Summary
One of the central figures in Dutch liberal and Zionist politics, formerly director of the Jewish Agency’s Economics Department, who as head of the Department (later Ministry) of Trade and Industry in 1948 took diamond control into the new state of Israel (Diamonds and War — State, Capital, and Labor in British-Ruled Palestine, PDF p.259).
Details
- On the formal establishment of the state in May 1948, diamond control was incorporated into the Department of Trade and Industry, headed by Bernstein; an advisory committee on diamonds in the ministry practically replaced the British Diamond Control Board, and Bernstein convened with the two diamond controllers, Albert Ehrenfeld and Jacob van Amerongen, and the industry’s representatives, including Oved Ben-Ami, to shape diamond policy (Diamonds and War — State, Capital, and Labor in British-Ruled Palestine, PDF p.259).
- Bernstein was in charge of industrial policy in the transitional administration, and shared with Ehrenfeld and Van Amerongen a mix of a liberal economic approach with a commitment to state building and to the need of a state-managed economy; the three knew each other well from prewar Amsterdam (Diamonds and War — State, Capital, and Labor in British-Ruled Palestine, PDF p.259).
- In return for the state’s support, his Department of Trade and Industry made certain that all the returns in foreign currency from the export of diamonds were handed over by the diamond manufacturers to the state’s treasury (Diamonds and War — State, Capital, and Labor in British-Ruled Palestine, PDF p.264).
- Chapter 8 note 20 gives his biography: Peretz (Fritz) Bernstein (1890–1971), born in Meiningen, Germany, engaged in business in Rotterdam; in 1924–1930 a member of the executive of the Dutch Zionist Federation, its president, and editor of a Dutch Zionist weekly; in 1926 he published an influential book on the psychology of anti-Semitism; he settled in Palestine in 1936, became active in the General Zionist Party, in 1937–1946 edited the liberal daily Haboker, and in 1947–1948 replaced Emil Schmorak as head of the Department of Trade and Industry at the Jewish Agency; a General Zionist (later Liberal) member of the Knesset from its inception, he served as minister of commerce and industry in 1948–1949 and 1952–1955 (Diamonds and War — State, Capital, and Labor in British-Ruled Palestine, PDF p.329).
- In Israel’s provisional government he issued the 27 April 1948 diamond decree as Minister of Trade and Industry (Minhelet Haam), cited in Chapter 8 note 2 (Diamonds and War — State, Capital, and Labor in British-Ruled Palestine, PDF p.328).