess Enheduanna, first known author in the world |
2203
|
Shem born |
2150
|
The Flood |
2100-1700
|
Middle Kingdom period (Egypt) |
Ancient Israelite Religion
(2000-587 BCE)
2000-1750 | Old Babylonian period |
2000-1700 | Israel's Patriarchal period |
ca. 1900-1400 | Old Assyrian period |
1882 | Terach born |
1813 | Abraham born |
ca. 1850/1750/1700 | Abraham & Sarah, Isaac & Ishmael, famine forces Israelites to migrate to Egypt |
1800 | First Jerusalem city wall built |
ca. 1792-1750 | Hammurabi |
ca. 1750-1200 | Hittite empire |
1765 | The Tower of Babel |
1743 | Origin of traditions of the "Abrahamic covenant" |
1713 | Isaac born; Abraham circumcises himself; Sodom & Gomorrah destroyed |
ca. 1700-1550 | Hyksos in Egypt |
1677 | Isaac prepared as sacrifice; Sarah dies |
1653 | Jacob born |
1638 | Abraham dies |
ca. 1600-1150 | Kassite period (Babylonia) |
1590 | Isaac blesses Jacob instead of Esau. |
ca. 1570-1085 | New Kingdom period (Egypt) |
1569 | Jacob marries Leah |
1565 | Levi born |
1562 | Joseph born |
1546 | Joseph sold into slavery |
1533 | Isaac dies |
1532 | Joseph becomes viceroy of Egypt |
1523 | Jacob and his family join Joseph in Egypt |
ca. 1500-1200 | Ugaritic texts |
1452 | Joseph dies |
1429 | Egyptian enslavement of the Hebrews begins |
ca. 1400-900 | Middle Assyrian period |
ca. 1400-1300 | Amarna period (Egypt) |
1393 | Moses born. |
1355 | Joshua born. |
1314 | Moses sees the burning bush. |
ca. 1300-1200 | Mosaic period (Israel) |
1280 | Exodus from Egypt, Sinai Torah, Canaan Entry |
1240 | After setting up the Ark at Shiloh near Shechem (Nablus), Joshua launches foray into Jerusalem (Joshua 10:23, 15:63) |
ca. 1200 | Sea Peoples invade Egypt and Syro-Palestine |
ca. 1200-1050/1000 | Period of the Judges (Israel) |
ca. 1200-1000 | Jerusalem is a Canaanite city |
ca. 1150-900 | Middle Babylonian period: |
ca. 1106 | Deborah judges Israel. |
ca. 1100 | The Philistines take over Gaza. They called it Philistia (from which the modern name Palestine is derived), and made it one of their civilization's most important cities. |
ca. 1050-450 | Hebrew prophets (Samuel-Malachi) |
ca. 1000-587 | Monarchical period in Israel |
ca. 1030-1010 | Saul (transitional king) |
ca. 1010-970 | David conquers the Jebusites and makes Jerusalem his capital |
ca. 970-931 | Solomon builds the First Temple on Mount Moriah |
ca. 931 | Secession of Northern Kingdom (Israel) from Southern Kingdom (Judah) |
931-913 | Rehoboam rules Judah |
931-910 | Jeroboam I rules Israel, choses Shechem as his first capital, later moves it to Tirzah |
913-911 | Abijah rules Judah |
911-870 | Asa rules Juda |
910-909 | Nadab (son of Jeroboam) rules Israel |
909-886 | Baasha kills Nadab and rules Israel |
900-612 | Neo-Assyrian period |
886-885 | Elah, son of Baasha, rules Israel |
885 | Zimri kills Elah, but reigns just seven days before committing suicide, Omri chosen as King of Israel |
885-880(?) | War between Omri and Tibni |
885-874 | Omri kills Tibni, rules Israel |
879 | Omri moves capital of Israel from Tirzah to Samaria |
874-853 | Ahab, Omri's son, is killed in battle, Jezebel reigns as Queen. Athaliah, Ahab and Jezebel's daughter, marries Jehoram, crown prince of Judah |
870-848 | Jehoshapha rules Judah |
853-851 | Ahaziah, son of Ahab, rules Israel, dies in accident |
750-725 | Israelite Prophets Amos, Hosea, Isaiah |
722/721 | Northern Kingdom (Israel) destroyed by Assyrians; 10 tribes exiled (10 lost tribes) |
720 | Ahaz, King of Judah dismantles Solomon's bronze vessels and places a private Syrian altar in the Temple |
716 | Hezekiah, King of Jerusalem, with help of God and the prophet Isaiah resists Assyrian attempt to capture Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 32). Wells and springs leading to the city are stopped |
701 | Assyrian ruler Sennacherib beseiges Jerusalem |
612-538 | Neo-Babylonian (“Chaldean”) period |
620 | Josiah (Judean King) and “Deuteronomic Reforms” |
ca. 600-580 | Judean Prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel |
587/586 | Southern Kingdom (Judah) and First Temple destroyed-Babylonian exile |
ca. 550 | Judean Prophet “Second Isaiah” |
541 | First Jews return from Babylon in small numbers to rebuild the city and its walls. Seventy years of exile terminated. (Daniel 9, Haggai 2:18-19) |
539 | Persian ruler Cyrus the Great conquers Babylonian Empire |
After the Babylonian Exile
(538 BCE-70 CE)
538-333 B.C.E. | Persian Period. |
538 B.C.E. | Edict of Cyrus (first return from Exile). |
520-515 B.C.E. | Jerusalem ("Second") Temple rebuilt. |
520 B.C.E. | Judean Prophet Haggai. |
500 B.C.E. | The notion of a Messiah, a political/military-religious/moral leader, develops. |
450-400 B.C.E. | Reformation led by Ezra and Nehemiah. |
ca. 450 B.C.E. | Torah (Pentateuch = first division of Jewish Scriptures) begins to gain recognition as Scripture. |
438 B.C.E. | Achashverosh becomes king of Persia. |
426 B.C.E. | First decrees by Haman; fast ordered by Esther, Haman's downfall and execution. |
425 B.C.E. | Haman's ten sons executed; Purim celebration. |
424 B.C.E. | Megillah recorded. |
411 B.C.E. | Bagoas, a Persian, is made governor of Jerusalem. |
333-63 B.C.E. | Hellenistic (Greek) period. |
333/331 B.C.E. | Alexander the Great conquers the Land of Israel. |
ca. 320-168 B.C.E. | Judaism under Greek Ptolemies & Seleucids. |
ca. 250 B.C.E. | "Septuagint" translation of Torah into Greek. |
ca. 230-146 B.C.E. | Coming of Rome to the east Mediterranean. |
ca. 201 B.C.E. | Prophets (second division of Jewish Scriptures) recognized by some as Scripture |
ca. 200 B.C.E.-135 C.E. | Jewish Qumran community. |
175 B.C.E. | Selicid, king of Syria, plunders Jerusalem, murdering many. |
166-160 B.C.E. | Jewish Maccabean revolt against restrictions on practice of Judaism and desecration of the Temple. |
142-129 B.C.E. | Jewish autonomy under Hasmoneans. |
63 B.C.E. | Rome (Pompey) annexes the land of Israel. |
66-73 C.E. | First Jewish Revolt against Rome. |
69 C.E. | Vespasian gives Yochanan ben Zakkai permission to establish a Jewish center for study at Yavneh that will become the hub for rabbinic Judaism. |
70 C.E. | Destruction of Jerusalem and the second Temple. |
Rule of Rome
(230 BCE-400 CE)
ca. 230-146 B.C.E. | Coming of Rome to the east Mediterranean. |
142-129 B.C.E. | Jewish autonomy under Hasmoneans. |
63 B.C.E. | Rome (Pompey) annexes the land of Israel. |
37-4 B.C.E. | Herod the Great (Jewish Roman ruler of the land of Israel). |
34 B.C.E. | Mark Antony deeds the city of Gaza to his lover, Queen Cleopatra. |
37 B.C.E. | Herod captures Jerusalem, has Antigonus II executed, and marries the Hasmonean princess Mariamne I. |
20 B.C.E. | Herod creates Temple Mount and begins to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. Project continues until 72 C.E.. |
ca. 4 B.C.E.-ca. 30 C.E. | Joshua/Jesus “the Christ.” |
MODERN ERA |
Hillel & Shammai (Jewish sages). |
6 C.E. | Rome establishes direct rule of prefects in Judea. |
ca. 13 B.C.E.- 41 C.E. | Philo Judaeus of Alexandria. |
ca. 30 C.E. | Jesus is crucified. |
36-64 C.E. | Paul “the apostle” (Jewish “Christian”). |
ca. 37-100 C.E. | Josephus (Jewish leader, historian). |
ca. 40 C.E. | Gamliel/Gamaliel I (Jewish leader-scholar). |
ca. 50-125 C.E. | Christian Testament (NT) writings. |
66-73 C.E. | First Jewish Revolt against Rome. |
69 C.E. | Vespasian gives Yochanan ben Zakkai permission to establish a Jewish center for study at Yavneh that will become the hub for rabbinic Judaism. |
70 | Destruction of Jerusalem and the second Temple. |
December 21, 72 | Thomas the Apostle is murdered by Hindu priests of Kali. |
73 | Last stand of Jews at Masada. |
ca. 90-100 | Gamaliel II excludes sectarians (including Christians) from the synagogues. |
ca. 90-150 | Writings (third and last division of Jewish Scriptures) discussed and accepted as sacred scripture. |
114-117 | Jewish Revolts against Rome in Cyprus, Egypt and Cyrene. The Great Synagogue and the Great Library in Alexandria are destroyed as well as the entire Jeiwsh community of Cyprus. Afterwards, Jews were forbidden on Cyprus. |
120-135 | Rabbi Akiva active in consolidating Rabbinic Judaism. |
132-135 | Bar Kokhba rebellion (Second Jewish Revolt). Roman forces kill an estimated half a million Jews and destroy 985 villages and 50 fortresses. |
136 | Hadrian renames Jerusalem Aelia Capatolina and builds a Pagan temple over the the site of the Second Temple. He also forbids Jews to dwell there. Judea (the southern portion of what is now called the West Bank) was renamed Palaestina in an attempt to minimize Jewish identification with the land of Israel. |
138-161 | Antoninus Pius, Hadrian's sucessor, repeals many of the previously instituted harsh policies towards Jews. |
193-211 | Roman emperor Lucious Septimus Severus treats Jews relatively well, allowing them to participate in public offices and be exempt from formalities contrary to Judaism. However, he did not allow the Jews to convert anyone |
ca. 200 | Mishnah (Jewish oral law) compiled/edited under Judah the Prince. |
200-254 | Origen (Christian scholar, biblical interpreter). |
203 | Because of his health, Judah HaNasi relocates the center of Jewish learning from Beth Shearim to Sepphoris. |
212 | Roman Emperor Caracalla allows free Jews within the empire to become full Roman citizens. |
220 | Babylonian Jewish Academy founded at Sura by Rab. |
220-470 |
Amoraim, or Mishna scholars, flourish. The Amoraim's commentary, along with the Mishna, comprises the Talmud. |
222-235 |
Emperor Alexander Severus allowed for a revival of Jewish rights, including permission to visit Jerusalem. |
240-276 | Rise of Mani/Manichaean World Religion synthesis. |
ca. 250 | Babylonian Jews flourish (as does Manichaeism) under Persian King Shapur I |
250-330 | Early development of Christian monasticism in Egypt. |
263-339 | Eusebius (Christian author, historian) |
303 | Violent persecution of Christians by Emperor Diocletian. |
To 311 | Sporadic persecution of Christianity by Rome. |
306 | One of the first Christian councils, the Council of Elvira, forbids intermarriage and social interaction with Jews |
312/313 | Emperor Constantine embraces Christianity, announces Edict of Toleration |
315 | Code of Constantine limits rights of non-Christians, is Constantine's first anti-Jewish act. |
368 | Jerusalem Talmud compiled. |
Rabbinic Period of Talmud Development
(70 BCE-500 CE)
66-73 | First Jewish Revolt against Rome. |
69 | Vespasian gives Yochanan ben Zakkai permission to establish a Jewish center for study at Yavneh that will become the hub for rabbinic Judaism. |
70 | Destruction of Jerusalem and the second Temple, |
73 | Last stand of Jews at Masada. |
ca. 90-100 | Gamaliel II excludes sectarians (including Christians) from the synagogues. |
ca. 90-150 | Writings (third and last division of Jewish Scriptures) discussed and accepted as sacred scripture. |
114-117 | Jewish Revolts against Rome in Cyprus, Egypt and Cyrene. The Great Synagogue and the Great Library in Alexandria are destroyed as well as the entire Jeiwsh community of Cyprus. Afterwards, Jews were forbidden on Cyprus. |
120-135 | Rabbi Akiva active in consolidating Rabbinic Judaism. |
132-135 | Bar Kokhba rebellion (Second Jewish Revolt). Roman forces kill an estimated half a million Jews and destroy 985 villages and 50 fortresses. |
136 | Hadrian renames Jerusalem Aelia Capatolina and builds a Pagan temple over the the site of the Second Temple. He also forbids Jews to dwell there. Judea (the southern portion of what is now called the West Bank) was renamed Palaestina in an attempt to minimize Jewish identification with the land of Israel. |
138-161 | Antoninus Pius, Hadrian's sucessor, repeals many of the previously instituted harsh policies towards Jews. |
193-211 | Roman emperor Lucious Septimus Severus treats Jews relatively well, allowing them to participate in public offices and be exempt from formalities contrary to Judaism. However, he did not allow the Jews to convert anyone |
ca. 200 | Mishnah (Jewish oral law) compiled/edited under Judah the Prince. |
203 | Because of his health, Judah HaNasi relocates the center of Jewish learning from Beth Shearim to Sepphoris. |
212 | Roman Emperor Caracalla allows free Jews within the empire to become full Roman citizens. |
220 | Babylonian Jewish Academy founded at Sura by Rab. |
220-470 |
Amoraim, or Mishna scholars, flourish. The Amoraim's commentary, along with the Mishna, comprises the Talmud. |
222-235 | Emperor Alexander Severus allowed for a revival of Jewish rights, including permission to visit Jerusalem. |
ca. 250 | Babylonian Jews flourish (as does Manichaeism) under Persian King Shapur I. |
306 | One of the first Christian councils, the Council of Elvira, forbids intermarriage and social interaction with Jews. |
315 | Code of Constantine limits rights of non-Christians, is Constantine's first anti-Jewish act. |
359 | Hillel creates a new calendar based on the lunar year to replace the dispersed Sanhedrin, which previously announced the festivals. |
368 | Jerusalem Talmud compiled. |
370-425 | Hillel founds Beit Hillel, a school emphasizing tolerance and patience. Hillel, a descendant of King David, is one of the first scholars to devise rules to interpret the Torah. |
410 | Rome sacked by Visigoths. |
425 | Jewish office of Nasi/Prince abolished by Rome. |
426 | Babylonian Talmud compiled. |
439 | Theodosis enacts a code prohibiting Jews from holding important positions involving money. He also reenacts a law forbidding the building of new synagogues. |
500 |
Babylonian Talmud recorded. After conquering Italy in 493, Ostrogoth king Theodoric issues an edict safeguarding the Jews and ensuring their right to determine civil disputes and freedom of worship. |
Consolidation & Dominance of Christianity
(325-590 CE)
325 | Christian First Ecumenical Council, at Nicea (Asia Minor), changes the date of Easter from Passover and forbids Jews from owning Christian slaves or converting pagans to Judaism. |
330 | Jerusalem becomes part of Constantine's Byzantine Empire. |
ca. 325-420 | Jerome (Christian author, translator). |
339 | Constantine forbids intermarriage with Jews and the circumcision of heathen or Christian slaves, declaring death as the punishment. |
354-430 | Augustine (Christian author in North Africa). |
359 | Hillel creates a new calendar based on the lunar year to replace the dispersed Sanhedrin, which previously announced the festivals. |
368 | Jerusalem Talmud compiled. |
370-425 | Hillel founds Beit Hillel, a school emphasizing tolerance and patience. Hillel, a descendant of King David, is one of the first scholars to devise rules to interpret the Torah. |
380/391 | Christianity becomes THE religion of Roman Empire. |
401 | Christianity takes root in Gaza thanks to Bishop Porphyry. |
410 | Rome sacked by Visigoths. |
415 | St. Cyril, the Bishop of Alexandria, champions violence against the city's Jews and incites the Greeks to kill or expel them. Some Jews return within a few years, but many return only after the Muslims conquer Egypt. |
425 | Jewish office of Nasi/Prince abolished by Rome. |
426 | Babylonian Talmud compiled. |
439 | Theodosis enacts a code prohibiting Jews from holding important positions involving money. He also reenacts a law forbidding the building of new synagogues. |
451 | Christian Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon. |
500 | After conquering Italy in 493, Ostrogoth king Theodoric issues an edict safeguarding the Jews and ensuring their right to determine civil disputes and freedom of worship. |
501 | An earthquake hits Israel, partially destroying Acre and incuring damage as far east as Jersusalem. |
511 | Rebellion leader Mar Zutra usurps power from Kobad the Zenduk, establishing an independant Jewish state in Babylon that would last for seven years, until Zutra's forces defeated Zutra's army, killing him and instituted a harsh policy toward the remaining Jews. |
516 | Southern Arabian king Ohu Nuwas adopts Judaism, possibly as a rampart against the spread of Christianity. King Eleboas of Abyssinia, with the help of Justin I, later defeated Nuwas. |
519 | After Ravenna residents burnt down local synagogues, Ostrogoth ruler Theodoric orders the Italian town to rebuild the synagogues at their own expense. |
587 | Recared of Spain adopts Catholicism, banning Jews from slave ownership, intermarriage and holding positions of authority. Recared also declares that children of mixed marriages be raised Christian. |
570 | Birth of Prophet Muhammad, Makkah. |
590 | Pope Gregory the Great formulates the official Papal policy towards Jews, objecting to forced baptism and tolerating them according to the previous council's regulations. |
Development of Muhammad's Islamic Message
(570-1258 CE)
ca. 570-632 | Muhammad ("the Prophet" of Islam). |
ca. 610 | Prophetic call and start of Quranic revelations. |
614 | Persian invasion, Jews allowed to controll Jerusalem. |
617 | Persians change policy toward Jews, forbid them from living within three miles of Jerusalem. |
622 | The hijra (emigration) from Mecca to Medina. |
624-627 | Muhammad attacks Jewish Arabian tribes for refusing to convert to Islam. Eventually the Southern Arabian tribes are destroyed. |
626 | While proselytizing Arabia, Muhammad captures the Banu Kurara tribe and forces the group of about 600 to chose between conversion and death. After spending all night praying, all but three or four Banu Kurarans are beheaded. |
627-629 | Emperor Heraclius breaks his promise of protection to Jews, massacring any he found and forbidding them from entering Jerusalem. Hundreds of Jews were killed and thousands exhiled to Egypt, ending the Jewish towns in the Galilee and Judea. Heraclius' decree remained in effect until the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem. |
630 | Capitulation of Mecca, rededication of Kaba. |
