Summary
The Jüdische Orient Colonisations Gesellschaft (JOCG), founded by Franz Oppenheimer with Davis Trietsch and chaired by Oppenheimer, which in Zionism and Cosmopolitanism: Franz Oppenheimer and the Dream of a Jewish Future in Germany and Palestine promoted cooperative settlement in “the Orient” — “Palestine and its adjacent countries” — giving Palestine only slight priority (PDF p.123-124).
Details
- The JOCG succeeded Sha’are Zion, founded in 1898 by Trietsch and Leo Motzkin to promote settlement in countries adjacent to Palestine (PDF p.124).
- Its scheme, tried in California, let emigrants purchase shares by instalment to hire experienced local workers for the strenuous first phase, immigration commencing only for cultivation and harvest; on the choice of starting place, “Palestine should be preferred by equal or even only almost equal conditions.” (PDF p.124).
- Herzl accused Oppenheimer of splintering the movement over the JOCG; the ZVfD publicly dissociated itself from it, Oppenheimer stepped down as chairman in July 1903 under Herzl’s pressure, and resigned his membership in January 1904 after the Cyprus plan’s failure and the revelation of improper allocation of funds (PDF p.126-127).
- The name is officially spelled with a “K” (Kolonization) but appears in most correspondence with a “C”, abbreviated JOCG, OCG or JCG (PDF p.123).
Related pages
Zionism and Cosmopolitanism: Franz Oppenheimer and the Dream of a Jewish Future in Germany and Palestine, Franz Oppenheimer, Davis Trietsch, Greater Palestine, Theodor Herzl