August 21, 1933 Eighteenth Zionist Congress, Prague

The Eighteenth Zionist Congress convenes in Prague in the shadow of Hitler’s rise to power. The labor movement, which wins the election by a near decisive majority, forms the coalition in the Zionist Executive. Dr. Arthur Ruppin is elected chairman and Moshe (Shertok) Sharett becomes head head of the Political Department. Secretary of the Histadrut (the General Federation of Labor), David Ben-Gurion, is elected a member of the Executive, and Nahum Sokolow is elected for a second term as president of the WZO. In 1933 aliyah reaches a peak: the number of Jewish immigrants to Palestine, 37,000, is more than in the entire four-year period of the Third Aliyah; 21 new settlements are set up.