Language:
English
Year of publication:
2020
Titel der Quelle:
Nations and Nationalism
Angaben zur Quelle:
26,1 (2020) 246-262
Keywords:
World War, 1939-1945 Prisoners and prisons, British
;
Germans History 20th century
;
Jews Identity
;
Zionism
;
Police History 1917-1948
;
Eretz Israel History 1917-1948, British Mandate period
Abstract:
This paper examines the relationship between British police officers, Jewish guards, and German internees in Palestine's internment camps during World War II. Using the reports of the Jewish guards, the paper investigates the role of Western‐identified actors in the Zionist identity‐making project. The reports evince a surprising rapport between the British and their German prisoners and the mistreatment of the Jewish guards by their British superiors. The paper analyses these Jewish accounts in the context of identity‐ and ethnic boundary‐making and argues that they illustrate Zionism's intent to construct itself as a Western but noncolonial movement and Zionists in Palestine as natives but not “Orientals.” The reports also reveal a breach between the formal hierarchy—British officers, Jewish guards, German internees—and the ethnic order, which situated British and Germans at the apex and the Jews at the bottom. The paper highlights the utility of researching group‐making interactions in different contexts to develop a more nuanced understanding of identity‐making processes.
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