Walter Benjamin Goes to Palestine

"At the end of 1923 his best friend Gershom Scholem emigrated to Palestine, a country under the British Mandate of Palestine; despite repeated invitations, he failed to persuade Benjamin (and family) to leave the Continent for the Middle East." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Benjamin

"Once, he [Benjamin] carried with him a Hebrew language instruction book, and said that he was busy learning Hebrew. Perhaps he would even go to Palestine. His friend [Gershom] Scholem had promised him a secured existence there. At first I was speechless, and then replied sharply: the path of a thinking and progressive man leads to Moscow, not to Palestine. I can honestly say that the fact that Benjamin didn't go to Palestine was my accomplishment."--Asja Lacis, Latvian "proletarian theater" activist https://dokumen.tips/documents/remembering-walter-benjamin-benjamin-and-his-biographers.html See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asja_Lācis

So, what if Benjamin does go to Palestine? As noted at https://books.google.com/books?id=5Ejq67KMYoIC&pg=PA21 "At the very least, Lacis was telescoping the course of events, as Benjamin was never closer to immigrating to Palestine than four years after this 'sharp exchange' (and one year after his trip to Moscow)."

Presumably, he survives. (In OTL, he committed suicide in 1940, fearful of being repatriated from Spain to Nazi-occupied France.) And being born in 1892, he could have decades of work ahead of him. (Although the fact that he was a heavy smoker throws some doubt on his likely longevity.)

BTW, the article at https://dokumen.tips/documents/remembering-walter-benjamin-benjamin-and-his-biographers.html mentions that Lacis once asked Benjamin, "But where do you stand, the master of culture [Meister der Kultur]? Your brother is in the Communist party! Why aren't you?" Bemjamin's answer was: "Well, for you it is very easy. . . . With you it is like with a horse wearing blinders. It only looks straight ahead, and the way appears straight to it. For me, it is more difficult, more complicated; I must consider many other things as well." https://books.google.com/books?id=ZywCZrQGojkC&pg=PA234
 
"Well, for you it is very easy. . . . With you it is like with a horse wearing blinders. It only looks straight ahead, and the way appears straight to it. For me, it is more difficult, more complicated; I must consider many other things as well."

If Benjamin assumes a similar stance vis-a-vis the militant zionists one could imagine him being assassinated by the Stern Gang (or similar outfit).
 
If Benjamin assumes a similar stance vis-a-vis the militant zionists one could imagine him being assassinated by the Stern Gang (or similar outfit).

I think they were more concerned with killing Brits, Arabs, UN mediators, and politicians they didn't like than with intellectuals whose work was barely known to the general public.
 
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