Summary
The agronomist Franz Oppenheimer appointed administrator of Merhavia in 1910, whose short, controversial tenure became central to the cooperative’s conflict over Arab labor; Oppenheimer backed him throughout (Zionism and Cosmopolitanism: Franz Oppenheimer and the Dream of a Jewish Future in Germany and Palestine, PDF p.255-256, p.259-260).
Details
- Oppenheimer suggested Dyk’s appointment in September 1910; his nomination was already in dispute due to his dishonourable dismissal from the Jewish training farm at Steinhorst and alleged homosexuality, and Penslar is cited that his instatement demonstrated the lack of educated administrators willing to take a position in Palestine (PDF p.255-257).
- David Ben-Gurion regarded Dyk’s import of workers from Slobodka in Galicia, instead of recruiting or consulting local Jewish workers, as a bad omen; Dyk’s authoritarian style and resentment of Marxist workers brought continual conflict, strikes and dismissals, ending with his replacement in 1914 by labour leader Josef Rabinovitz, who granted the workers extensive independence (PDF p.256).
- Dyk’s unadapted transplantation of German agricultural methods to Palestine might have played some role in the cooperative’s failure (PDF p.257).
- In the spring 1914 conflict over Arab labor, Arthur Ruppin, arbitrating, accepted Dyk’s judgement that the workers’ sole motivation was nationalistic and allowed the hiring of Arab day labourers; the board of the Erez Israel Siedlungsgenossenshaft then accepted the workers’ claims against Dyk and he had to be replaced; Oppenheimer continued to support Dyk at meetings of the Inner Actions Committee and the Siedlungsgenossenshaft (PDF p.259-260).
- The relationship with Oppenheimer lasted until Merhavia’s final dissolution; after the First World War Oppenheimer appointed Dyk director of Bärenklau, the settlement cooperative he founded in the Province of Brandenburg in 1920 (PDF p.256).
Related pages
Zionism and Cosmopolitanism: Franz Oppenheimer and the Dream of a Jewish Future in Germany and Palestine, Franz Oppenheimer, Merhavia, Arthur Ruppin