632 | The Jewish tribe Kaibar defends itself against Muslim forces, negotiating a settlement in which half of their crops would go to Mohammed in exchange for peace. Other Jewish tribes, including Fadattr, Tedma and Magna reached similar deals. |
590-604 | Pope Gregory the Great. |
ca. 600-1300 | Period of the Jewish Rabbinic Geonim. |
632-661 | Muhammad dies, creating the four "rightly guided caliphs" of Islam. |
634 | Gaza becomes the first city in Palestine to be captured by Muslims. Many Christians and Jews remained despite the Muslim takeover. |
637 | Muslim forces capture Caesarea, forcing the city's estimated 100,000 Jews to follow the Pact of Omar, which meant they had to pray quietly, not build new synagogues and not prevent Jews from converting to Islam. The Jews were also forbidden from riding horses and holding judicial or civil posts, and were forced to wear a yellow patch for identification. |
638 | Caliph Umar conquers Jerusalem and Jews are permitted to return to the city under Islam. |
661 | Assassination of Ali (last of the four). |
661-750 | Umayyad Dynasty of Islam in Damascus (Syria). |
669, 674 | Muslim Attacks on Christian Constantinople. |
680 | Massacre of Ali's son Husayn and Shiites (Iraq). |
685 | Muslims extend Jerusalem and rebuild walls and roads. |
692 | Dome of the Rock built on site of First and Second Temples by Caliph Abd el-Malik. |
November 9, 694 | The 17th Council of Toledo convenes, passing a wide-ranging array of restrictions on the local Jewish community. |
711 | Muslim Forces Attack Spain Successfully. |
715 | Al-Aqsa Mosque built, Jerusalem. |
732 | Islam repulsed at Tours (France), gateway to Europe. |
750 | Abbasid caliphate founded. |
ca. 760 | Karaism founded (Jewish reaction to Rabbinic Judaism). |
762 | Baghdad founded by Abbasids. |
767 | Anan Ben David, organizer of the Karaite sect that only believed in the literal Biblical writings and not the Oral law. |
742-814 | Charlemagne, French Holy Roman Emperor, protected and helped develop Jewish culture in his kingdom, seeing Jews as an asset. |
740-1259 | Jewish Kingdom of Khazar lasts over 500 years, defending itself from the Muslims, Byzantines and Russians, finally subdued by Mongols under Genghis Khan. |
750-1258 | Abbasid Dynasty of Islam in Baghdad (Iraq)—the "golden age" of Islamic culture. |
?-767 | Abu Hanifa (Muslim theologian and jurist in Iraq). |
710-795 | Malik ibn Anas (jurist, collector of hadiths, Medina). |
800 | Caliph Harun al-Rashid rules in "1001 Nights" style. |
ca. 800-950 | Mutazilite rationalism developed and debated. |
807 | Harun Al Rashid, Caliph of the Abbasids forces Baghdad Jews to wear a yellow badge and Christians to wear a blue badge. |
825 | Caliph Mamun sponsors translations of Greek learning into Arabic (Arabic science flourishes). |
814-840 | Charlemagne's son, Louis the Pius, who succeeded his father as king, expanded his father's positive policies towards the Jews, like changing "market day" from Saturday (Shabbat) to Sunday. |
855 | Ibn Hanbal (jurist, collector of hadiths, Baghdad). |
868 | Palestine annexed to Egypt. |
870, 875 | Bukhari and Muslim (collectors of hadiths). |
874 | Shiite "twelvers" arise. |
?-935 | Al-Ashari (ex-Mutazilite Muslim scholar). |
882-942 | Saadia Gaon (Rabbinic Jewish sage). |
942 | Office of the Exilarch was abolished after seven centuries, primarily because of dissention with the Muslims. David ben-Zaccai held the postion. |
922 | Execution of Hallaj, radical Persian Muslim mystic/sufi. |
ca. 950-1150 | “Golden Age” in Spain (Islamic Umayyad dynasty). |
969 | Founding of Cairo (and soon thereafter Azhar University) by the Islamic Shiite Fatimid dynasty in Egypt. |
969 | Caliph al-Aziz defeated the Turkish princes at Ramleh, marking the beginning of Fatamid rule over Eretz-Israel. |
972 | Al-Azhar University Founded, Cairo. |
ca. 1000 | Rabbi Gershon of Mainz, Germany, publishes a ban on bigamy. This marks the beginning of Ashkenazi (Franco-German) halachic creativity. |
1001 | Ibn al-Bawwab produces earliest exist Qur'an copy on paper, Baghdad. |
990-1055 | Diplomat and poet, as well as vizier to King Habus of Granada and author of a Biblical Hebrew dictionary, Samuel Ibn Nagrela. |
1008 | Egyptian Caliph Hakkim, who claimed to be divine, pressured all non-Muslims to convert and forced all Jews to wear a "golden calf" around their necks. |
1009 | Oldest existing text of full Hebrew Bible is written. |
1016 | Earthquake causes structrual damage on Temple Mount. |
1021-1069 | Messianic poet and philosopher, Solomon Ibn Gabirol. |
1027 | Samuel Hanagid becomes vizier of Granada. He is the first of the poets of the Golden Age of Spain, and symbolic of both the political power and literary creativity of Jews in Spain at the time. |
1032 | Rebel Abul Kamal Tumin conquered Fez and decimated the Jewish community, killing 6,000 Jews. |
1066 | Final split ("schism") between Latin (Roman) and Greek (Byzantine) Classical Christian Churches: 1053/54 William the Conqueror (Norman) takes England. |
1056 | Abraham Ibn Daud: On Saumuel Ha-Nagid, Vizier of Granada. |
1040-1105 | Rashi (Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac; Jewish sage): . |
1058-1111 | Ghazali (Persian Muslim scholar and mystic): . |
1065-1173 | Benjamin of Tudela, Jewish traveller and historian, who wrote a famous journal called Sefer Hamassa'ot (Book of Travels). |
1070 | Rashi, a French-Jewish thinker, completes his commentaries on most parts of the Bible. |
1070-1139 | Poet and philiospher Moses Ibn Ezra. |
1071 | Seljuk occupation of Jerusalem. |
1099 | First Crusade Begins rule in Jerusalem. |
1100 | The Crusaders seize Gaza from the Fatimid Caliphs, returning it to Christian rule. |
1181 | Philip expels Jews from France. |
1187 | Salah al-Din returns Jerusalem to Muslim rule. |
1192 | Philip expands his kingdom and allows Jews to return, for a fee and under strict conditions. |
Medieval Period in the West
(600-1500 CE)
610 | Visigothic ruler Sesbut prohibits Judaism after several anti-Jewish edicts are ignored. Exiled Jews return to Byzantine Spain under Sesbut's successor, Swintilla. |
614 | Persian General Romizanes captures Jerusalem and allows Jews to run the city. At this time, aproximately 150,000 Jews are living in 43 settlements in Eretz-Israel. |
617 | The Persians renege on their promises and forbid Jews to settle within a three mile radius of Jerusalem. |
638 | Although Chintilla decrees that only Catholics are permitted to live in Visogoth Spain, many Jews continue to live there. |
638 | Islamic conquest of Jerusalem. |
682 | Visigoth King Erwig continues oppression of Jews, making it illegal to practice any Jewish rites and pressing for the conversion or emigration of the remaining Jews. |
691 | First account of Jews in England. |
712 | Jews help Muslim invaders capture Spain, ending Visogoth rule and beginning a 150 year period of relative peace, in which Jews were free to study and practice religion as they wished. |
722 | In the wake of a narrow military defeat over Muslim forces, Leo III of Constantinople decided his nation's weakness lay in its heterogenious population, and began the forcible conversion of the Jews, as well as the "New Christians." Most converted under Leo III clandestinely continued their Jewish practices. |
1040 | Birth of Rashi. |
1066 | In the wake of the Norman conquest of England, Jews left Normandy and settled in London and later in York, Norwich, Oxford, Bristol and Lincoln. |
1078 | Pope Gregory VII prohibited Jews from holding offices in Christendom. |
1086-1145 | The greatest Hebrew poet of his time, Judah Halevi. |
1090 | Iban Iashufin, King of the Almoravides, captured Granada and destroyed the Jewish community, the survivors fled to Toledo. |
1095 | Henry IV of Germany, who granted Jews favorable conditions whenever possible, issued a charter to the Jews and a decree against forced baptism. |
1131 | Birth of Rambam. |
1171 | In the town of Blois, southwest of Paris, Jews are falsely accused of committing ritual murder ((killing of a Christian child) and blood libel. The adult Jews of the city are arrested and most are executed after refusing to convert. Thirty-one or 32 of the Jews are killed. The Jewish children are forcibly baptized. |
1210 | Group of 300 French and English rabbis make aliyah and settle in Israel. |
1215 | The Church's Fourth Lateran Council decrees that Jews be differentiated from others by their type of clothing to avoid intercourse between Jews and Christians. Jews are sometimes required to wear a badge; sometimes a pointed hat. |
1227-1274 | Christian theologian, who called for the slavery of all Jews, Saint Thomas Aquinas. |
1229 | King Henry III of England forced Jews to pay half the value of thier property in taxes. |
1242 | Burning of the Talmud in Paris. |
1244 | Tartars capture Jerusalem. |
1253 | King Henry III of England ordered Jewish worship in synagogue to be held quietly so that Christians passing by do not have to hear it. e also ordered that Jews may not employ Christian nurses or maids, nor may any Jew prevent another from converting to Christianity. |
1254 | French King Louis IX expelled the Jews from France, ending the Tosaphists period. Most Jews went to Germany and further east. |
1255 | Seeing himself as the "master of the Jews," King Henry II of England transferred his rights to the Jews to his brother, Richard, for 5,000 marks. |
1267 | In a special session, the Vienna city council forced Jews to wear the Pileum cornutum, a cone-shaped headress prevelent in many medieval woodcuts illustrating Jews. This form of distinctive dress was an additon to badge Jews were forced to wear. |
1267 | Ramban (Nachmanides) arrives in Israel. |
1275 | King Edward of England banned usury and unsuccessfully encouraged Jews in agriculture, crafts and local trades. He also forced Jews over the age of seven to wear an indentifying badge. |
1282 | The Archbishop of Canterbury, John Pectin, ordered all London synagogues to closed and prohibited Jewish physicians from practicing on Christians. |
1285 | Blood libel in Munich, Germany results in the death of 68 Jews. An additional 180 Jews are burned alive at the synagogue. |
1287 | A mob in Oberwesel, Germany kills 40 Jewish men, women and children after a ritual murder accusation. |
1290 | Bowing political pressure, English King Edward I expels the Jews from England. They were only allowed to take what they could carry and most went to France, paying for thier passage only to be robbed and cast overboard by the ship captains. |
1306 | Philip IV orders all Jews expelled from France, with their property to be sold at public auction. Some 125,000 Jews are forced to leave. |
1321 | Similar to accusations made during the Black Plague, Jews were accused of encouraging lepers to poison Christian wells in France. An estimated five thousand Jews were killed before the king, Philip the Tall, admitted the Jews were innocent. |
1321 | Henry II of Castile forces Jews to wear yellow badges. |
1322 | Charles IV of France expels all French Jews without the one year period he had promised them. |
1348-1349 | Much of Europe blames the Black Plague on the Jews and tortured to confess that they poisoned the wells. Despite the pleas of innocence of Pope Clement VI, the accusations resulted in the destruction of over 60 large and 150 small Jewish communities. |
1348 | Basle burns 600 Jews at the stake and forcibly baptizes 140 children, expelling the city's other Jews. The city's Christian residents convert the synagogue into a church and destroy the Jewish cemetery. |
1348 | Pope Clement VI issues an edict repudiating the libel against Jews, saying that they too were suffering from the Plague. |
1360 | Samuel ben Meir Abulafia is arrested and tortured to death by King Pedro without any explination. The king also confiscated his great wealth. |
1385-1386 | German Emperor Wenceslaus arrests Jews living in the Swabian League, a group of free cities in S. Germany, and confiscates their books. Later, he expelled the Jews of Strassburg after a community debate. |
1386 | Emperor Wenceslaus expelles the Jews from Strassbourg and confiscate their property. |
1389 | After a priest was hit with some sand from a few small Jewish boys playing in the street, he insisted that the Jewish community was plotting against him and began a virulent campaign against the city's Jews, resulting in the massacre of thousands and the destruction of the city's synagogue and Jewish cemetery. King Wenceslaus refused to condemn the act, insisting that the responsibility lay with the Jews for going outside during the Holy Week. |
1389 | Pope Boniface continues the policy of Clement VI, forbidding the Christians to harm Jews, destroy their cemeteries or forcibly baptize them. |
1391 | Ferrand Martinez, archdeacon of Ecija, begins a campaign against Spanish Jewry, killing over 10,000 and destroying the Jewish quarter in Barcelona. The campaign quickly spreads throughout Spain, except for Granada, and destroys Jewish communities in Valencia and Palma De Majorca. |
1391 | King Pedro I orders Spain not to harm the remaining Jews and decrees that synagogues not be converted into churches. |
1392 | King Pedro I announces his compliance with the Bull of Pope Boniface IX, protecting Jews from baptism. He extends this edict to Spanish Jewish refugees. |
1415 | Benedict XIII bans the study of the Talmud in any form, institutes forced Christian sermons and tries to restrict Jewish life completely. |
1420 | Pope Martin V favorably reinstates old privleges of the Jews and orders that no child under the age of 12 can be forcibly baptized without parental consent. |
1420 | All Jews are expelled from Lyons, including the refugees from Paris who were expelled 20 years earliers. Jews now only remain in Provence (until 1500) and in the possessions of the Holy See. |
1422 | Pope Martin V issues a bull reminding Christians that Christianity was derived from Judaism and warns the Friars not to incite against the Jews. The Bull was withdrawn the following year, alleging that the Jews of Rome attained the Bull by fraud. |
1480 | Inquisition established in Spain. |
The Crusades
(1095-1258 CE)
1096 | Participants in the First Crusade massacre Jews in several Central European cities, beginning centuries of pogroms linked to the Crusades. |
1096 | More than 5,000 Jews were murdered in Germany in several different attacks. |
May 3, 1096 | Count Emico of Leiningen, on his way to join a Crusade, attacked the synagogue at Speyers and killed all the defenders. |
May 27, 1096 | 1,200 Jews commit suicide in Mayence to escape Count Emico, who tried to forcibly convert them. |
1085-1140 | Judah Halevi (Jewish author). |
1099 | Crusaders (European Christians) capture Jerusalem and massacre tens of thousands of the city's Jews. |
1100 | Germans, including German Jews, migrate to Poland. It is seen as “the land of opportunity.” |
1107 | Moroccan Almoravid ruler Yoseph Ibn Tashfin orders all Moroccan Jews to convert or leave. |
1109 | Tiberias falls to the Crusaders. |
1115 | After reconquering Toledo, Spain from the Muslims, Alphonso I invited all Jews to return. |
1120 | Jews from Muslim countries begin to settle in Byzantium. |
1124 | Records of a Jewish gate in Kiev attest to the presence of a Jewish community there. |
1135-1204 | Maimonides (Rabbi Moses ben Maimon; Jewish scholar). |
1139 | Judah Halevi completes his influential philosophy of Judaism known as The Kuzari. He is a friend of commentator Abraham Ibn Ezra, who also left Spain for the life of a wandering Jewish scholar. |
1143 | 150 Jews killed in Ham, France. |
1144 | Jews in Norwich, England, are accused of murdering a Christian child in what is believed to be the first ritual murder charge. The blood libel, as well as others in England that follow in the 12th century, incites anti-Jewish violence. |
1160-1173 | Benjamin of Toledo, The Itinerary of Benjamin of Toledo. |
1163 | Benjamin of Toledo writes of 40,000 Jews living in Baghdad, complete with 28 synagogues and 10 Torah academies. |
1171 | Saladin (1138-1193) overthrows Fatimid dynasty in Egypt. |
1187 | Saladin recaptures Jerusalem from Crusaders grants Jews permission to re-enter. |
March 16, 1190 | Jews attacked, over 150 die after a six day standoff in York, England. |
1190 | Approximately 2,500 Jews live in England, enjoing more rights than Jews on the continent. |
1191 | French King Phillip starts the Third Crusade, cancels debts to Jews, drives many Jews out of France, confiscates their property. |
1194-1270 | Scholar and Jewish leader Moses Ben Nachman (Nachmanides). |
1195 | Moses Maimonides completes The Guide to the Perplexed, considered the most important work of medieval Jewish thought. |
1211 | A group of 300 rabbis from France and England settle in Palestine (Eretz Yisrael), beginning what might be interpreted as Zionist aliyah. |
1198-1216 | Pope Innocent III (Christian). |
1204 | First synagogue built in Vienna, a city where Jews enjoyed more freedom than in other areas of Austria. |
1215 | Fourth Lateran Council expands anti-Jewish decrees in Europe, forces Jews to wear the Yellow Patch, the "Badge of Shame. |
1222 | Deacon Robert of Reading, England, was burned for converting to Judaism, setting a precedent for the burning of "heretics". |
1222 | Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury and a prime mover of the Lateran Council, forbids Jews from building new synagogues, owning slaves or mixing with Christians. |
ca. 13th cen. | The Zohar (a Jewish kabbalistic book): . |
1227 | Death of Genghis Khan (roving Mongol conqueror). |
ca. 1230 | Inquisition by Christians in Spain. |
1232 | The Jewish community of Marrakech, Morocco, is reestablished, leading to massacres of Jews caused by Islamic political revolt and grassroots hatred. |
1239 | Pope Gregory IX orders the kings of France, England, Spain and Portugal to confiscate Hebrew books, Following this edict, the Talmud is condemned and burned in France and Rome. |
