Summary
Antwerp, the Belgian cutting and trading center that held hegemony over the world diamond industry from Amsterdam’s post-World War I decline until its fall in spring 1940, and the mother-center from which Palestine’s industry was transplanted (Diamonds and War — State, Capital, and Labor in British-Ruled Palestine, PDF p.22, p.35-36).
Details
- Antwerp specialized in cutting very small stones, Sand and Melees, maintained by high wages paid to expert cutters and polishers (Diamonds and War — State, Capital, and Labor in British-Ruled Palestine, PDF p.36).
- In early 1939 Jews constituted 350 of its 400 diamond brokers, 6,000 diamond manufacturers and some 80 percent of its 25,000 diamond workers (Diamonds and War — State, Capital, and Labor in British-Ruled Palestine, PDF p.39).
- Palestine’s factories in the 1930s remained an extension of the Antwerp mother-center, dependent on Belgium for rough stones and commercial outlets (Diamonds and War — State, Capital, and Labor in British-Ruled Palestine, PDF p.41).