Fred Siegfried Nettler

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Fred Nettler, Furrier and head of Glasgow Zionist Organisation.

Fred Siegfried Nettler (Birthdate: December 02, 1891 - Death: May 24, 1962 (70) in Glasgow, Glasgow City, Scotland, United Kingdom

The National Archives hold the following data: 'NATIONALITY AND NATURALISATION: Nettler, Siegfried (or Fred Nettler), from Russia. Resident in Glasgow. Certificate 18377 issued 18 June 1930.'[1]

Doris Esther Nettler (Birthdate: January 08, 1923 Death: April 24, 1984 (61)) was in the extended family, a child of Ben Nettler (brother of Fred) and Henrietta Ferris/Henrietta Pherris married 1912 in Hutchesontown

  • Occupation: Furrier

Colonial activities

  • 1929-1930 Lived at 43 Maxwell Drive, Pollokshields.[2]
  • 1930s - 'In 1894, the first Zionist group — 'Chovevi Zion’ ( Lovers of Zion ) — was formed, and in 1898, the Glasgow Zionist Society. By the time of the fourth international Zionist Congress in London in 1900, Glasgow delegates were already attending with their own flag, a Star of David enclosed in the centre of a Scottish Lion Rampant. There was a Zionist youth movement — 'Habonim' ('The Builders') — in Turiff St. The leading Glasgow Zionist in the Thirties was probably Mr Fred Nettler, a local furrier.[3]
  • 1934 - 'Haase’s negative comments were echoed by the leaders of the Talmud Torah. In advance of an otherwise successful meeting of the school’s executive in 1929, for example, treasurer Jack Morrison, spoke about “apathy”48 and Fred Nettler, a Zionist like Haase, added in 1934: “If parents did not realise what a Jewish education meant for their children they would come to regret it as the German Jews now regretted that they had not hung on to their Judaism.”[4][5]
  • 1934 - 'Produced at some expense – often by Jewish nationalist organisations - the purpose of such films seems to have been to inspire commitment, both financial and ideological, to the cause. Additionally, smaller scale short films made using 16mm cameras by visitors to Mandatory Palestine were also in circulation. Typically, these were shot by nonprofessionals with a dedication to Zionism and enough money to purchase equipment and process the exposed stock. In late spring of 1934, for instance, a short film made by Glasgow based amateur Fred Nettler was screened by various Zionist societies across the UK (see JC, 11 May 1934: 32).[6]
  • 1936 - The new leadership of the Glasgow Zionists consisted of a small group of men[7]. They were mostly businessmen. Their communal work was praised in reports on Zionist activity in the Jewish Echo and they were publicly honoured on several occasions. In 1936, for example, a function was organised in honour of Fred Nettler, president of the GZO (who had just been made a Justice of the Peace and also had the honour of presiding at the 36th annual conference of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland in London). During the same year the name of the treasurer of the JNF, N. Links, was inscribed in the Golden Book on the occasion of his silver wedding.[8] What these two men had in common was that they combined their activity with an active business life. Nettler owned a large furrier business in the city and the wholesaler Links was just having a new six-story warehouse built in Wilson Street. They efficiently but perhaps less idealistically than their predecessors led the Zionist organisations in a similar way as they conducted their business. At this stage it appears as if businessmen like Nettler and Links dominated Glasgow Zionism. In a sense their position as Zionist leaders acknowledged the social position of these businessmen.[9]
  • 1936-39 - President Glasgow Zionist Organisation
  • 1937 - The Holy Land and the Jewish Pioneer Palästina Großbritannien 1937 Dokumentarfilm. Weiterer Titel (eng) The Holy Land and the Jewish Pioneer. An Epic Story of Modern Achievements. director Fred Nettler.[10] The film is viewable on Youtube.[11]
  • 1938 - Such Jewish leaders were not satisfied to operate from behind the scenes and in their political outlook they were rather anti-Socialist. The furrier Fred Nettler, for example, celebrated in 1938 the twentieth anniversary of his involvement in the trade. His employees presented him with a bust by Benno Schotz, after which Nettler thanked his staff by saying that “they worked in harmony, not only with him, but with one another.”[12][13]
  • 1941 - 'A plan for establishment of a “farm city” on Jewish National Fund near Nathania, Palestine, for post-war settlement of middle-class persons from Britain was outlined yesterday at a conference of 60 delegates from nine cities in England and Scotland, held at Leeds. Prof. Samson Wright expressed hope the scheme could be enlarged by participation of communities in the Dominions and the United States. Expressing confidence in a British victory, he said that “the good news from Syria is an augury of the success of the farm city.” Prof. Selig Brodetsky, who was unable to attend the conference because of important consultations in London about the Middle East situation, sent a message declaring that the spreading war in the Middle East, which endangered Palestine, far from reducing the possibility of work there, made it more than ever necessary to strengthen this work. Fred Nettler, originator of the scheme, was elected president of the sponsoring organisation.[14]