1225-1274 | Thomas Aquinas (Christian scholar). |
1240-1292 | Spanish Kabbalist Abraham Abulafia. |
1243 | First accusation of desecration of the Host (the wafers used is Christian Mass) - the blood libel - in Berlitz, Germany. |
1244-1517 | Rule by Tartars, Mongols, Ayybids, and Mamelukes. |
1247 | Pope Innocent IV issued a Bull refuting blood libels and sent it throughout Germany and France. |
1254-1517 | Mamluk Islamic rule (new dynasty) in Egypt. |
1258 | Fall of Islamic Abbasid dynasty to Hulagu (Mongol). |
Transition & Rebuilding of Political Islam
(1258-1500 CE)
1258 | Mongols sack Baghdad. |
1260 | Mongols led by Hulagu Khan overrun Gaza, they are beaten back by Egyptian Mamluk General Baibars. Gaza becomes the capital of a Mamluk Province. |
1278 | The Edict of Pope Nicholas III requires compulsory attendance of Jews at conversion sermons. |
1286 | Moses de Leon of Spain completes a commentary of the Torah. The Zohar remains a central text of Jewish mysticism. |
1290/1291 | Expulsion of Jews from England. |
1291 | Expulsion of Christian Crusaders from Syria. |
1348 | Black Death reaches Europe. |
July 6, 1348 | Pope Clement VI clarifies that the Jews are not behind the Black Death, tells Christians not to blame Jews for the disease sweeping Europe. |
1445 | Gutenberg prints Europe's first book with movable type. |
1453 | Ottomans begin rule from Constantinople. |
1492 | The Alhambra Decree ordered the expulsion of the Jews from Castile and Aragon, Spain. The edict was not formally revoked until December 16, 1968. |
1492 | End of Muslim states in Spain. |
1492 | Columbus sets sail. |
Mamluk Rule
(1291-1516 CE)
1300-1517 | Italian Renaissance. |
1306-1394 | Expulsions of Jews from France. |
1328-1384 | John Wycliffe (Christian dissident leader). |
14th century | Rise of the Ottoman Muslim dynasty in Turkey. |
1333 | Casimir the Great takes power in Poland and brings with him a sympathetic attitude toward the Jews, who benfit as a result. |
September 30, 1338 | The Deggendorf Massacre. Residents of Deggendorf, Germany, burned the homes of and massacred the town's approximately 50 Jews. |
1348 | Black Death reaches Europe and Jews are accused of poisoning Christian wells. |
1336-1405 | Timurlane/Tamurlane, Turkic ruler in central Asia. |
1360 | King Pedro of Portugal arrests and tortures to death Samuel Ben Meir Abulafia. No charges were ever given and the King confiscated Abulafia's lands and great wealth. |
1400 | Damascus sacked by Timurlane. |
1424 | Jewish physician, Y'en Ch'eng is given the surname "Chao" as an honor by the Emperor. This family, which probably originated in India and Babylon, became on of the leading Chinese Jewish families. |
1437-1509 | Philosopher, financier and scholar, Don Isaac Abravanel intercedes many times on behalf of his fellow Jews, including trying to stop Ferdinand from expelling them. This time he was foiled by Torquemada and he followed them into exile. His commentaries cover the major and minor Prophets. Consistent with his belief that the Messiah would come in his lifetime, he also wrote three messianic texts called Migdal Yeshu'ot (Tower of Salvation). |
1452-1454/55 | Gutenberg prints Europe's first book with movable type. |
1447 | Following a fire in Posen where the original charter (written by Casimir the Great) granted the Jews "privileges," Casimir IV renews all their rights and makes his charter one of the most liberal in Europe. This charter lasted less than a decade before it was revoked. |
1452-1515 | Astronomer and historian, Abraham Zacuto creates tables used by Columbus. After the explusion of 1492, Zacuto went to Portugal where he developed the metal Astrolab used by Vasco Da Gama. In 1498 he was forced to flee or convert. He left and reached Tunis where he wrote a history of the Jews from creation until the sixteenth century. |
1453 | Fall of Constantinople (Istanbul) to Ottoman Muslims. |
1454 | Casimir IV of Poland revokes the Jewish charter, at the insistence of Bishop Zbignev. The Bishop had correctly predicted Casimir's defeat by the Teutonic Knights backed by the Pope, and succeeded in convincing the King that it was due to the Jews. |
1463 | Pope Nicholas V authorized the establishment of the Inquisition to investigate heresy among the Marranos. |
1479-15 | Isabella's severe anti-Jewish learnings influence Ferdinand and lead to the final expulsion of the Jews from Spain. |
1486 | First prayer book published in Soncino, Italy. |
1488 | The first complete edition of the Hebrew Bible is printed in Soncino, Italy. |
1492 | Christian expulsion of Muslim Moors from Spain. |
1492 | Columbus sets sail. |
1492 | Christian expulsion of Jews from Spain, sending over 200,000 Jews fleeing: 137,000 Jews forced to leave Sicily. |
1494 | Polish King Jan Olbracht's orders Jews to leave to leave Crakow for Kazimierz after they are blamed for a large fire that destroyed part of the city. |
1496 | Manuel of Portugal expels Jews from Portugal. |
1516 | The closed Jewish Quarter in Venice, Italy, is dubbed the Geto Nuovo (New Foundry). "Geto" will later become the basis for the word "ghetto". |
1516 | The Ottoman's fight the Mamluks out of Gaza, Gaza is ruled for the next 100 years by the Ridwan family. |
1505-1584 | Kabbalist and author of "Lecha Dodi" (Come My Beloved), Solomon ben Moses Alkabetz. |
Christian Reformation Period
(1517-1569 CE)
1510 | 38 Jews were burned at the stake in Berlin. |
1516 | Jews in Venice are relegated to a ghetto, the most extreme segregation to which Jews had been submitted. Over time, Jews in many lands are similarly segregated. |
1483-1546 | Martin Luther. |
1517 | Luther posts "95 theses" in Wittenburg, Germany |
1520-1579 | Kracow Rosh Yeshiva whose major work was an adaptation of Caro's Shulchan Aruch to Europoean Jewry, Moses Isserles. |
1525-1609 | Brilliant Talmudist, mathematician and astronomer, popular with Emperor Randolh II. Judah Loew Ben Bezalel, the Maharal of Prague also created the Golem, a man from clay who protected the Jewish community. |
1534 | First Yiddish book published in Kracow, Poland. |
1534-1572 | Talmud and Kabbalah scholar, Isaac Ben Solomon Luria, given the name "The Ari" (The Lion). |
1543 | Luther writes "About the Jews and Their Lies," considered the first modern anti-Semitic tract. |
ca. 1500-1650 | Protestant Christian Reformation. |
1509-1564 | John Calvin. |
1516 | Jewish ghetto instituted in Venice. |
1526 | The Prague Haggadah, which contains the oldest known printed Yiddush poem, is published. |
November 22, 1547 | Jews in the small community of Asolo, Italy were victims of a massacre, leaving 10 of the 37 Jewish residents dead. |
1547 | Ivan the Terrible becomes ruler of Russia and refuses to allow Jews to live in his kingdon. |
1555 | Jewish ghetto instituted in Rome. |
1559 | Pope Paul IV allows the first printing of the Zohar, a Jewish mystical text. |
1567/1571 | Shulhan Arukh (code of Jewish law by Joseph Caro).published. |
1569 | Isaac Luria writes the Kabbalist in Safed. Luria's ideas give rise to a new form of Jewish mysticism. |
Dominance of Ottoman Muslim Empire
(1500-1920 CE)
1517 | Victory of (Muslim Ottoman Turk) Selim I over Egypt. |
Ottoman Muslim rulers (later) claim the title "caliph". | |
1520-1566 | Sulayman I, "the Magnificent," rules. |
ca. 1500-1800 | Dominance of Safavid Shiite Muslim dynasty in Iran. |
ca. 1500-1800 | Dominance of Mughal Muslim dynasty in India. |
1550-1619 | Rabbi, preacher and biblical commentator known for his brilliant sermons calling for self improvement, Ephraim Solomon of Lunshits. |
1550 | Dr. Jospeh Hacohen was chased out of Genoa for practicing medicine, and soon after, all the Jews were expelled. |
1553 | Under the direction of Cardinal Caraffa, later Pope Paul IV, the Talmud was confiscated and publicaly burned in Rome on Rosh Hashanah, starting a wave of Talmud burning throughout Italy. |
1554 | Cornelio da Montalcino, a Franciscan Friar who converted to Judaism, is burned alive in Rome. |
1555 | In his Bull Cum Nimis Absurdum, Pope Paul IV renewed all anti-Jewish legislation and installed a ghetto in Rome. The Bull also forced Jews to wear a special cap, forbade them from owning real estate or practicing medicine on Christians. It also limited Jewish communities to only one synagogue. |
1555-1631 | Talmudic commentator, author of Chidushei Halachot, Samuel Eliezer Aidles, also known as "Maharsha." . |
1558 | In Recanti, Italy, under the protection of Pope Paul IV, Joseph Paul More, a baptized Jew, entered a synagogue on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and tried to preach a conversion sermon. The congregation evicted him and a near massacre occured. Soon after, the Jews were expelled from Recanti. |
1585 | First known Jew to step on American soil, Joachim Gaunse (Ganz), lands on Roanoke Island. |
1596-1650 | Rene Descartes (scholar-philosopher): . |
1564 | In Brest Litovsk, the son of a wealthy Jewish tax collector, is accused of killing the family's Christian servant for ritual purposes. He is tortured and killed. |
1566 | Three months into his reign, Pope Pius V rejects Pope Pius IV leniency towards Jews and reinstates the restrictions of Pope Paul IV which forced Jews to wear a special cap, forbade them from owning real estate or practicing medicine on Christians. It also limited Jewish communities to only one synagogue. |
1569 | Brest Litovsk welcomes Jewish settlement. In 80 years the Jewish population surges from 4,000 to more than 50,000. |
1586 | Pope Sixtus V rejects Pope Gregory XIII policies and forbids Jews from living in the Papal states and to print the Talmud. |
1587-1643 | The leading Jewish composer of the late Italian Renaissance and the musical director of court of Mantua, Salamone de Rossi. |
1588 | England defeats the Spanish Armada, weakening Spain and decreasing the reach of the Inquisition, espcially in the Netherlands. |
1590 | Built of wood, the entire Jewish quarter of Posen burned while then gentile population watched and pillaged. 15 people died and 80 Torah scrolls were burned. |
1591 | Rabbi, encyclopedist, physician and pupil of Galileo, Jose Solomon Delmedigo wrote over 30 works in math, geometry, chemistry, mechanics, philosophy and medicine. |
1592 | Esther Chiera, who held considerable influence in Sultan Murad III's court, was executed because of jealousy and the Sultan's desire for her assets. |
1593 | Pope Clement VIII expelled Jews from all Papal states except Rome and Ancona. |
1596 | Official Yom Kippur services are held for the first time in Amsterdam, though not without controversy. |
1603 | Frei Diogo Da Assumpacao, a partly Jewish friar who embraced Judaism, was burned alive in Lisbon. His arguments against Christianity were published and gained wide popularity. |
1605 | A Jesuit missionary in China meets with Al T'Ien, a Chinese Jewish teacher. Thier correspondence is the basis for most known information regarding the Kaifeng Jewish community. |
1605-1657 | Menasseh ben Israel (Jewish scholar-mystic). |
1612 | The Hamburg Senate decides to officially allow Jews to live in the city on the condition there is no public worship. |
1614 | Vincent Fettmilch, who called himself the "new Haman of the Jews," led a raid on a Frankfurt synagogue that turned into an attack which destroyed the whole community. |
1615 | King Louis XIII of France decreed that all Jews must leave the country within one month on pain of death. |
1615 | The Guild, led by Dr. Chemnitz, "non-violently" forced the Jews from Worms. |
1616 | The Bishop of Speyer, with the backing of Frederick's troops, readmitted the Jews to Worms. |
February 28, 1616 | Vincenz Fettmilch, the leader of a popular uprising targetting Jews in Frankfurt, Germany, is executed along with six of his companions. |
1616 | Holland's Prince Maurice of Orange allowed each each city to decide for itself whether to admit Jews. In the towns where Jews were admitted, they would not be required to wear a badge of any sort identifying them as Jews. |
1616 | Jesuits arrives in Grodno, Poland and accused the Jews of blood orgies and host desecrations. |
1618-1638 | Thity Years War between Catholics and Protestants centers around Germany, Austria, France and the Netherlands. |
1619 | Shah Abbasi of the Persian Sufi Dynasty increased persecution against the Jews forcing many to outwardly practice Islam. (Many secretly practiced Judaism.). |
1620 | Christian Puritans begin emigrations to America. |
1621 | Sir Henry Finch, legal advisor to King James I, makes the first English call to restore the Jews to their homeland in his treatise The World's Great Restoration or Calling of the Jews. |
1621-1663 | Well-known commentator of the Shulchan Aruch and author of several other works, Shabbetai Ben Meir Hacohen. |
1622-1629 | Persian Jews are forced to convert to Islam. |
1623-1662 | Blaise Pascal (scholar). |
1625 | The Jews of Vienna were forced to move into a ghetto called Leopoldstadt. |
1625 | Pope Urban VIII forbids Roman Jews to erect gravestones. |
1626-1676 | Shabbatai Zvi (Jewish “messianic” leader). |
1630-1703 | Financier and founder of the Viennese Jewish community, Samuel Oppenheimer. |
1632 | Miguel and Isabel Rodreguese and five others were burned alive in front of the King and Queen of Spain after being discovered holding Jewish rites. |
1632-1677 | Baruch/Benedict Spinoza (scholar, converted Jew). |
1636 | Rhode Island grants religious liberty to Jews. |
1639 | More than 80 New Christians (Jews who converted to Christianity) were burned at the stake after the Inquisition caught them holding regular Jewish services in Lima, Peru. |
1641-1718 | Shabbtai Ben Joseph the Bass, Author of Seftai Yesharim, the first bibliography of Hebrew books and biblical commentator. He also built a printing house in 1689, despite being jailed several times, accused of printing anti-Christian material. The printing house lasted more than 150 years. |
1642 | The first Jewish colony in the New World is established in Recife, Brazil. |
1642 | Chao Ying-Cheng helped rebuild the synagogue in Kai Fen after the Yellow River flooded the area. He also served in the goverrnment and helped build schools and squashed marauding bandits. |
1648 | Bogdan Chmelnitzki massacres 100,000 Jews in Poland. |
1648 | The Treaty of Westphalia brings victory to the Protestants. |
1649 | In the largest Auto de Fe ever held in the New World, 109 crypto-Jews were accused of Judaizing, several were burned alive. |
1649 | John Casimir, upon ascending the Polish throne, negotiates a truce with Cosack leader and murderer of thousands of Jews, Bogdan Chmelnitzki. |
1654 | Arrival of 23 Jews from Brazil in New Amsterdam (New York, America). |
1655 | Dutch West India Company allows Jewish settlers to reside permanently in New Amsterdam. |
1655 | Jews readmitted to England by Oliver Cromwell. |
1657 | The first Jews gain the rights of citizens in America. |
1670 | Jews expelled from Vienna. |
Jewish Contemporary Period
(1700-1917 CE)
1700-1760 | Israel Baal Shem Tov (founder of Jewish Hasidism). |
1700 | Jewish population in America numbers approximately 250. |
1703-1758 | Jonathan Edwards (American Christian preacher). |
1703-1791 and 1707-1788 | John and Charles Wesley (Christian). |
1712 | First public Jewish synagogue in Berlin. |
1724 | Death of Samson Wertheimer |
1730 | Jews build first North American synagogue in Lower Manhattan, Shearith Israel. |
1740 | England grants naturalization rights to Jews in the colonies. |
ca. 1750 | Wahhabi "fundamentalist" movement arises in Islam. |
1753 | Parliament extends naturalization rights to Jews resident in England. |
1761 | First English prayer book for High Holidays is published in New York. |
1763 | The Jews of Newport, Rhode Island, dedicate a Sephardic synagogue, designed by leading Rhode Island architect Peter Harrison. |
July 17, 1764 | Poland's Parliament centralizes power and aboloshes the Council of the Four Lands, a semi-autonomous Jewish governing body. |
1768-1828 | "Father of Reform [Judaism]," Israel Jacobson. |
1775 | Pius VI issues Editto sopra gli ebrei, "Edict over the Hebrew," suppressing the Jewish religion. |
1775 | Frances Salomon elected to South Carolina Provisional Congress; the first Jew to hold elected office in America. |
1776 | United States Declaration of Independence. |
1775-1854 | America merchant and philanthropist Judah Touro, funded first New Orleans synagogue. |
1729-1786 | Moses Mendelssohn (Jewish "enlightenment" scholar). |
1762 | Although usually considered more liberal than other states, Rhode Island refuses to grant Jews Aaron Lopez and Isaac Eliezer citizenship stating "no person who is not of the Christian religion can be admitted free to this colony." |
1765 | Portugal holds the last public Auto de Fe "Act of Faith," a ceremony where the Inquisition announces its punishments, usually a death sentence of burning at the stake. |
1769-1821 | Napoleon (France). |
1775-1781 | American Revolution; religious freedom guaranteed. |
1781 | Joseph II of Austria recinds the 513-year old law requiring Jews to wear distinctive badges. |
1781 | Haym Solomon, a Polish Jew who arrived in New York in 1772, helps raise funds to finance the American cause in the Revolutionary War. |
1781-1869 | American philanthropist Rebecca Gratz. |
1782 | Austrian Emperor Joseph II issued his edict of tolerance, allowing Jews to practice their religion freely. |
1783 | The Sultan of Morocco expells the Jews for the third time in recent years after they failed to pay an exorbitant ransom. |
1785-1851 | Zionist author, journalist and and diplomat, Mordechai Manuel Noah. |
1788 | Ratification of the U.S. Constitution means Jews may hold any federal office. |
1789 | French Revolution. |
1784-1885 | Leading Jewish philanthropist, Sir Moses Montefiore, createed numerous agricultural settlements in Eretz Israel. |
1789 | Gershom Mendes Seixas, minister of New York's Jewish congregation, is invited to Washington's inaugural. |
