Chaim Weizmann in 1943: "Nothing Short of a Miracle if We Do Get Something Out of this War"

December 10, 1943

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Chaim Weizmann in 1943: "Nothing Short of a Miracle if We Do Get Something Out of this War"
Autograph Letter Signed
3 pages | SMC 376

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      Background

      Weizmann has met with Churchill - at Chequers on November 4th - regarding the establishment of a Jewish National Home, and the meeting, he writes, went well:

      The lunch with the P.M. and Attlee was quite a success.  Nothing precise you know but he was encouraging and so was Attlee & Smuts. We must now await developments
      .

      The situation in Palestine, however, is problematic. “A good many unpleasant things are happening,” he says, “tending toward provoking the Yishuv.” Weizmann hopes they will not let themselves be provoked, adding;

      It will be nothing short of a miracle if we do get something out of this war after all the suffering and misery which has been our lot….  Wavell does not seem to be the only one who's frightened for the sake of the poor kindly Arabs less the terrible Jews will fall upon them. Smuts thinks that they are all panic stricken there.


      Weizmann is happy that Orde Wingate, stricken with typhoid in India, is out of danger. He knows this, he says, because Churchill, who has been “gravely concerned and… kept informed by daily telegrams,” told him so.
      Autograph Letter Signed (“Chaim”), 3 pages, octavo, recto and verso, The Dorchester Hotel, London, Dec. 10, 1943. To Lorna Wingate.
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      Page 1 transcript
      THE DORCHESTER HOTEL
      LONDON
      TELEPHONE: MAYFAIR 8888

      Dec. 10th, 43.

      My Dear Lorna, You must have been wondering why you have received no reply to your dear letter of the 30th Nov.  I have been down with the flu for a week and am just beginning to recover now. I have not been out of the room yet.  I imagine the anxiety which you have suffered from and am happy for everybody that Orde is out of danger. As a matter of fact I knew about [it] because I have seen the P.M. who has mentioned it to me. He was gravely concerned and was kept informed by daily telegrams. He thought then that the greatest  danger was over 

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      Page 2 transcript
      and the temperature was coming down.  He promised to let me know if there is a change. Happily I did not hear anything. The lunch with the P.M. and Attlee was quite a success.  Nothing precise you know but he was encouraging and so was Attlee & Smuts. We must now await developments. Meanwhile a good many unpleasant things are happening in Pne tending toward provoking the Yishuv. I hope they will not let themselves be provoked. It will be nothing short of a miracle if we do get something out of this war after all the suffering and misery which has been our lot. I was happy to read about the event which you expect in May. I do hope you will keep very well and look after yourself.

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      Page 3 transcript
      THE DORCHESTER HOTEL
      LONDON
      TELEPHONE: MAYFAIR 8888

      Wavell does not seem to be the only one who is frightened for the sake of the poor kindly Arabs lest the terrible Jews will fall upon them. Smuts thinks that they are all panic stricken there


      I shall write to Orde as soon as I have recovered some of my strength. Vera sends her best love, so do I. Keep well and write to her She will like it.

      Ever Yours

      Chaim