  • 1942-3 - The Farm City Scheme (FCS)—based on an idea proposed initially by a British businessman named Fred Nettler—invited individuals to contribute a specified amount of money (nonrefundable) to the JNF Charitable Trust130 in return for the right to lease either 2½ or 5 dunams of JNF-owned land. The JNF also received £P5 from each participant. The individual then invested more money for the building of a small farm on his/her plot. Many such individual farms made up a ‘Farm City.’ The individual farm was to be for self-subsistence only, and lands leased for the FCS were close to cities such as Netanyah and Haifa so the individual could find outside employment. However, the fact that the exact nature of the FCS was not as clearly spelled out as was the JLPS led to some confusion and debate (discussed in Chapters 3 and 4) that FCS organizers had to iron out during the war. For example, because the contributors were middle-class individuals ‘with means,’ by 1942–43 some began to push for private industry in the Farm Cities proper. Although private industry was not part of the original vision, FCS organizers, after some debate on the issue, acceded to the FCS participants’ wishes. The JNF Directorate approved of the scheme and began to sign FCS ‘covenants’ (or agreements) with participants in 1941. Cessation of construction during the war and slowdowns caused by initial organizational problems delayed the development of the scheme throughout the war and into the postwar period. Thus, implementation of the FCS carried over into the period of Israeli statehood.[15]
  • 1944 - 'The War Emergency Conference of the World Jewish Congress met in November, 1944, at Atlantic City, in the United States. ...The largest single territorial delegation from countries outside the United States was that of the British Section. Nine members of the Executive, Mrs. I. M. Sieff, Mr. S. S. Silverman, M.P., Dr. N. Barou, Mr. Ben Rubenstein, Dr. A. Cohen, of Birmingham, Mr. Jack Cotton, of Birmingham, Mr. Fred Nettler, of Glasgow, Mr. Norman Jacobs, of Manchester, and Mr. A. L. Easterman, Political Secretary, were afforded special facilities by the Foreign Office and the Ministry of War Transport to proceed to the United States. The Executive of the British Section expresses its deep appreciation to these Departments for the understanding and courtesy shown by them in enabling so large a delegation to travel from the United Kingdom at so critical a time in the development of the war. The British Delegation took an important part in the work of the Conference,, which elected its members to key positions on the principal Commissions : Mr. Silverman as a member of the Presidium and Vice-Chairman of the Political. Commission ; Dr. A. Cohen as Vice-Chairman of the Cultural Commission j Dr. N. Barou as Vice-Chairman of the Reparations and Restitution Commission ; Mr. A. L. Easterman as Chairman of the War Crimes Commission ; Mr. Ben Rubenstein as a member of the Finance Commission ; Mr. Jack Cotton and Mr. Norman Jacobs as members of the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissions. Owing, to a family bereavement, Mr. Fred Nettler was, unfortunately, obliged to return to Great Britain in the early stages of the Conference.[16]
  • 1943-46 - GLASGOW President ־: Mr. Fred Nettler, J.P. Chairman : Mr. Walter Harris. • Joint Honorary Secretaries : Mr. Edward Woolfson, Mr. Neil Morris. Honorary Treasurer : Charles Edelman. The Glasgow Group, the first provincial organisation of the World Jewish Congress, continues to be one of the largest constituents of ihe British Section, with a membership of more than 500, and affiliation of 13 constituent associations, which include Synagogues, Zionist Societies, Discussion Groups and other bodies. This Group has been particularly active through regular meetings of its members and committees at which current affairs of the Congress have been discussed and Jewish questions of a general character dealt with. The Group has engaged in very considerable public activity in the way of public meetings and conferences, and has thus rendered important services in advancing the purposes of Congress. Members of the Executive have addressed a series of large public meetings in Glasgow and the Group has been addressed by Dr. Goldmann, Chairman of the World Jewish Congress Executive. The Group has held two Week-End Schools which have proved eminently successful. In addition to its valuable work in developing the Congress and in spreading knowledge of current Jewish problems, the Glasgow Group has made a considerable contribution to Congress funds for recovery and reconstruction in Europe, and has provided substantial quantities of clothing and books for Jewish Displaced Persons in Germany. The Group has been ably directed by Mr. Walter Harris, and his associate members of the local Executive. Mr. Fred Nettler, J.P., was elected by the National Council as a member of the delegation to the War Emergency Conference at Atlantic City in November, 1944.[16]
  • 1946 - Vice Chairman (one of three) of the British Section of the World Jewish Congress.[16]
  • 1949 - May - Nettler becomes a settler colonist in Palestine,: A reception was held in honour of Mr. Fred Nettier, J.P., at the Grand Hotel, organised by Glasgow Zionist bodies, on his leaving to settle in Israel. Mr. Lewis Wolfson, President of the Glasgow Zionist Organisation who presided, recalled that Mr, Nettler had been appointed Chairman of the Organisation When it was formed in 1928.
On behalf of the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council, Mr. Joseph Woolfson, President, spoke of the bigh esteem in which Mr. Nettler was beld by be entire community. ⁠Mr. Hyman Woolfson, Chairman of the Glasgow Commission of the JNF on behalf of all Zionist workers in Glasgow, presented Mr. Nettier with a Golden Book certificate in recognition of his services to the Zionist cause. Tributes to Mr. Nettler were also paid by Mr. Samuel L, Lipsey, Joint Chairman of the local J.P.A; Mrs. A. L. Bernstein, Chairman, Glasgow Women's Zionist Organisation; Mr. Edward Woolfson, Chairman, Glasgow Zionist Organisation; Mr. Mischa Louvish, Chairman, Poale Zion branch; and Mr. Moray Glasser.[17]