1790 | Jews of Newport, Rhode Island welcome President George Washington. George Washington writes letter to Jewish community proclaiming religious liberty. |
September 27, 1791 | French Jews granted full citizenship for the first time since the Roman Empire. |
1791 | Tsarist Russia confines Jews to Pale of Settlement, between the Black and Baltic Seas. |
1795 | First American Ashkenazi synagogue, Rodeph Shalom, is established in Philadelphia. |
1796 | The Netherlands grants citizenship to Jews. |
1798 | Napoleon, battle of the Pyramids in Islamic Egypt. |
1799 | Napoleon's army moves from Egypt, capturing Gaza and Haifa and gets as far north as Akko which is successfully defended by the British. |
1801-1804 | Muslim Wahhabis capture Mecca & Medina, raid Karbala. |
1801 | The first American Jewish orphan care society established in Charleston, South Carolina. |
1804-1881 | English Statesman Benjamin Disraeli. |
1808 | Polonies Talmud Torah, the first Jewish school on record in the United States established in New York. |
1811-1884 | "Brains of the Confederacy," Judah P. Benjamin. |
March 11, 1812 | Prussia's Edict of Emancipation grants citizenship to Jews. |
1812-1875 | Moses Hess, author, socialist and Zionist. |
1813 | President Madison appoints Mordechai Noah as consul to Tunis and then rescinds the appointment when the Tunisians object to dealing with a Jew. |
1814 | King Ferdinand VII of Portugal reestablishes the Inquisition six years after it was abolished by Joseph Boneparte |
March 29, 1814 | Denmark grants citizenship to Jews. |
1818-1883 | Although born a Jew, he converted to Protestantism and later became the father of Communism, Karl Marx. |
mid-19th century | Rise of the Jewish Reform movement in Europe (Abraham Geiger.) |
1819 | Rebecca Gratz establishes the first independent Jewish women's charitable society in Philadelphia. |
1819-1900 | Head of the American Reform movement and founder of Hebrew Union College and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Isaac Mayer Wise. |
1820 (ended in 1834) | A royal decree officially abolished the Spanish Inquisition. |
1821-1891 | Well-known physician and early Zionist, Leon Pinsker. |
1823 | The Monroe Doctrine closes the American continent to foreign colonization. |
1823 | The first American Jewish periodical, The Jew, published in New York. |
1824 | Society of Reformed Israelites is established in Charleston. |
1825 | Mordechai Emmanual Lassalle led a failed movement to colonize New York's Grand Island for Jewish refugees. |
1826 | In the last known Auto Da Fe, in Valencia, Spain, a poor school master was executed for adhering to Judaism. |
1827 | Reinterpretation of Russia's Conscription Law mandates 31 years of military service for Jews, beginning at age 12. |
1830 | French occupation of Muslim Algiers. |
1830 | German Jews begin to immigrate to America in substantial numbers. |
November 30, 1830 | Greece grants citizenship to Jews. |
1830-1903 | Jewish Impressionist painter, whose works focused on the streets of Paris and landscapes, Camille Pissarro. |
1831 | Louis Philippe of France grants state support to synagogues. |
1831 | Belgium grants citizenship to Jews. |
1831 | Although Jews had been living in Jamaica since 1655, they are finally given the right to vote. |
1831-1896 | Banker and philanthropist, who donated millions of dollars to Jewish organizations and attempted to resettle Eastern European and Russian Jews by estabishing the Jewish Colonial Association (JCA), Baron De Hirsch. |
1832 | Canada grants Jews political rights. |
1833 | The first book by an American Jewish woman, Penina Moise's Fancy's Sketch Book, published in South Carolina. |
1837 | An earthquake in Tzfat and Tiberias kills four thousand people and damages monuments and archeological sites. |
1837 | First Passover Haggadah printed in America. |
1838 | Rebecca Gratz establishes Hebrew Sunday School in Philadelphia. |
1840 | Jews are accused of murdering a Franciscan friar in the Damascus blood libel. |
1840 | First organized movement by American Jewry to protest false accusations of blood libel in Damascus, Syria. |
1840 | The first Hebrew printing press in India is established. |
1840s | The use of the word "Jew" as a verb comes into popular parlance in North America. "To Jew" means to strike a bargain or employ questionable business practices, according to this prejudicial usage. |
1841 | David Levy Yulee of Florida elected to the United States Senate, the first Jew in Congress. |
1843 | B'nai B'rith is organized, the first secular Jewish organization in the United States. |
1844 | Lewis Charles Levin was the first Jew elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. |
1845 | Isaac Leeser publishes his translation of the Pentateuch from the Hebrew into English. |
1845-1934 | Zionist leader Baron Edmond James de Rothschild. |
1847 | London elects its first Jewish member of Parliament, Baron Lionel Nathan Rothschild. However, he cannot be seated as a member of Parliament because he will not swear the oath of office, which affirms Christianity as the true faith. |
1847-1915 | Author, scholar and leader of the American Conservative movement, Solomon Schechter. |
1848 | In every part of Germany, excluding Bavaria, Jews had been granted granted civil rights, allowing Gabriel Riesser, a Jewish advocate, to be elected vice-president of the Frankfurt Vor Parliament and to become a member of the National Assembly. The civil rights, however, existed on paper only and were not enforced. |
1849-1887 | American poet whose "New Colossus" was inscribed on the Statue of Liberty: Emma Lazerus. |
1852 | Mount Sinai, the first Jewish Hospital in the United States is founded by a group of mostly German Jewish immigrants. |
September 1, 1852 | An anti-Jewish riot erupts in Stockholm, Sweden. |
1852 | The Ghetto of Prague is officially abolished. |
1852-1870 | Reign of Napoleon III of France. |
1853 | Isaac Leeser publishes his translation of the Bible into English, the first complete Anglo-Jewish translation of the Pentateuch. |
1855 | First acknowledged non-Muslim visitor permitted to enter Temple Mount since 1187 CE. |
1856 | Sabato Morais, rabbi of Congregation Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia, denounces the evils of American slavery from his pulpit. |
1858 | Edgar Mortara, an Italian Jewish child, is abducted by Papal Guards and placed in a monastery. |
1859-1916 | "Yiddish Mark Twain," famed novelist, Shalom Alechem Rabinowitz. |
1859-1941 (Reign 1888-1918) | Kaiser William II of Germany. |
1860 | First neighborhood, Mishkenot Sha'ananim, built outside Jerusalem's walls. |
1860 | Frenchman Adolohe Cremieux launches the Alliance Israelite Universelle to defend Jewish rights and establish worldwide Jewish educational facilities. |
1860-1904 | Father of Zionism, Theodore Herzl. |
1860-1911 | Major modern Jewish composer of nine symphonies, Gustav Mahler. |
1860-1945 | Henrietta Szold, founder of Hadassah, the Amerian Woman's Zionist Organization. |
1860 | Morris Raphall is the first rabbi to offer prayers at the opening session of Congress. |
1861 | Norway allows Jews to enter the country. |
1861 | Judah Benjamin becomes attorney general of the Confederacy, the first Jew to hold a cabinet-level office in any American government. |
1861-1865 | 1,200 Jews fought for the Confederacy and 6,000 for the Union, including nine generals and 21 colonels in the American Civil War. |
1861-1936 | Essayist and publicist who headed the Jewish and Zionist Organization during the 1930s, was editor of He-Tsefriah and published a history of Zionism, Nahum Sokolow. |
1862 | Moses Hess writes Rome and Jerusalem. |
1862 | General Ulysses S. Grant expels Jewish civilians issues General Order No. 11 expelling the Jews "as a class" from the area under the jurisdiction of the Union army in his military department. |
1862 | Jacob Frankel is appointed first Jewish chaplain in the United States Army. |
1864 | Leon Pinsker writes Autoemancipation and argues for creation of a Jewish state. |
1866 | Jews become a majority in Jerusalem. |
1866 | Switzerland, a hotbed of anti-Jewish edicts grants Jews equal rights only after threats by the United States, France and Britain. |
1867 | First rabbinical school in America, Maimonides College, is founded in Philadelphia. |
1867 | The original Ku Klux Klan is organized to maintain "white supremacy". |
1867 | Hungary passes legislation emancipating the Jews. |
1867 | German journalist Wilhelm Marr publishes a popular book, The Victory of Judaism over Germanism. He coins the word "antisemitism" so that Judenhass, or Jew-hatred, can be discussed in polite society. |
1868 | Benjamin Disraeli becomes prime minister of Great Britain — and the first prime minister of Jewish descent in Europe. |
1869 | Suez Canal opens. |
1869 | Italy grants emancipation to Jews. |
1870 | Sweden grants citizenship to Jews. |
1870 | Ghettos abolished in Italy. |
1870 | The Edict of Pope Nicholas III which required compulsory attendance of Jews at conversion sermons since 1278 is abolished. |
1871 | First Yiddish and Hebrew newspaper in America is published. |
1871 | The the first American kosher cookbook, Jewish Cookery Book, by Esther Jacobs Levy is published. |
1871 | Great Britain grants full emancipation to Jews. |
January 12, 1871 | A new German constitution gives German Jews full legal equality. |
1873 | Reform Judaism in U.S. establishes Union of American Hebrew Congregations. |
1873-1934 | Poet laureate of the Jewish national movement, authored "In City of Slaughter," "El Ha Tsippor-To the Bird" and "Metai Midbar-Dead of the Desert, Hayim Nahman Bialik. |
1873-1956 | Leading theologian of the Reform movement, refused to escape Nazi Germany and spent five years in Terezin (Theresienstadt) concentration camp, Leo Baeck. |
1874 | Jews in Switzerland receive full rights of citizenship under the new constitution. |
1874-1926 | Eric Weiss, better known as Harry Houdini, the master escape artist, was born into an orthodox home. |
19th-20th centuries | Young Men's Hebrew Associations in New York and Philadelphia become prototypes for the more than 120 YMHAs established throughout the US in the next 15 years. In the 20th century, many of these evolve into Jewish Community Centers. |
1874-1952 | Statesman and scientist Chaim Weizmann. |
1875 | Isaac Mayer Wise founds Hebrew Union College, the rabbinical seminary of the Reform movement, in Cincinnati. |
1877 | New Hampshire becomes the last state to offer Jews political equality. |
1878 | Petah Tikvah (Gate of Hope) founded as agricultural colony by orthodox Jews. Although it was abandoned in 1881 after Arab attacks, it was reestablished in 1883 after the First Aliyah. |
1878 | The antisemitic German Christian Social Party is founded by Adolf Stoecker, a court chaplain. The party demands that Jews convert to Christianity. |
December 22, 1878 | Birthdate of Myer Prinstein, a world-record setting, Olympic gold medal winning Jew from Poland. |
1879-1955 | Zionist, physicist, Nobel Prize winner and discoverer of the special and general theory of relativity Albert Einstein. |
March 28, 1880 | Birthdate of Jewish actor Louis Wolheim. |
May 1, 1880 | Albert Lasker, the “father of modern advertising,” is born in Freiburg, Prussia. |
1880-1920 | Zionist leader Joseph Trumpeldor. |
1880-1939 | Zionist leader, founder of the New Zionist Organization, Haganah, Jewish Legion, Irgun, Betar, Revisionist Party, Vladimir Jabotinsky. |
1881 | Ottoman government announces permission for foreign (non-Ottoman) Jews to settle throughout Ottoman Empire. |
1881 | Start of mass migrations of eastern European Jews. |
1881 | French occupation of Muslim Tunisia. |
1881 | Samuel Gompers founds the Federation of Unions, the forerunner of the American Federation of Labor. |
1881 | May Laws restricting the movements and conduct of Jews are enacted in Russia. |
1881 | The word "pogrom" enters the English language, as Russian mobs begin a series of violent attacks against Jews and their property. |
1882 | British occupation of Muslim Egypt. |
1882 | First halutz (pioneering) movement, Bilu, founded in Kharkov Russia. |
1882 | Ottoman government adopts policy to allow Jewish pilgrims and business-people to visit Palestine, but not settle. |
1882 | Hibbat Tzion societies founded. |
November 15, 1882 | Associate Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter is born. |
1884 | First Conference of Hovevei Zion Movement. |
1884 | Ottoman government closes Palestine to foreign (non-Ottoman) Jewish business, but not to Jewish pilgrims. |
1885 | Reform Jewish Pittsburgh Platform. |
1885-1962 | Scientist who developed the theory on the nature of the atom, rescued from Nazi Germany, Neils Bohr. |
1885 | Sir Nathaniel Meyer Rothschild becomes the first Jew in England's in the House of Lords. The Christian oath was amended so that non-Christians could also serve in the House of Lords. |
1886-1929 | Philosopher, author, helped create the Free Jewish House of Study in Frankfurt, Franz Rosenweig. |
1886 | Etz Chaim, the first yeshiva for Talmudic studies in the United States, established in New York. |
1886-1973 | Statesman David Ben-Gurion. |
March 24, 1887 | Oscar Straus is named the U.S. Minister to the Ottoman Empire, the second Jew in U.S. history to reach a position of that caliber. |
1887 | Jewish Theological Seminary opens in New York and, later, becomes the intellectual center of the Conservative movement. |
1887-1990 | Famous artist Marc Chagall. |
1888 | Jewish Publication Society of America is founded to publish English books of Jewish interest. |
1888 | European powers press Ottoman government to allow foreign (non-Ottoman) Jews to settle in Palestine provided they do not do so en masse. |
1888-1970 | Hebrew novelist and Nobel prize winner, Samuel Joseph Agnon. |
1889 | The Educational Alliance founded on the Lower East Side to assist Eastern European immigrants. |
April 20, 1889 | Adolf Hitler is born in Braunau am Inn, Austria. |
October 2, 1890 | Jewish comedian Groucho Marx is born. Along with his brothers he formed the group “the Marx Brothers”, and performed in vaudeville stage acts. The brothers were also pioneers of modern cinema and television. |
February 10, 1890 | Boris Pasternak, the man who would win the Nobel Prize in literature for his novel Dr. Zhivago, is born. . |
1891 | Grand Duke Segai orders the expulsion of 14,00 Jewish families living in Moscow. Those who refuse to convert or become prostitutes are sent to the Pale of Settlement. |
1891 | Christian Zionist William E. Blackstone and 413 prominent Americans petition President Benjamin Harrison to support resettlement of Russian Jews in Palestine. |
1891 | Baron de Hirsh donates 2 million pounds and establishes the Jewish Colonial Association in order to resettle 3 million Russian Jews in agricultural areas in other countries. |
1892 | Workmen's Circle established to promote Yiddishist and socialist ideas among the masses of Jewish laborers. |
1892 | American Jewish Historical Society established. |
1892 | Ottoman government forbids sale of state land to foreign (non-Ottoman) Jews in Palestine. |
1893 | National Council of Jewish Women founded in Chicago. |
1893 | Kosher ritual slaughter banned in Switzerland. |
1894 | French general staff officer Alfred Dreyfus is sentenced to life on Devil's Island in the Dreyfus Affair. |
1894 | Sholem Aleichem begins writing the first episode of the life of Tevye the Dairyman. |
1894-1917 | Last Russian Czar, commissioned what became the anti-Semitic "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," Nicholas II. |
1894-1943 | Artist known for his passionate and often disturbing use of color and form, Chaim Soutine (Smiliouchi). |
1895 | Lillian Wald founds Henry Street Settlement. |
1896 | Theodor Herzl publishes Der Judenstaat, The Jewish State (Zionism): . |
August 29, 1897 | First Jewish Zionist congress convened by Theodor Herzl in Basle, Switzerland, Zionist Organization Founded. |
1897 | Yiddish Socialist Labor party (the Bund) is founded in Russia. |
1897 | Abraham Cahan founds leading Yiddish newspaper, Jewish Daily Forward in New York. |
1897 | The Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), later part of Yeshiva University, begins training Orthodox rabbis. |
February 23, 1898 | Emile Zola is convicted of libel for defending Dreyfus. |
1898 | Eastern European immigrants organize a Union of Orthodox Congregations, whose viewpoint clashes with that of the Reform movement's Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC). |
1898-1936 | Perhaps the greatest composer of the 20th century, whose works include "Rhapsody in Blue," George Gershwin. |
1898-1978 | Fourth Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir. |
1898 | Acting on behalf of Col. Dreyfus, Emile Zola publishes J'Accuse. |
1898 | A section of the Old City Wall is removed to facilitate the entrance of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and his entourage on his visit to Jerusalem. |
1899-1902 | The term "concentration camp" is coined by the British during the Boer War to denote holding areas for potentially threatening Afrikaners (descendents of Dutch who immigrated to South Africa in the mid-1800s). |
1899 | Emile Zola wins a new trial for Alfred Dreyfus, and despite new charges, Dreyfus is aquitted and promoted to Major. |
1899 | Theodor Herzl establishes the Jewish Colonial Trust, the financial arm of the Zionist movement. |
1900-1990 | American composer and conductor best known for "Appalachian Spring," "Billy the Kid" and "Rodeo," Aaron Copland. |
early 20th century | Founding of the Modern Jewish Orthodox movement. |
1901 | The Industrial Removal Office, organized by several Jewish organizations, relocate Jewish immigrants from the Lower East Side to communities across the United States. |
1901 | The Fifth Zionist Congress decides to establish Keren Kayemet LeIsrael (KKL) - The Jewish National Fund. |
