Summary
Grodno-born industrial engineer who settled in Haifa in 1905, founded the Atid and (with his brother) Shemen factories, and whose Altneuland essays on Palestine’s milling industry praised German engineering and criticised Jewish settlers’ lack of entrepreneurial spirit, drawing Aaron Aaronson’s reproach of Germanophilia (Zionism and Cosmopolitanism: Franz Oppenheimer and the Dream of a Jewish Future in Germany and Palestine, PDF p.161-162).
Details
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Wilbuschewitch was the only Jew on the three-man expedition dispatched by the ZO in 1905 to survey the British East Africa territory proposed for Zionist settlement, and held a negative opinion of settlement there (PDF p.161).
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He recommended modern motor mills over the wooden turbine-driven mills used in Arab mills, which he considered ineffective and less profitable, recounting German millers’ experience since German colonization introduced steam mills (PDF p.161).
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Aaronson agreed with his criticism of the Yishuv’s lack of systematic experimentation and endurance in failure, while reproaching his ignorance of Jewish technicians’ role (PDF p.162).
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In Peretz’s Chapter 5 conclusion, Wilbuschewitch adhered to inclusive principles in his factory Shemen, which purchased raw materials from Arab villages and sold its products on local markets and in neighbouring Arab countries, and hoped increasing milling capacity would raise grain demand, let Jewish millers influence Arab farmers to consume barley flour, and so increase surplus and peaceful coexistence (PDF p.238-239).
Related pages
Zionism and Cosmopolitanism: Franz Oppenheimer and the Dream of a Jewish Future in Germany and Palestine, Aaron Aaronson, Altneuland (journal)