Affiliations

Resources

Notes

  1. ↑ https://cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/august-2008-disclosure-log.pdf
  2. ↑ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/33622/page/4183/data.pdf
  3. ↑ A Scottish Shtetl, 1984.
  4. ↑ 49 JE 7/9/1934. Hitler’s rise to power and ihc subsequent persecution of the Jews in Germany was sometimes blamed on an alleged decline in Judaism in that country. During the 1930s this interpretation of the events in Germany became an important factor in the communal debates in Glasgow.
  5. ↑ Braber, p. 152.
  6. ↑ Cinema-going from Below: The Jewish film audience in interwar Britain, Gil Toffell Page 525 Volume 8, Issue 2 November 2011
  7. ↑ 158
  8. ↑ 158 J £ 311/1930. A correspondent of the Jewish Echo complained that rank and file of the movement were not consulted on important matters and called the GZO too elitist. Compare JE 12/10/1934. For differences between the GZO leaders and the editor of the Jewish Echo see below.
  9. ↑ Braber, p. 269.
  10. ↑ https://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/the-holy-land-and-the-jewish-pioneer_1bae7d725f1349bdbd53a8f16fad8d43
  11. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhADAAzmreM&t=916s&ab_channel=MonstercatSilk
  12. ↑ JE 21/1/1938; compare B. Schotz, Bronze in M v Blood, p. 161; Benno Schotz Portrait Sculpture. Glasgow Art Gallery' and Museum exhibition catalogue, Glasgow, 1978, p. 18. Nettler had been started in business by his mother-in-law when he arrived in Glasgow as a young man from Russia. The firm reportedly had about 150 employees. The bust was presented by Mr. J. Isaacs w ho had worked in the firm for 20 years.
  13. ↑ Braber, p. 207.
  14. ↑ Plan Palestine “farm City” for Settlement of British Jews, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, June 10, 1941.
  15. ↑ Tuten, Between Land and Capital. p. 21.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE "WORLD JEWISH <tr CONGRESS (BRITISH SECTION) LONDON MAY 12th, 1946 REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE OFFICERS.
  17. ↑ Mr. Nettler JP to Setle in Israel, Jewish Chronicle, 6 May 1949. p. 13.
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