1902 | Theodor Herzl publishes a romantic utopian novel, Altneuland, Old-New Land, a vision of the Jewish State. |
1902 | Russian Jews organize U.S.-based Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society to serve as counselors, interpreters, attorneys, etc. |
1902-1979 | Composer and partner of Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960), known for "Oklahoma!" and" South Pacific," Richard Rogers. |
1902 | Solomon Schechter comes from England to America to head the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Conservative Judaism's rabbinical seminary. |
1903 | British Government proposes "Uganda Scheme," rejected by the Sixth Zionist Congress. |
1903 | Kishinev massacre increases Jewish exodus from Russia. |
1903 | Oscar Straus is appointed Secretary of Commerce and Labor by President Roosevelt, the first Jew to serve in the U.S. Cabinet. |
August 26, 1903 | Herzl proposes Kenya as a safe haven for Jews. |
1903-1907 | 500,000 Jews flee Russia, 90% go to the United States. |
1904-1914 | Second Aliyah, mainly from Russia and Poland. |
1905 | Gimnazia Herzilia, the first Hebrew high school, opens in Tel Aviv. |
1905 | Zionist Labor Party (Poale Zion) formed in Minsk in an effort to combine Zionism and Socialism. |
1906 | American Jewish Committee is founded to safeguard Jewish rights internationally. |
early 20th century | Sholem Aleichem comes to New York from Russia to write for the American Yiddish theater. The musical Fiddler on the Roof is based on his story Tevye's Daughters. |
1906 | First Hebrew high school founded in Jaffa and Bezalel school founded in Jerusalem. |
1907 | Physicist Albert A. Michelson is first American Jew to win Nobel Prize. |
1907 | Adolf Hitler is rejected for study at the Vienna Academy of Art. |
1908 | Discovery of oil in Persia; leads to Anglo-Persian (later British Petroleum). |
1908 | Revolution by "young Turks" depose Sultan Abdul Hamid the Damned under Ottoman. |
1908 | Turkey grants Jews political rights. |
1908 | Hijaz Railway from Damascus to Medina. |
1909 | Julius Rosenwald, American merchant and philanthropist, converts Sears, Roebuck and Co. into the largest mail-order house in the world. |
1908-1914 | Second Yemenite Aliyah. |
1909 | First kibbutz, Degania, founded. |
1909 | Founding of Tel Aviv as Hebrew speaking Jewish city. |
1909 | Hashomer, the first Jewish self-defense organization is founded to replace Arab guards protecting Jewish settlements. |
1911-1913 | Russian neurologist Sikowsy testifies thet Jews use Christian blood for ritual purposes in the Beilis Trial (Russia). |
1911-1986 | Hall of Fame baseball player Hank Greenberg. |
1911 | A tragic fire in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York's Lower East Side kills 146 women, mostly Jews. |
1911 | Palestinan journalist Najib Nasser publishes first book in Arabic on Zionism entitled, "Zionism: Its History, Objectives and Importance." Palestinian newspaper Filastin begins addressing its readers as "Palestinians" and warns them about Zionism. |
1913 | In Russia, Menahem Mendel Beilis, a Jew, is put on trial for the ritual murder of a Christian boy. After two years followed by a "show trial," Beilis is acquitted. |
1912 | United States abrogates treaty of 1832 with Russia because of Russia's refusal to honor passports of Jewish Americans. |
1912 | Henrietta Szold founds Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization. |
1912 | Haifa's Technion is founded. |
1912 | Agudah (Agudat Israel) formed as the World Organization of Orthodox Jewry at Katowitz. |
1912 | 12 of the 100 members of the Reichstag (German parliament) are Jewish. |
1913 | Trial of Leo Frank in Atlanta leads to the founding of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. |
1913 | Solomon Schechter, president of the Jewish Theological Seminary, founds the United Synagogue of America (later the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism). |
1913 | First Arab Nationalist Congress meets in Paris. |
1913-1993 | Commander of the Etzel, statesman and Israeli prime minister, Menachem Begin. |
1914 | Joint Distribution Committee of American Funds for the Relief of Jewish War Sufferers is established. |
1914-1919 | World War I. |
1914 | Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo prompting World War One. |
1914 | During First World War, Russian forces in retreat drive 600,000 Jews from their homes. |
1914 | American Jewish Relief Committee established to distribute funds to needy Jews; it later combined with other Jewish relief organizations to become the Joint Distribution Committee. |
1914 | The Ottoman empire enters the war on the side of Germany. |
1915 | Moses Alexander elected Governor of Idaho - the first Jew to win the governorship of an American state. |
1915 | MacMahon-Hussein correspondence. |
1915 | Zion Mule Corps established by Yosef Trumpeldor in British army. |
1915 | Avshalom Feinburg and Aaron Aaronsohn form NILI (Netzah Israel Lo Yeshaker), recruited to spy on the Turks for the British. |
1915 | The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is created in the wake of the Leo Frank Affair. |
1915-1981 | Moshe Dayan, Haganah fighter, Israeli minister of Defense. |
1915 | Leo Frank, a southern American Jew falsely convicted of murdering a 14 year-old girl is hung by a lynch mob. |
October 30, 1915 | Jewish television news pioneer Ferdinand "Fred" Friendly Wachenheimer is born. |
1915-2005 | Arthur Miller, American playwright whose works include, "Death of a Salesman," The Crucible" and "A View From the Bridge." . |
January 28, 1916 | Louis D. Brandeis is nominated to the Supreme Court by Woodrow Wilson. At the time of his nomination, the Senate had never before held a public hearing on a President's Supreme Court Nominee; they had all been confirmed on the day of their nomination. However, it took four months of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings until the Senate brought the nomination of Brandeis to a vote. Brandeis was confirmed as the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice in a Senate vote of 47 - 22 on June 1, 1916. |
1916 | Sykes-Picot Agreement divides Middle East into spheres of British and French influence. |
1916 | Start of Arab revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule. |
1916 | Louis Dembitz Brandeis is first Jew appointed to the Supreme Court. |
1916 | Germany accuses Jews of evading active service in WWI, despite 100,000 Jews serving, 12% higher than their population ratio. |
1917 | British capture Baghdad. |
1917 | Jewish Telegraphic Agency is founded. |
1917 | Four-hundred years of Ottoman rule ended by British conquest. |
1917 | The Balfour Declaration favors Jewish Palestinian State. |
1917 | As WWI comes closer to Tel-Aviv and Jaffa, the Turkish Governer of Jaffa orders all Jews to leave Tel-Aviv and Jaffa. |
1917 | Jews granted full rights in Russia. |
1917 | Russian Revolution breaks out, heavy fighting in the South and West, where over 3 million Jews live. Over 2000 pogroms took place, claiming the lives of up to 200,000 Jews in the next three years. |
1917 | The United States declared war on Germany. Appoximately 250,000 Jewish soldiers (20% of whom were volunteers) served in the U.S. Army, roughy 5.7% while Jews only made up 3.25% of the general American population. |
1917 | The Jewish Welfare Board is created and serves the social and religious requirements of Jewish soldiers; expands after the war. |
1917 | 355,000 people chose representatives for the first American Jewish Congress. |
1917 | Over 2,700 men volunteer for the new Jewish Legion of the British Army which fought in Transjordan, among other places. |
1917 | Vladamir Ilyich Lenin and Leon Trotsky ousted Kerensky and took over the Russian government. |
1917 | Surrender of Ottoman forces in Jerusalem to Allied Forces under General Sir Edmund Allenby. |
1917 | British forces land on the beaches of Gaza during WW1. |
Unrest & Realignment in the Middle East
(1914-1918 CE)
1916 | Sykes-Picot Agreement divides Middle East into spheres of British and French influence. |
1916 | Start of Arab revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule. |
1917 | British capture Baghdad. |
1917 | Jewish Telegraphic Agency is founded. |
1917 | Four-hundred years of Ottoman rule ended by British conquest. |
1917 | The Balfour Declaration favors Jewish Palestinian State. |
1917 | As WWI comes closer to Tel-Aviv and Jaffa, the Turkish Governer of Jaffa orders all Jews to leave Tel-Aviv and Jaffa. |
1917 | Jews granted full rights in Russia. |
1917 | Russian Revolution breaks out, heavy fighting in the South and West, where over 3 million Jews live. Over 2000 pogroms took place, claiming the lives of up to 200,000 Jews in the next three years. |
1917 | The United States declared war on Germany. Appoximately 250,000 Jewish soldiers (20% of whom were volunteers) served in the U.S. Army, roughy 5.7% while Jews only made up 3.25% of the general American population. |
1917 | The Jewish Welfare Board is created and serves the social and religious requirements of Jewish soldiers; expands after the war. |
1917 | 355,000 people chose representatives for the first American Jewish Congress. |
1917 | Over 2,700 men volunteer for the new Jewish Legion of the British Army which fought in Transjordan, among other places. |
1917 | Vladamir Ilyich Lenin and Leon Trotsky ousted Kerensky and took over the Russian government. |
1917 | British General Allenby captured Jerusalem from the Turks, ending Ottoman rule. |
1918 | Damascus taken by T.E. Lawrence and Arabs. |
British Rule in Palestine
(1918-1947 CE)
.. ..... .
1918 |
Treaty of Versailles formally ends Word War I. Out of an estimated 1.5 million Jewish soldiers in all the armies, approximately 170,000 were killed and over 100,000 cited for valor.
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1918 |
Damascus taken by T.E. Lawrence and Arabs.
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1918 |
American Jewish Congress is founded.
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Nov. 1918 |
Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates.
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1918 |
Nahum Zemach founds the Moscow-based Habimah Theater which receives acclaim for “The Dybbuk.”
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Jan. 5, 1919 |
The German Workers' Party (DAP) is founded in Munich; Adolf Hitler joins the Party nine months later.
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April 5, 1919 |
35 Jews participating in a community meeting to discuss relief distribution from the United States were rounded up and massacred, suspected of being “Bolshevik plotters.” They were executed without question, or trial.
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July 31, 1919 |
Holocaust surviror and author Primo Levi is born in Turin, Italy.
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1919 |
Jewish educational summer camping is launched in the United States with what came to be known as the Cejwin Camps.
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1919 |
Versailles Peace Conference decides that the conquered Arab provinces will not be restored to Ottoman rule.
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1919 |
First Palestinian National Congress meeting in Jerusalem sends two memoranda to Versailles rejecting Balfour Declaration and demanding independence.
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1919-1923 |
Romania grants citizenship to Jews.
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1919 |
Egyptian revolution.
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1919 |
Chaim Weizmann heads Zionist delegation at Versailles Peace Conference.
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1919-1923 |
Third Aliyah, mainly from Russia.
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1919 |
Emir Faisel wrote a letter to Felix Frankfurter supporting Zionism, “We Arabs...wish the Jews a most hearty welcome.”
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1919-1943 |
Commander of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Mordechai Anilewicz.
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1919 |
League of Nations established in an effort to prevent further wars.
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1920 | |
1920 |
Vaad Leumi (National Council) set up by Jewish community (yishuv)to conduct its affairs.
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1920 |
Keren Hayesod created for education, absorbtion and the development of rural settlements in Eretz-Israel.
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1920 |
Chaim Weizmann elected president of the World Zionist Organization.
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1920 |
Fall of Tel Hai to Arab attackers; Joseph Trumpeldor and five men under his command killed.
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1920 |
Mandate for the Land of Israel given over to Britain on the condition that the Balfour Declaration be implemented, San Remo Conference.
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1920 |
Sir Herbert Samuel, British statesman, appointed High Commissioner of Palestine.
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1920 |
Henry Ford's newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, begins publishing its anti-Semitic propaganda, including the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
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Feb. 24, 1920 |
The first mass meeting of the National Socialist Party (NSDAP) takes place at Munich's Hofbräuhaus.
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April 1, 1920 |
Adolf Hitler is honorably discharged from the German Army.
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1920 | |
1920 |
Second and third Palestinan National Congress' held.
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1921 |
The Times of London pronounces the PProtocols of the Elders of Zion a forgery.
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1921 |
U.S. immigration laws “reformed” to effectively exclude Eastern European Jews and other immigrants. Further restrictions imposed in 1924.
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1921 | |
1921 |
The Allied Reparations Committee assesses German liability for World War I at 132 billion gold marks (about $31 billion).
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1921 |
The NSDAP, also known as the Nazi Party, establishes the Sturmabteilung (SA; Storm Troopers; Brown Shirts).
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1921 | |
1921 |
Völkischer Beobachter (People's Observer), the official National Socialist newspaper, begins publication.
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July 29, 1921 |
Adolf Hitler becomes the Nazi Party's first chairman with dictatorial powers.
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1921 |
Kingdom of Iraq established.
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1921 |
First moshav, Nahalal, founded in the Jezreel Valley.
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1921 |
Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook and Rabbi Ya'akov Meir are elected the first two cheif Rabbis of Eretz-Israel.
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1921-1944 |
Famous Hungarian Jewish poet and paratrooper who fought in WWII, Hannah Szenes (Senesh).
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1922 |
Britain granted Mandate for Palestine (Land of Israel) by League of Nations.
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1922 |
Transjordan set up on three-fourths of the British mandate area, forbidding Jewish immigration, leaving one-fourth for the Jewish national home.
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1922 |
Jewish Agency representing Jewish community vis-à-vis Mandate authorities set up.
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1922 |
Mordecai M. Kaplan founds the Society for the Advancement of Judaism, the cradle of the Reconstructionist movement.
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1922 |
The United States Congress and President Harding approve the Balfour Declaration.
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1922 |
Supreme Muslim Council created under the jurisdiction of the British government to centralize religious affairs and institutions, but is corrupted by the overzealous Husseini family who used it as an anti-Jewish platform.
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1922 |
Lenin creates the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
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1922 |
Benito Mussolini establishes a Fascist government in Italy.
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1922 |
Harvard's president proposes a quota on the number of Jews admitted. After a contentious debate, he withdrew the recommendation.
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1922 |
League of Nations Council approves Mandate for Palestine.
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1922 |
First British census of Palestine shows total population 757,182 (11% Jewish).
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1922 |
Fifth Palestinian National Congress in Nablus, agrees to economic boycott of Zionists.
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1922 |
Jungsturm Adolf Hitler (Adolf Hitler Boys Storm Troop) and Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler (Shock Troop Adolf Hitler) are established. The latter will form the nucleus of the Schutzstaffel (SS).
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June 24, 1922 |
Walther Rathenau, Jewish foreign minister of Germany, is assassinated by members of Organisation Consul, a clandestine, right-wing political organization led by Captain Hermann Ehrhardt.
