Immigration of Entrepreneurs to British Mandatory Palestine: From the Default of Greece (1932) to the Establishment of Discount Bank (1935)

Abstract

This paper deals with the migration of Jewish capitalists from Greece to British Mandatory Palestine, which was motivated by a combination of nationalism and ethnic commercial entrepreneurship on the part of these migrants. The announcement by the Greek government that it would default and suspend payment on its foreign debt (April 1932), along with the favorable conditions existing in British Mandatory Palestine for immigrants with entrepreneurial experience, led an ever-growing number of Jewish Zionistic Greek capitalists to participate in the process of building a Jewish homeland. A description and analysis of the establishment of Discount Bank by Leon Yehudah Recanati shows that these immigrants, who possessed real, social, and human capital, behaved as voluntary migrants who were motivated by economic considerations and operated in the free market, enlisting their ethnic resources for their commercial activities. Prior acquaintance with Judeo-Spanish speakers from the Salonica diaspora (the ‘absorbing group’) living both in British Mandatory Palestine and outside it, primarily in Egypt, helped to raise the capital for Discount Bank under the suffocating credit conditions of the time; a loyal, industrious, and devoted work force (willing to work unconventional hours) recruited from among the Greek immigrants attracted customers to the bank from the Spanish-speaking diaspora, who placed their trust in the bank; and Recanati’s communal activities for the future and welfare of the Greek immigrants and the Spanish speakers regenerated the group resources.