Photo-album of a German-Jewish immigrant to Palestine. 132 original photographs, with manuscript captions in German.

(PHOTOGRAPHY).

1933-36

The album can be divided into three: * Overland trip through Italy en route to Palestine: April-October 1933 (47 photographs). * Cities, towns and scenery of Palestine. Includes images of Jerusalem, Safed, Beit Alfa, Ein Harod, Haifa, Hadera, Capernaum, Carmel Mountains, Tel Aviv- (Adloyada Festivities), Hotel Mt Canaan, Tiberias. 1933-35 (53 photographs). * Tours of the French Mandate: Damascus, Baalbek, Lebanon mountains and Beirut. April 1935. (23 photographs). And: Ski trip in Lebanon. January 1936. (9 photographs).

Although most photographs are of landscapes and locals, the album is the product of the German photographer on the other side of the lens. Departing Germany in August 1933, the photographer apparently took advantage of the days-old Ha’avara Agreement between the Jewish Agency and the Nazi party enabling him to leave the country with some of his assets. Indeed, the lifestyle of the German Jews portrayed in the album characterizes the nature of the Fifth Aliyah they took part in - increasingly urban and bourgeois. While native Halutzim (pioneers) might have scoffed at the idea of a ski vacation in Lebanon, many German Olim of the 1930’s brought crucial skills and assets to the fledgeling Yishuv, ensuring its viability as an independent country to be.