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September 8, 1922 |
Jewish entertainer Sid Caeser is born.
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Jan.1923 | |
March 1923 |
The Schutzstaffel (SS; Protection Squad) is established. It is initially a bodyguard for Hitler but will later become an elite armed guard of the Third Reich.
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1923 |
Palestine constitution suspended by British because of Arab refusal to cooperate.
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1923 |
Overthrow of Ottoman Muslim rule by “young Turks” (Kemal Ataturk) and establishment of secular state.
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1923 |
Sixth Palestinian national Congress held in Jaffa.
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1923 |
The first issue of the pro-Nazi, antisemitic newspaper Der Stürmer (The Attacker) is published in Nuremberg, Germany. Its slogan is "Die Juden sind unser Unglück" ("The Jews are our misfortune"), a phrase picked up from Heinrich von Treitschke.
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Nov. 8-11, 1923 |
Hitler's so-called “Beer Hall Putsch” takeover attempt at Munich fails, temporarily rattling the National Socialist Party and leading to Hitler's arrest in Bavaria, Germany.
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1923 | |
1924-1932 |
Fourth Aliyah, mainly from Poland.
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1924 |
Benjamin Frankel starts Hillel Foundation. The first Hillel House opens at the University of Illinois, offers religious and social services.
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1924 |
Caliphate officially abolished.
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February 29, 1924 |
Jewish MLB star Al Rosen is born.
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March 8, 1924 |
Jewish sculptor Anthony Caro is born in England.
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May 11, 1924 |
The first conference of the General Zionist movement is held in Jerusalem.
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May 14, 1924 |
Ultra-Orthodox Jews found an agricultural settlement between Ramat Gan and Petah Tikva: Bnei- Brak.
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1924 |
The United States Congress passes the Immigration Restriction Act, which effectively bans immigration to the U.S. from Asia and Eastern Europe.
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July 1924 |
While in prison, Hitler begins work on Mein Kampf.
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September 16, 1924 |
Birthdate of Lauren Bacall.
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1925-1979 |
Pahlevi dynasty in Persia (“Iran”: 1935).
|
1925 |
Revisionist Movement founded by Zeev Jabotinsky.
|
1925 |
Hebrew University of Jerusalem opened on Mt. Scopus.
|
1925 |
Edna Ferber is the first American Jew to win Pulitzer Prize in fiction.
|
1925 |
Palestinian National Congress meets in Jaffa.
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March 24, 1925 |
Publication of the pro-Nazi, anti-Semitic newspaper Der Stürmer resumes after being banned by the Weimar government in November 1923.
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April 26, 1925 |
Paul von Hindenburg is elected president of Germany.
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1926 |
France proclaims Republic of Lebanon.
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October 6, 1927 |
Warner Brothers releases The Jazz Singer, about a cantor's son who follows his dreams to Broadway against his father's wishes. This was the first "talking" movie ever made, and it is also famous for it's accurate portrayal of Jewish home life.
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1928 |
Britain recognizes independence of Transjordan.
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1928 |
Seventh Palestinian National Congress convened in Jerusalem; established a new forty-eight member executive committee.
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1928 |
Yeshiva College is dedicated in New York.
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February 11, 1928 |
Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor to ever serve in either house of the United States Congress, is born in Budapest, Hungary.
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October 8, 1928 |
Jewish actor, producer, and director Larry Semon supposedly dies, but many believe he faked his own death to avoid creditors.
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1929 | |
1929 |
Hebron Jews massacred by Arab militants.
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1929-1945 |
Anne Frank, Holocaust victim whose diary, written during the Nazi Occupation became famous.
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1929-1939 |
Fifth Aliyah, from Germany.
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1930 |
Hope-Simpson report, predecessor to Passfield White Paper, recommends and end to all Jewish immigration to Eretz-Israel.
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1930 |
Lord Passfield issues his White Paper banning further land acquisition by Jews and slowing Jewish immigration.
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1930 |
Salo Wittmayer Baron joins the faculty of Columbia University, his is the first chair in Jewish history at a secular university in the United States.
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1931 |
Etzel (the Irgun), Jewish underground organization, founded.
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1930 |
Second British census of Palestine shows total population of 1,035,154 (16.9% Jewish).
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1931 |
The Nahum Zemach-founded Moscow-based Habimah Theater which received acclaim for "The Dybbuk" moves to Eretz-Israel.
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1932 |
'Abd al-Aziz Al Saud proclaims the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
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1932 |
British Mandate over Iraq terminated, Iraq gains independence.
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1932 |
Discovery of oil in Bahrain.
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1932 | Herbert Lehman was elected New York's first Jewish governor; from that time on, Jews formed a pact with the Democratic Party. |
1932 |
First Maccabia athletic games take place with representatives from 14 countries.
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1932 |
German Chancellor von Papen persuaded President von Hindenburg to offer Hitler the chancellorship.
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1932 |
Formation of Istiqlal Party as first constituted Palestinian-Arab political party; Awni Abdul-Hadi elected president.
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April 21, 1933 |
Nazis outlaw Kosher slaughter of animals.
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1933 |
Concession agreement signed between Saudi government and Standard Oil of California (SOCAL). Prospecting begins. SOCAL assigns concession to California Arabian Standard Oil Co. (CASOC).
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1933 |
The American Jewish Congress declares a boycott on German goods to protest the Nazi persecution of Jews.
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1933 |
Assassination of Chaim Arlozorov.
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1933 |
Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.
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1933 |
Germany begins anti-Jewish boycott.
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July 20, 1933 |
Cardinal Pacelli, who later became Pope Pius XII, signed the Hitler Concordat; whereby the Vatican accepted National Socialism.
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1933 |
Albert Einstein, upon visiting the United States, learns that Hitler had been elected and decided not to return to Germany, takes up position at Princeton.
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1933 |
Riots in Jaffa and Jerusalem to protest British "pro-Zionist" policies.
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1934 |
In Afghanistan, two thousand Jews are expelled from towns and forced to live in the wilderness.
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1934 |
American Jews cheer Detroit Tigers' Hank Greenberg when he refuses to play ball on Yom Kippur. In 1938, with five games left to the season, Greenberg's 58 home runs are two shy of Babe Ruth's record. When several pitchers walk him rather than giving him a shot at the record, many believe major league baseball did not want a Jew to claim that place in America's national sport.
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1935 |
Jewish rights in Germany rescinded by Nuremberg laws.
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1935 |
Hakibbutz Hadati, the religious kibbutz movement is founded.
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1935 |
Regina Jonas was ordained by Liberal (Reform) Rabbi Max Dienemann in Germany, becoming the first woman rabbi.
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1935 |
Ze'ev Jabotinsky founds the New Zionist Organization.
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1935 |
Official establishment of the Palestine Arab Party in Jerusalem; Jamal al-Husseini elected president.
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1936-1939 |
Anti-Jewish riots instigated by Arab militants.
|
1936 |
Supported by the Axis powers, the Arab Higher Committee encourages raids on Jewish communities in Eretz-Israel.
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1936 | Texaco buys 50% interest in California Arabian Standard Oil Co.'s concession. |
1936 |
Leon Blum becomes the first Jew elected premier of France, enacts many social reforms.
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1936 |
The first of the Tower and Stockade Settlements (Tel Amel) Nir David is erected.
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1936 |
Syria ratifies the Franco-Syrian treaty; France grants Syria and Lebanon independence.
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1936 |
World Jewish Congress convened in Geneva.
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1936 |
Peel Commission investigated Arab riots, concluded Arab claims were "baseless".
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March 9, 1936 |
The Przytyk Pogrom, in which 3 Jews were killed and 60 wounded.
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October 4, 1936 |
The “Battle of Cable street” takes place in London.
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1937 |
Reform Jewish Columbus Platform.
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1937 | |
1937 |
The Peel Commission recommends the partition of Palestine between Jews and Arabs.
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1937 |
Chaim Weizmann and David Ben-Gurion accept partition plan, despite fierce opposition at the 20th Zionist Congress.
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1937 |
John Woodhead declares partition unworkable after Arab riots.
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1937 |
Central conference of American Rabbis reaffirm basic reform philosophies in the Colombus Platform.
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1938 | Dammam Well No. 7 discovers commercial quantities of oil. Barge exports to Bahrain. |
1938 | Oil discovered in Kuwait. |
Nov. 9, 1938 |
Kristallnacht — German Jewish synagogues burned down.
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1938 |
Charles E. Coughlin, a Roman Catholic priest, launches media campaign in America against Jews.
|
1938 |
The Dominican Republic is the only country out of 32 at the Evian Conference willing to help Jews trying to escape Nazi Germany.
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Sept. 29, 1938 |
Chamberlain declares "peace in our time" after allowing Hitler to annex the Sudetenland in the Munich Agreement.
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1938 |
Catholic churches ring bells and fly Nazi flags to welcom Hitler's troops in Austria.
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1938 |
Hershel Grynszpan, 17, a German refugee, assassinates Ernst von Rath, the third secretary to the German embassy in Paris.
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1938 |
More than 100,000 Jews march in an anti-Hitler parade in New York's Madison Square Garden.
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1939 | First tanker-load of oil is exported aboard D.G. Scofield. |
1939 |
President Roosevelt appoints Zionist and Jewish activist Felix Frankfurter to the Supreme Court.
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1939 |
Jewish immigration severely limited by British White Paper.
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1939 |
S.S. St. Louis, carrying 907 Jewish refugees from Germany, is turned back by Cuba and the United States.
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September 1, 1939 |
BBC News reports Germany has invaded Poland.
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September 3, 1939 |
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announces that Britain is at war with Germany.
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1939 |
Jewish songwriter Irving Berlin introduces his song "God Bless America." He also wrote "White Christmas".
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October 14, 1939 |
Jewish fashion CEO and icon Ralph Lauren is born.
|
1940 |
Nazis establish ghettos in Poland.
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1940 |
British government authorizes the Jewish Agency to recruit 10,000 Jews to form Jewish units in the British army.
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1940 |
British refuse illegal immigrant ship, the Patria, permission to dock in Palestine.
|
1940 |
Chabad-Lubavitch purchases their iconic headquarters in New York City
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June 14, 1940 |
The first train of prisoners arrives at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Only 20 people of these initial 700+ were Jewish.
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September 24, 1940 |
The blatantly anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda film “Jud Suss” premieres in Berlin
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1941 |
British and France guarantee Syrian independence.
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1941 |
Lohamei Herut Yisrael (Lehi) or Stern Gang underground movement formed.
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February 25, 1941 | |
May 15, 1941 | |
May 20, 1941 |
Jewish commando David Raziel is killed by a German bomber while on a mission for the British in Iraq.
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September 29, 1941 | |
March 2, 1942 |
Jewish rock musician Lou Reed is born.
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1942 |
Rabbi Stephen S. Wise publicizes Riegner report confirming mass murder of European Jews.
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1942 | |
1942 |
Nazi leaders refine the "Final Solution" -- genocide of the Jewish people -- at Wannsee Conference.
|
1943 |
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
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1943 |
Palmach parachutes into enemy lines in Europe.
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1943 |
British deport illegal immigrants to Cyprus.
|
1943 |
Raphael Lemkin, an international lawyer who escaped from Poland to the U.S. in 1941, coins the term genocide to describe the Nazi extermination of European Jews.
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1943 |
Zionist Biltmore Conference, held at Biltmore Hotel in New York, formulates new policy of creating a "Jewish Commonwealth" in Palestine and organizing a Jewish army.
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October 6, 1943 |
Two days before Yom Kippur 1943, over 400 Orthodox Rabbis marched from Union Station to the Capital Building and White House in Washington D.C., calling for elected officials to increase the quota of Jewish refugees from Europe allowed in the U.S. The Rabbis also demanded the creation of a special federal agency tasked with the rescue of European Jewry.
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November 18, 1943 | The chief of the BBC orders his employees to downplay the attrocities of the Holocaust, warning them not to broadcast or publish anything that might try to “correct” anti-Semitic sentiments throughout Europe. |
January 13, 1944 | U.S. Treasury Dept. memo rebukes State Dept. for relative inaction regarding Jewish refugees. |
1944 | CASOC renamed Arabian American Oil Co.(Aramco). |
1944 |
Jewish Brigade formed as part of British forces.
|
1944 |
FDR establishes War Refugee Board. For most victims of Nazism, it comes too late.
|
1944 |
Camp for Jewish war refugees is opened at Oswego, New York.
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July 26, 1944 |
Russians arrive in the Lwow Ghetto, ridding the city of it's German occupiers, only to find the Jewish population liquidated.
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November 1, 1944 |
Jewish singer/songwriter Richard "Kinky" Friedman is born.
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1939/1942-1945 | |
1945 |
International tribunal for war crimes is established at Nuremberg.
|
1945 |
Bess Myerson becomes the first Jewish woman to win the Miss America Pageant.
|
1945 |
Covenant of League of Arab States, emphasizing Arab character of Palestine, signed in Cairo by Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Transjordan, and Yemen.
|
1945 |
United Nations established.
|
1945 |
President Truman asks Britain to allow 100,000 Jews into Palestine.
|
1945 |
Arab League Council decides to boycott goods produced by Zionist firms in Palestine.
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March 22, 1945 |
Two convicted members of the Stern Gang hanged for Murder of Lord Moyne in Cairo prison.
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November 3, 1945 |
Winningest Jewish MLB player in history, Ken Holtzman, is born.
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January 19, 1946 |
Member of Jewish underground destroyed a power station and a portion of the Central Jerusalem prison by explosives. Two persons were killed by the police..
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January 20, 1946 |
Jewish underground members launched an attack against the British-controlled Givat Olga Coast Guard Station located between Tel Aviv and Haifa. Ten persons were injured and one was killed. Captured papers indicated that the purpose of this raid was to take revenge on the British for their seizure of the refugee ship on January 18. British military authorities in Jerusalem questioned 3,000 Jews and held 148 in custody..
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April 25, 1946 |
Jewish underground attacked a British military installation near Tel Aviv. This group which contained a number of young girls, had as its goal the capture of British weapons. British authorities rounded up 1,200 suspects..
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June 24, 1946 | |
June 27, 1946 |
Thirty Irgun members are sentenced by a British military court to 15 years in prison. One, Benjamin Kaplan, was sentenced to life for carrying a firearm..
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June 29, 1946 |
British military units and police raided Jewish settlements throughout Palestine searching for the leaders of Haganah. The Jewish Agency for Palestine was occupied and four top official arrested. .
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July 1, 1946 |
British officials announced the discovery of a large arms dump hidden underground at Meshek Yagur. 2659 men and 59 women were detained fo the three day operation in which 27 settlements were searched. Four were killed and 80 were injured..
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July 3, 1946 |
Palestine High Commissioner, Lt. General Sir Alan Cunningham commuted to life imprisonment the death sentences of Josef Simkhon and lssac Ashbel, Irgun members.
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July 4, 1946 |
Tel Aviv. British officers, Captains K Spencer, C. Warburton and A. Taylor who had been kidnapped by Irgun on June 18 and held as hostages for the lives of Simkohn and Ashbel, were released in Tel Aviv unharmed. At this time, Irgun issued a declaration of war against the British claiming that they had no alternative but to fight. .
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July 22, 1946 |
The west wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem which housed British Military Headquarters and other governmental offices was destroyed at 12:57 PM by explosives planted in the cellar by members of the Irgun terrorist gang. By the 26 of July, the casualties were 76 persons killed, 46 injured and 29 still missing in the rubble. The dead included many British, Arabs and Jews. .
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July 24, 1946 | |
July 28, 1946 |
The British Palestine Commander, Lt. General Sir Evelyn Barker, banned fraternization by British troops with Palestine Jews whom he stated "cannot be absolved of responsibility for terroristic acts." The order states that this will punish "the race . . . by striking at their pockets and showing our contempt for them." .
|
July 29, 1946 |
Police in Tel Aviv raided a workshop making bombs..
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July 30, 1946 |
Tel Aviv is placed under a 22hour-a-day curfew as 20,000 British troops began a house-to-house sweep for members of the Jewish underground. The city is sealed off and troops are ordered to shoot to kill any curfew violators.
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July 31, 1946 |
A large cache of weapons, extensive counterfeiting equipment and $1,000,000 in counterfeit Government bonds were discovered in Tel Aviv's largest synagogue. Also, two ships have arrived at Haifa with a total of 3,200 illegal Jewish immigrants. .
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August 2, 1946 |
British military authorities ended the curfew in Tel Aviv after detaining 500 persons for further questioning..
|
August 12, 1946 |
The British Government announced that it will allow no more unscheduled immigration into Palestine and that those seeking entry into that country will be sent to Cyprus and other areas under detention. Declaring that such immigration threatens a civil war with the Arab population, it charges a "minority of Zionist extremists" with attempting to force an unacceptable solution of the Palestine problem..
