Abstract

When the National-Socialists started their restrictive measures against Jewish civil servants and professionals in 1933, they caused a wave of emigration only to be surpassed by the one following the Anschluß of Austria and the ‘November pogrom’ in 1938. Due to their great number, jewish doctors were to become the main object of Nazi persecution in the professional group. Up until 1935 Palestine was their main destination of immigration. In 1935 the British Mandatory Government passed a numerus clausus which mainly cut down the licensing of newly arrived doctors. The article deals with the social problems caused by the mass immigration of a highly qualified professional group in Palestine and with the fight against the restrictive measures of the mandatory Government. A short retrospective glance is cast at the situation in Palestine before 1933. Finally an outlook is given at the impact of this immigration on the health system in Israel