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August 12, 1946 |
Two ships carrying a total of 1,300 Jewish refugees arrived at Haifa. The port area was isolated on August 11 by British military and naval units. The first deportation ship sailed for Cyprus with 500 Jews on board.
|
August 13, 1946 |
Three Jews were killed and seven wounded when British troops were compelled to fire on a crowd of about 1,000 persons trying to break into the port area of Haifa. Two Royal Navy ships with 1,300 illegal Jewish immigrants on board sailed for Cyprus. Another ship with 600 illegal immigrants was captured and confined in the Haifa harbor. .
|
August 26, 1946 |
British military units searched the coastal villages of Casera and Sadoth Yarn for three Jews who bombed the transport "Empire Rival" last week. Eighty-five persons, including the entire male population of one of the villages were sent to the Rafa detention center..
|
August 29, 1946 |
Jerusalem. the British Government announced the commutation to life imprisonment of the death sentences imposed on 18 Jewish youths convicted of bombing the Haifa railroad shops..
|
August 30, 1946 |
British military units discovered arms and munitions dumps in the Jewish farming villages of Dorot and Ruhama.
|
Sept. 8, 1946 |
Jewish underground members cut the Palestine railroad in 50 places..
|
Sept. 9, 1946 |
Tel Aviv. two British officers were killed in an explosion in a public building..
|
Sept. 10, 1946 |
British troops imposed a curfew and arrested 101 Jews and wounded two in a search for saboteurs in Tel Aviv and neighboring Ramat Gan. Irgun took the action against the railways on September 8, as a protest..
|
Sept. 14, 1946 |
Jewish underground members robbed three banks in Jaffa and Tel Aviv, killing three Arabs. Thirty-six Jews were arrested..
|
Sept. 15, 1946 |
Jewish underground attacks a police station on the coast near Tel Aviv but were driven off by gunfire. .
|
October 2, 1946 |
British military units and police seized 50 Jews in a Tel Aviv cafe after a Jewish home was blown up. This home belonged to a Jewish woman who had refused to pay extortion money to the Irgun. .
|
October 6, 1946 |
Jerusalem. An RAF man was killed by gunfire..
|
October 8, 1946 | |
October 15, 1946 |
Nazi Party leader Herman Goering committs suicide by ingesting a cyanide capsule the night before he is due to be hung following the Nuremberg Trials.
|
October 16, 1946 |
Executions of those convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials.
|
October 23, 1946 | |
October 25, 1946 |
20 German physicians are charged by the United States with war crimes and crimes against humanity, for their role in human experimentation at Nazi concentration camps.
|
October 31, 1946 |
The British Embassy in Rome was damaged by a bomb, believed to have been phased by Jewish underground members. Irgun took responsibility for the bombing on November 4..
|
November 3, 1946 |
Two Jews and two Arabs were killed in clashes between Arabs and a group of Jews attempting to establish a settlement at Lake Hula in northern Palestine. .
|
November 5, 1946 |
British authorities released the following eight Jewish Agency leaders from the Latrun concentration camp where they had been held since June 29: Moshe Shertok, Dr. Issac Greenbaum, Dr. Bernard Joseph, David Remiz, David Hacohen, David Shingarevsky, Joseph Shoffman and Mordecai Shatter. A total of 2,550 Haganah suspects have also been released as well as 779 Jews arrested in the wake of the King David bombing. .
|
November 7, 1946 |
Railroad traffic was suspended hr 24 hours throughout Palestine following a fourth Irgun attack on railway facilities in two days.
|
November 9-13, 1946 |
Nineteen persons, eleven British soldiers and policemen and eight Arab constables, were killed in Palestine during this period as Jewish underground members, using land mines and suitcase bombs, increased their attacks on railroad stations, trains and even streetcars. .
|
Nov. 14, 1946 |
London. The Board of Deputies of British Jews condemned Jewish underground groups who threatened to export their attacks to England. .
|
Nov. 18, 1946 |
Police in Tel Aviv attacked Jews, assaulting many and firing into houses. Twenty Jews were injured in fights with British troops following the death on November 17 of three policemen and an RAF sergeant in a land mine explosion..
|
Nov. 20, 1946 |
Five persons were injured when a bomb exploded in the Jerusalem tax office. .
|
Dec. 2-5, 1946 |
Ten persons, including six British soldiers, were killed in bomb and land-mine explosions. .
|
Dec. 3, 1946 |
A member of the Stern Gang was killed in an aborted hold-up attempt. .
|
Dec. 26, 1946 |
Armed Jewish underground members raided two diamond factories in Nathanya and Tel Aviv and escaped with nearly $107,000 in diamonds, cash and bonds. These raids signaled an end to a two-week truce during the World Zionist Congress..
|
1947 | |
January 1, 1947 |
Dov Gruner was sentenced to hang by a British military court for taking part in a raid on the Ramat Gan police headquarters in April of 1946. .
|
January 2, 1947 |
Jewish underground staged bombings and machine gun attacks in five cities. Casualties were low. Pamphlets seized warned that the Irgun had again declared war against the British. .
|
January 4, 1947 |
Jerusalem. British soldiers have been ordered to wear sidearms at all times and were forbidden to enter any cafe or restaurant. .
|
January 5, 1947 |
Eleven British troops were injured in a hand grenade attack on a train carrying troops to Palestine. The attack took place near Benha, 25 miles from Cairo..
|
January 8, 1947 |
British police arrested 32 persons suspected of being members of the Irgun's "Black Squad" in raids on Rishomel Zion and Rehoboth. .
|
January 12, 1947 |
One underground member drove a truck filled with high explosives into the central police station and exploded it, killing two British policemen and two Arab constables and injuring 140 others, and escaped. This action ended a 10-day lull in the violence and the Stern Gang took the credit for it. .
|
January 14, 1947 |
Yehudi Katz is sentenced to life in prison by a Jerusalem court for robbing a bank in Jaffa in September of 1946 to obtain funds for the underground..
|
January 22, 1947 |
Sir Harry Gumey, Chief Secretary, stated that the British administration was taxing Palestine $2,400,000 to pay for sabotage by the Jewish underground groups. .
|
January 22, 1947 |
Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech Jones informed the House of Commons 73 British subjects were murdered by underground members in 1946 and "no culprits have been convicted." .
|
January 27, 1947 |
London. Britain's conference on Palestine, boycotted by the Jews, reconvened. Jamal el Husseini, Palestine Arab leader, declared that the Arab world was unalterably opposed to partition as a solution to the problem. The session then adjourned..
|
January 29, 1947 |
London. It was officially announced that the British Cabinet decided to partition Palestine. .
|
January 29, 1947 |
Irgun forces released former Maj. H. Collins, a British banker, who they kidnaped on January 26 from his home. He had been badly beaten. On January 28, the Irgun released Judge Ralph Windham, who had been kidnapped in Tel Aviv on January 27 while trying a case. These men had been taken as hostages for Dov Bela Gruner, an Irgun member under death sentence. The British High Commissioner, Lt. Gen. Sir Alan Cunningham, had threatened martial law unless the two men were returned unharmed. .
|
January 31, 1947 |
General Cunningham ordered the wives and children of all British civilians to leave Palestine at once. About 2,000 are involved. This order did not apply to the 5,000 Americans in the country..
|
February 3, 1947 |
The Palestine Govemment issued a 7-day ultimatum to the Jewish Agency demanding that it state "categorically and at once" whether it and the supreme Jewish Council in Palestine will call on the Jewish community by February 10 for "cooperation with the police and armed forces in bringing to justice the members of the terrorist groups." This request was publicly rejected by Mrs. Goldie Meyerson, head of the Jewish Agency's political department. .
|
February 4, 1947 |
British Oistrict Commissioner James Pollock disclosed a plan for military occupation of three sectors of Jerusalem and orders nearly 1,000 Jews to evacuate the Rehavia, Schneler and German quarters by noon, February 6.
|
February 5, 1947 |
The Vaad Leumi rejected the British ultimatum while the Irgun passed out leaflets that it was prepared to fight to the death against the British authority. The first 700 of some 1,500 British women and children ordered to evacuate Palestine leave by plane and train for Egypt. British authorities, preparing for military action, order other families from sections of Tel Aviv and Haifa which will be turned into fortified military areas. |
February 9, 1947 |
British troops removed 650 illegal Jewish immigranS from the schooner "Negev" at Haifa and after a struggle forced them aboard the ferry "Emperor Haywood" for deportation to Cyprus. .
|
February 14, 1947 |
The British administration revealed that Lt. Gen. Sir Evelyn Barker, retiring British commander in Palestine, had confirmed the death sentences of three Irgun members on February 12 before leaving for England. The three men, Dov Ben Rosenbaum, Eliezer Ben Kashani and Mordecai Ben Alhachi, had been sentenced on February 10 to be hanged for carrying firearms. A fourth, Haim Gorovetzky, received a life sentence because of his youth. Lt. Gen. G. MacMillian arrived in Jerusalem on February 13 to succeed Gen. Barker. .
|
February 15, 1947 |
The Sabbath was the setting for sporadic outbreaks of violence which included the murder of an Arab in Jaffa and of a Jew in B'nai B'rak, the kidnapping of a Jew in Petah Tikvah and the burning of a Jewish club in Haifa.
|
March 9, 1947 |
Hadera. A British army camp was attacked..
|
March 10, 1947 |
Haifa. A Jew, suspected of being an informer, was murdered by Jewish underground members..
|
March 12, 1947 |
The British Army pay corps was dynamited in Jerusalem and one soldier killed. .
|
March 12, 1947 |
British military units captured most of the 800 Jews whose motor ship "Susanne" ran the British blockade and was beached north of Gaza on this date. A British naval escort brought the "Ben Hecht," the Hebrew Committee of National Liberation's first known immigrant ship, into Haifa, and its 599 passengers were shipped to Cyprus. The British arrested the crew, which included 18 US. seamen..
|
March 13, 1947 |
British authorities announced 78 arrests as a result of unofficial Jewish cooperation, but two railroads were attacked, resulting in two deaths, and eight armed men robbed a Tel Aviv bank of $65,000. .
|
March 14, 1947 |
Jewish underground members blew up part of an oil pipeline in Haifa and a section of the rail line near Beer Yakou .
|
March 17, 1947 |
British authorities ended marshal law which had kept 300,000 Jews under house arrest for 16 days and tied up most economic activity..
|
March 17, 1947 |
A military court sentenced Moshe Barazani to be hanged for possessing a hand grenade. .
|
March 18, 1947 |
Underground leaflets admitted the murder of Michael Shnell on Mount Carmel as an informer. .
|
March 22, 1947 |
British officials announced the arrest of five known underground members, and the discovery near Petah Tikvah of the body of Leon Meshiah, a Jew presumably slain as a suspected informer. .
|
March 28, 1947 |
The Irgun blew up the Iraq Petroleum Co. pipeline in Haifa..
|
March 29, 1947 |
A British army officer was killed by Jewish underground membesr when they ambushed a party of horsemen near the Ramle camp. A raid on a Tel Aviv bank yielded $109,000. .
|
March 30, 1947 |
Units of the British Royal Navy, answering an SOS, took the disabled " Moledeth" with 1,600 illegal Jewish refugees on board under tow some 50 miles outside Palestinian waters. .
|
March 31, 1947 |
Jewish underground members dynamited the British-owned Shell-Mex oil tanks in Haifa, starting a fire that destroyed a quarter-mile of the waterfront. The damage was set at more than $1,000,000, and the British government in Palestine has stated that the Jewish community will have to pay for it. .
|
April 2, 1947 |
The "Ocean Vigour" was damaged by a bomb in Famagusta Harbor, Cyprus. The Haganah admitted the bombing. .
|
April 3, 1947 | |
April 3, 1947 |
The transport "Empire Rival" was damaged by a time bomb while en route from Haifa to Port Said in Egypt. .
|
April 7, 1947 |
The High Court denied a new appeal against the death sentence of Dov Bela Gruner, and a British patrol killed Moshe Cohen. .
|
April 8, 1947 |
Jewish undergroud members killed a British constable in revenge for the Cohen death..
|
April 10, 1947 |
London. The British Government requested France and Italy to prevent Jews from embarking for Palestine. .
|
April 11, 1947 |
Jerusalem. Asher Eskovitch, a Jew, was beaten to death by Muslims when he entered the forbidden Mosque of Omar. .
|
April 13, 1947 |
Guela Cohen, Stern Gang illegal broadcaster, escaped from a British military hospital..
|
April 14, 1947 |
A British naval unit boarded the refugee ship "Guardian" and seized it along with 2,700 passengers after a gun battle in which two immigrants were killed and 14 wounded..
|
April 16, 1947 |
In spite of threats of reprisal from the Irgun, the British hanged Dov Bela Gruner and three other Irgun members at Acre Prison on Haifa Bay. Jewish communities were kept under strict curfew for several hours. Soon after the deaths were announced, a time bomb was found in the Colonial Office in London but was defused..
|
April 17, 1947 |
Lt. Gen. G. Macmillan confirmed death sentences for two more convicted underground members, Meier Ben Feinstein and Moshe Ben Barazani, but reduced Daniel Azulai's sentence to life imprisonment. .
|
April 18, 1947 |
Irgun's reprisals for the Gruner execution were an attack on a field dressing station near Nethanaya where one sentry was killed, an attack on an armored car in Tel Aviv where one bystander was killed and harmless shots at British troops in Haifa. .
|
April 20, 1947 |
A series of bombings by Jewish underground members in retaliation for the hanging of Gruner injured 12 British soldiers..
|
April 21, 1947 |
Meir Feinstein and Moshe Barazani killed themselves in prison a few hours before they were scheduled to be hanged. They blew themselves up with bombs smuggled to them in hollowed-out oranges. .
|
April 22, 1947 |
A troop train arriving from Cairo was bombed outside Rehovoth with five soldiers and three civilians killed and 39 persons injured.
|
April 23, 1947 |
The British First Lord of the Admiralty, Viscount Hall, defended the Labor Government's policy in Palestine and he acknowledged in the House of Lords that Britain would not "carry out a policy of which it did not approve" despite any UN action. He blamed contributions from American Jews to the Jewish Palestinians as aiding the underground groups there and cited the toll since August 1, 1945: 113 killed, 249 wounded, 168 Jews convicted, 28 sentenced to death, four executed, 33 slain in battles. Viscount Samuel urged increased immigration. .
|
April 23, 1947 |
The Irgun proclaimed its own "military courts" to "try" British troops and policemen who resisted them. .
|
April 25, 1947 |
A Stern Gang squad drove a stolen post office truck loaded with explosives into the Sarona police compound and detonated it, killing five British policemen. .
|
April 26, 1947 |
Haifa. The murder of Deputy Police Superintendent A. Conquest climaxed a week of bloodshed. .
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May 4, 1947 |
The walls of Acre prison were blasted open by an Irgun bomb squad and 251 Jewish and Arab prisoners escaped after a gun battle in which 15 Jews and 1 Arab were killed, 32 (including six British guards) were injured and 23 escapists were recaptured. The Palestine Govemment promised no extra punishment if the 189 escapees still at large will surrender. .
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May 4, 1947 |
The Political Action Committee for Palestine ran a series of advertisements in New York newspapers seeking funds to buy parachutes for young European Jews planning to crash the Palestine irnmigration barrier by air. .
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May 8, 1947 |
A Jew was ambushed and shot to death by an Arab group near Tel Aviv, and three Jewish owned Tel Aviv shops whose owners refused to contribute money to Jewish underground groups were burned down. .
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May 12, 1947 |
Jewish underground members killed two British policemen..
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May 12, 1947 |
The British authorities announced that 312 Jewish political prisoners were held in Kenya, East Africa, 20 in Latrun and 34 in Bethlehem..
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May 15, 1947 |
The Stern Gang killed two British lieutenants and injured seven other persons with two derailments and three badge demolitions..
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May 16, 1947 |
Haifa Assistant Police Superintendent, Robert Schindler, a German Jew, was killed by the Stern gang, and a British constable was killed on the Mt Carmel-Haifa road near Jerusalem..
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May 17, 1947 |
The 1,200 ton Haganah freighter "Trade Winds" was seized by the Royal Navy off the Lebanon coast and escorted into Haifa, and over 1,000 illegal immigrants were disembarked pending transfer to Cyprus. .
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May 19, 1947 |
The British government protested to the United States government against American fund-raising drives for Jewish underground groups. The complaint referred to a "Letter to the Terrorists of Palestine" by playwright Ben Hecht, American League for a Free Palestine co chairman, first published in the New York "Post" on May 15. The ad said, "We are out to raise millions for you.".
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May 22, 1947 |
Arabs attacked a Jewish labor camp in the south, retaliating for a Haganah raid on the Arabs near Tel Aviv May 20. Some 40,000 Arab and Jewish workers united the same day in a one day strike against all establishments operated by the British War Ministry..
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May 23, 1947 |
A British naval party boarded the immigrant ship "Mordei Haghettoath" off South Palestine and took control of its 1,500 passengers. Two British soldiers were convicted in Jerusalem of abandoning a jeep and army mail under attack..
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May 28, 1947 |
Syria. Fawzi el-Kawukji who spent the war years in Germany after leading the 1936-39 Arab revolt in Palestine, told reporters in Damascus that an unfavorable decision by the UN inquiry group would be the signal for war against the Jews in Palestine. "We must prove that in case" of an Anglo-American war with Russia, "we can be more dangerous or useful to them than the Jews," he added. .
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May 28, 1947 |
Jewish underground members blew up a water main and a shed in the Haifa oil dock areas and made three attacks on railway lines in the Lydda and Haifa areas..
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May 31, 1947 |
The Haganah ship "Yehuda Halevy" arrived under British naval escort with 399 illegal Jewish immigrants; they were immediately transferred to Cyprus..
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June 4, 1947 |
The Stern Gang sent letter bombs to high British governmental officials. Eight letter bombs containing powdered explosives were discovered in London. Recipients included Ernest Bevin, Anthony Eden, Prime Minister Attlee and Winston Churchill..
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June 5, 1947 |
Washington. President Truman asked all persons in the US to refrain from helping Jewish underground groups. The American Jewish Committee and Jewish Labor Committee condemned Ben Hecht's campaign..
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June 6, 1947 |
New York Secretary General of the UN, Trygve Lie has forwarded a request to all countries a request by the British that they guard their fronties against departure of illegal immigrants bound for Palestine.
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June 18, 1947 | |
June 28, 1947 |
The Stern Gang opened fire on British soldiers waiting in line outside a Tel Aviv theater, killing three and wounding two. Another Briton is killed and several wounded in a Haifa hotel. This action was claimed by Jewish underground members to be in retaliation for British brutality and the alleged slaying of a missing 16 year old Jew, Alexander Rubowitz while he was being held in an Army barracks on May 6. .
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June 29, 1947 |
New York. The UN Committee votes 9-0 to condemn the acts as "flagrant disregard" of the UN appeal for an interim truce as Stern Gang wounded four more Bdtish soldiers on a beach at Herzlia. Major Roy Alexander Farran surrendered voluntarily after his escape from custody in Jerusalem on June 19. He had been arrested in connection with the Rubowitz case. .
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June 30, 1947 |
The Palestine goverrunent permitted oil companies to raise paces of benzine nearly 10% to pay for $1 million damage suffered when Jewish underground members blew up oil installations at Haifa on March 31. .
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July 2, 1947 |
lrgun members robbed a Haifa bank of $3,200 while both the Stem gang and the Irgun warned the British that their provocative acts in Palestine must end before a truce can be effected. The Guaternalan and Czech members of the UN Commission visited two Jewish convicts in Acre Prison..
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July 12, 1947 |
Dr. Adem Altman, president of the United Zionist Revisionists, told a party rally in Jerusalem that the Revisionists would settle for nothing less than an unpartitioned free Jewish state in Palestine and Trans-Jordan. Irgun announced in Jerusalem that two British sergeants kidnaped in Nathanaya are being held in Tel Aviv and have been sentenced to death by Irgun courtmartial. .
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July 14, 1947 |
Netanya. The British imposed mastial law and placed the 15,000 inhabitants of Netanya under house arrest. They made 68 arrests and sentenced 21 persons to 6 months each in the Latrun detention camp. .
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July 17, 1947 |
Netanya. The Irgun in five mine operations against military traffic to and from Nathanya killed one Briton and injured 16. .
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July 18, 1947 |
Steamer Exodus repelled by forces from shores of Palestine, (formerly the "President Warfield") was escorted into Haifa by British naval units after a battle, William Bernstein and two immigrants were killed and more than 30 injured.
The blockade runner itself was badly damaged. The remainder of the 4,554 passengers, the largest group of illegal immigrants to sail for Palestine in a sister ship, were put aboard British prison ships for removal to Cyprus. The American captain, Bernard Marks, and his crew were arrested. The ship sailed from France. |
July 19, 1947 |
Haifa. Rioting, quickly suppressed, broke out among the passengess of the Exodus 1947 when they learned they were to be resumed to France. .
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July 19, 1947 |
The Palestine Government charges that a Jewish "campaign of lawlessness, murder and sabotage" has cost 70 lives and $6 million in damage since 1940. .
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July 21, 1947 |
Before officially admitting that 4,529 passengers of the Exodus 1947 who had been transferred to three British ships, were being sent not to Cyprus but back to France, the Palestine Government took the precaution of first placing Jesusalem's 90,000 Jews under nightly house arrest. .
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July 23, 1947 |
Haganah sank the British tansport "Empire Lifeguard" in Haifa harbor as it was discharging 300 Jewish immigrants who had officiallyy been admitted to Palestine under quota. Sixty-five immigrants were killed and 40 were wounded. The British were able to refloat the ship..
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July 26, 1947 |
Jewish underground members blew up the Iraqi Petroleum Co. pipeline 12 miles east of Haifa and destroyed a Mt. Carmel radar station..
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July 27, 1947 |
An ambush and mines cost the British seven more casualties, all wounded..
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July 28, 1947 |
Two small Haganah ships loaded with 1,174 Jews from North Africa were intercepted by British naval units off Palestine and brought into Haifa. The illegal immigrants were transshipped aboard British transports and taken to Cyprus..
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July 29, 1947 |
The British authorities hanged three Irgunists in Acre prison despite appeals from Jewish leaders. The condemned, Myer Nakar, Absalom Habib and Jacob Weiss, had fought in the Czech underground during the war. They were convicted of blowing up Acre Prison on May 4 and liberating 200 Arabs and Jews. .
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July 29, 1947 |
The 4,429 Exodus 1947 illegal immigrants who sailed from Sete, France, July 11 for Palestine only to be shipped back by the British aboard three transports, refused to debark as the vessels anchored off Port de Douc, France. Only a few who were aboard went ashore. The French government informed the refugees that they do not have to debark but will be welcomed if they do. The transports are the "Runnymede Park," "Ocean Vigour" and "Empire Valour.".
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July 30, 1947 |
Irgun members announced that they have handed two British sergeants, Marvyn Paice and Clifford Martin, whom they had held as hostages since duly 12, for "crimes against the Jewish community." The two were seized when death sentences on the three Irgun members were confirmed by the British authorities. Two more British soldiers were killed by a land mine near Hadera. British troops attacked the Jewish colony of Pardes Hanna in revenge for the murders..
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July 31, 1947 |
The bodies of the two murdered Bdtish sergeants were found hanging from eucalyptus trees one and a half miles from Netanya about 5:30 AM. A booby trap blew Martin's body to bits when it was cut down. Enraged British troops stormed into Tel Aviv, wrecked shops, attacked pedestrians and sprayed a bus with gunfire killing five Jews: two men, two women and a boy..
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August 1, 1947 |
Thirty-three Jews are injured in an anti-British riot at Tel Aviv during the funeral procession of five civilians killed by British soldiers on July 31. In Jerusalem a Jewish underground attack on the British security zone in Rehavia was repulsed with one attacker killed and two captured..
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August 2, 1947 |
The body of an unidentified Jew was found on a road near Tel Aviv. He was believed to have been kidnapped by men in British uniforms two weeks ago. Total casualties in Palestine since mid-July: 25 persons slain, 144 wounded. The dead include 15 Britons, two Jewish underground membmers, eight civilians. Anti-British slogans, swastikas and dollar signs are painted onto British consulates in New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles.
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August 3, 1947 |
The Bank of Sharon in Ramat Gan was robbed by Jewish underground, $8,000 stolen..
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August 4, 1947 |
An Irgun leader in Paris states that his organization has sentenced high British military and civilian offficials in Palestine to death "in absentia" and will hang them upon capture..
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August 5, 1947 |
Striking at dawn, British security forces arrested 35 leading Zionists and sent them to the Latrun detention camp in an attempt to wipe out the Irgun leadership.In reprisal, Irgunists blew up the Department of Labor in Jerusalem, killing three British constables. Those arrested included Mayor Israel Rokach of Tel Aviv; Mayor Oved Ben Ami of Nathanya; Mayor Abraham Kdnitzki of Ramat Gan; Adeh Altman, president of the radical Revisionist Party; Menahem Arber, leader of the Revisionist youth organization, B'rith Trumpeldor, which is outlawed; Max Kritzman, Dov Bela Gruner's attomey, and David Stem, brother of the late founder of the Stern Gang. All those arrested except the three mayors were Revisionists. Among many papers confiscated was correspondence from Soviet Russian agents in Italy and Bulgaria and extensive plans to poison the water supply of the non-Jewish parts of Jerusalem with botulism and other bacteria. Bacteria was supplied by Soviet sources through Bulgaria. |
August 15, 1947 |
A mine derailed a Cairo-Haifa troop train north of Lydda, killing the engineer, and Irgunist claimed the incident was part of its campaign to disrupt all the Palestine rail traffic. .
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August 16, 1947 |
Arab-Jewish clashes have brought death to 12 Arabs and 13 Jews and heavy property destruction this week in the regions of Jewish Tel Aviv and Arab Jaffa. Strife was renewed on august 10 when Arabs killed four Jews in a Tel Aviv cafe, in reprisal for the deaths of two Arabs in a Haganah raid in Fega two months ago. Haganah responded to the Arab actions by bombing a house in an Arab orange grove near Tel Aviv, killing eleven Arabs, including a woman and four children. .
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August 18, 1947 |
The shops of five Jewish merchants in Tel Aviv were destroyed by the Irgun because the owners refused to give money to that organization. .
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Sept. 9, 1947 |
Hamburg, Germany. In a bitter three hour fight aboard the "Runnymede Park," 350 British troops completed a two-day forced debarkation of 4,300 Exodus 1947 illegal Jewish refugees from three ships in Hamburg, Germany. First ashore yesterday were the "Ocean Vigour's" 1,406; a few put up token resistance and five passengers sustained minor injuries. Early today, the "Empire Rival's" 1,420 passengers debarked peaceably after a home made bomb was found in the ship's hold. .
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Sept. 10, 1947 |
Washington D.C. Secretary of State George C. Marshall disclosed that the US had urged Britain to reconsider sending the "Exodus" group to Germany, but Britain replied tht there were no facilities for housing them elsewhere because the French did not want them and there were a number of vacant detention camps in Germany. .
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Sept. 11, 1947 |
Paris. The French government has now announced tht it would admit the '`Exodus" refugees if they were not forcibly deported from Germany and on the understanding that they will be admitted eventually to Palestine. .
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October 13, 1947 |
A terrorist bomb damaged the US. consulate general in Jerusalem, injuring two employees slightly. Similar bombings occurred at the Polish consulate general last night and at the Swedish consulate on September 27. .
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Nov. 14, 1947 |
Jewish underground members killed two British policemen in Jerusalem and two soldiers in Tel Aviv to raise the total casualties in three days of violence to 10 Britons and five Jews killed, and 33 Britons and five Jews wounded. The outbreaks began after British troops killed three girls and two boys in a raid on a farmhouse arsenal near Raanana on November 12. The underground retaliated yesterday by throwing hand grenades and firing a machine gun into the Ritz Cafe in Jerusalem. .
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Nov. 16, 1947 |
About 185 European Jews landed near Netanya from a small schooner and escaped before the British could intercept them. A larger vessel, the "Kadimah," was seized and brought to Haifa where 794 Jews were transshipped to a British transport for Cyprus..
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Nov. 17, 1947 |
The British administration disclosed that it will sell state owned real estate along the Haifa waterfront, from which it expects to make $8 million. It will also invest in England about $16 million from bonds that had been sold to Palestinians. Zionists strongly protested this as they said it would denude Palestine of its assets. There was no comment from the administration to these charges. .
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Nov. 22, 1947 |
An Arab was killed in Haifa by the Stern Gang following the killings of four other Arabs near Raanana on November 20..
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Dec. 1, 1947 |
The Arab League announced on December 1 that premiers and foreign ministers of seven Arab states would meet in Cairo next week to plan strategy against partition. In Palestine: Jerusalem and the Jaffa Tel Aviv boundary zone were centers of week-long strife which began when seven Jews were killed throughout Palestine on November 30 and the mayor of Nablus, Arab nationalist center, proclaimed jihad or a holy war. British High Commissioner Sir Alan Cunningham warned the Arab Higher Command on December 1 that Britain was determined to keep order so long as it held its mandate, and police stopped Arab agitators from raising crowds in Jerusalem..
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Dec. 2, 1947 |
Arabs looted and burned a three block Jewish business district in Jerusalem on December 2, the first day of a three day Arab general strike during which 20 Jews and 15 Arabs were killed. When British troops failed to intervene, Haganah came into the open for the first time in eight years to restrain large scale Jewish retaliation and also guard Jewish districts. Some Haganah men were arrested for possessing weapons. The day's strife caused $1 million worth of damage and resulted in a 21 hour curfew being applied to Arab Jerusalem for the rest of the week. The curfew was extended to outlying roads on December 3 to stop stonings of Jewish traffic and keep rural Arabs out of the capital. Max Pinn, head of the Jewish Agency's Trade and Transfer Deparunent was killed on December 2 when Arabs stoned his auto near Ramleh On this day dews stoned Arab buses in Jerusalem. On December 2, Haganah claimed to have mobilized 10,000 men in the intercity trouble zone, and the Arab Legion of Trans-Jordan reported on this date that it had reinforced Jaffa. Seven Jews were killed in Jaffa-Tel Aviv on this date. There were lesser attacks in Haifa this week. Also, the Syrian Parliament enacted a draft law and voted $860,000 for the relief of Palestinian Arabs. On the same day Arabs attacked the Jewish part of Aleppo. .
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Dec. 3, 1947 |
On the Jaffa-Tel Aviv boundary, which also is under around-the clock curfew, the week's heaviest battle was a six-hour clash between Haganah and Arabs on December 3 in which seven Jews and five Arabs were killed and 75 persons injured. .
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Dec. 5, 1947 |
The United States Department of State announced on December 5,1947 that they were placing an embargo on all American arms shipments to the Middle East. On December 5, British military reinforcements were sent to Aden after four days of Arab-Jewish fighting in which 50 Jews and 25 Arabs were killed. .
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Dec. 13, 1947 |
On December 13, bombings by the Irgun killed at least 16 Arabs and injured 67 more in Jerusalem and Jaffa and burned down a hundred Arab houses in Jaffa. In Syria, an anti-Jewish attack in rebaliation for the Irgun actions burned down a 2,750-year old synagogue in Aleppo and destroyed the priceless Ben-Asher Codex, a 10th century Hebrew Bible of original Old Testament manuscripts. .
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Dec. 14, 1947 |
Regular troops of the Arab Legion of the Trans-Jordan Army killed 14 Jews and wounded nine Jews, two British soldiers and one Arab when they atbcked a bus convoy approaching their camp near Lydda. The Arabs said the Jews attacked them first. .
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Dec. 17, 1947 |
British troops came to the aid of police sending off a raid by 100 Arabs on the Jewish settlement of Nevatim, seven miles west of Beersheba..
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Dec. 18, 1947 |
Haganah killed 10 Arabs in a reprisal raid on Khisas in the north of the country..
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Dec. 19, 1947 |
Reliable reports from Damascus state that Arab guerrillas are massing there in preparation to launching an attack into Palestine before the first of the year. .
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Dec. 20, 1947 |
Haganah carried out another said on Arabs by atbcking the village of Qazasa near Rehovoth. One Arab was killed and two were wounded. .
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Dec. 25, 1947 |
Emir Mohammed Zeinati, an Arab landowner, was killed in Haifa for selling land to the Jews. Stern gang members machine-gunned two British soldiers in a Tel Aviv cafe. .
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Dec. 26, 1947 |
Armed Jewish underground members raided two diamond factories in Netanya and Tel Aviv and escaped with $107,000 in diamonds, cash and bonds. The Stern gang distributed leaflets reporting that Israel Levin, a member, was killed in Tel Aviv on December 24 for trying to betray a Stern Gang member. .
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Dec. 29, 1947 |
Irgun members kidnaped and flogged a Briitish major and thzee sergeans in rebliation for the flogging of Benjamin Kimkhim who was also sentenced to 18 years in prison on December 27 for robbing a bank. The major, E. Brett, was seized in Netanya and the sergeants in Tel Aviv and Rishon el Siyon. Each got 18 lashes, the same number Kimkhim seceived. An Irgun bombing at the Damascus Gate in Jesusalem killed 11 Arabs and two Britons. .
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Dec. 30, 1947 |
The Dollis Hill Synagogue in London was set on fire and 12 sacred scrolls wese destroyed by argry British citizens..
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1947 |
UN proposes the establishment of Arab and Jewish states in the Land.
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1947 |
Arab Higher Committee for Palestine rejects UN Partition Plan.
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1947 |
Three Jews are hanged for involvement in Acre Prison break and two British sergeants are executed in reprisal.
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1947 | |
1947 | Construction begins on Tapline for Saudi oil. |
January 4, 1948 |
A series of bombings inflicted heavy Arab casualties.14 were killed and 100 injured when the Stern gang destroyed the Arab National Committee headquarters in Jaffa. .
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January 5, 1948 | |
January 7, 1948 |
14 Arabs were killed by two Irgun bombs at Jerusalem's Jaffa gate.
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January 12, 1948 |
Stem gang members looted Barclay's Bank in Tel Aviv of $37,000.
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January 13, 1948 |
The U.S. War Assets Administration received orders from Army Secretary Kenneth Royal to cancel its sale of 199 tons of M-3 explosive to a purchasing agent of the Jewish Agency, which got 73 tons out of the country before the rest was seized
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Jan. 14-15, 1948 |
The FBI arrested six New York men on charges of trying to ship Haganah 60,000 pounds of TNT, which was seized in Jersey Gty after having been bought from the Letterkenny Arsenal Ordnance Depot in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
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January 25, 1948 |
Following the deaths of ten Jews and two Arabs killed in a battle outside Jerusalem, British authorities stated that 721 Arabs, 408 Jews, 19 civilians and 12 British policemen (a total of 1,160) had been killed in an eight-week period that 1,171 Arabs, 749 Jews, 13 civilians and 37 British officers had been wounded.
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1948 | Standard Oil of New Jersey and Socony-Vacuum (both now ExxonMobil) buy interest in Aramco; company headquarters moved from San Francisco to New York. |
Modern Israel & the Diaspora
(1948-Present)