Jon Kimche (17 June 1909 – 9 March 1994) was a journalist and historian.
A
Swiss Jew, he arrived in England at the age of 12, becoming involved in the
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse work ...
as a young man. In 1934–35, he worked with
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
in a Hampstead bookshop, Booklover’s Corner, and later managed the ILP's bookshop at 35 Bride Street, near Ludgate Circus. As chair of the
ILP Guild of Youth, he visited Barcelona in 1937, where he again met Orwell.
In the early war years, he contributed articles on military strategy to the ''
Evening Standard
The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...
'' and, on the recommendation of
Michael Foot
Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British politician who was Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition from 1980 to 1983. Foot beg ...
, was hired by
Aneurin Bevan
Aneurin "Nye" Bevan Privy Council (United Kingdom), PC (; 15 November 1897 – 6 July 1960) was a Welsh Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician, noted for spearheading the creation of the British National Health Service during his t ...
in 1942 as the ''de facto'' editor of the left-wing weekly ''
Tribune
Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...
''. (Bevan was nominally the editor but had neither the time nor the technical expertise to do the job, and Kimche was both an alien and a member of the ILP rather than the Labour Party, which ''Tribune'' supported.) He left ''Tribune'' to join
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency ...
in 1945 but returned in 1946, though by now his primary interest was in the Middle East—specifically, in the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. He was fired from his ''Tribune'' job after disappearing from the office in December 1947 to Istanbul to negotiate safe passage with the Turkish authorities for two ships sailing from Bulgaria with thousands of Jews aboard bound for Palestine.
From this point on, Kimche made a name for himself as an analyst of Middle Eastern politics, writing several books and innumerable articles. He was for 15 years editor of the ''Jewish Observer and Middle East Review'' and was Middle East correspondent of the ''Evening Standard'' until 1973. He was one of the original senior members of the Next Century Foundation.
Kimche wrote ''The Secret Roads: The "Illegal" Migration of People, 1938-1948'' published by Secker and Warburg in 1954. The book details the passages of Jewish refugees throughout Europe ''en route'' to Palestine. The Haganah, and in some cases Jewish youth groups, such as the Bricha, accomplished this. Kimche documents this group's activities in arranging for Jewish orphans to arrive from all over Europe to Marseilles in 1947 and board the Exodus, which was bound for Palestine. He also wrote several books in collaboration with his brother
David Kimche.
Selected books
*(1950): ''Seven fallen pillars: The Middle East, 1915-1950''. London: Secker & Warburg.
*(1955): with David Kimche, ''The Secret Roads: The "Illegal" Migration of a People, 1938-1948'' (with plates, including portraits, and a map). London: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy.
*(1960): with David Kimche, ''Both Sides of the Hill: Britain and the Palestine War''. London: Secker & Warburg. Re-published as:
**(1960): with David Kimche, ''A Clash of Destinies: The Arab-Jewish War and the Founding of the State of Israel''. New York: Frederick A. Praeger.
*(1962): ''Spying for Peace: General Guisan and Swiss Neutrality'' (3rd edition). London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
*(1968): ''The Unfought Battle''. New York:
Stein and Day
Stein and Day, Inc. was an American publishing company founded by Sol Stein and his wife Patricia Day in 1962. Stein was both the publisher and the editor-in-chief. The firm was based in New York City, and was in business for 27 years, until cl ...
.
*(1968): ''The Unromantics: The Great Powers and the Balfour Declaration''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
*(1969): with David Kimche, ''La Premiere Guerre d'Israel 1948: 16 Cartes''. Paris: Arthaud.
*(1970): ''The Second Arab awakening''. London: Thames & Hudson.
*(1973): ''Palestine or Israel: The Untold Story Of Why We Failed, 1917-1923, 1967-1973''. London: Secker & Warburg. Re-published as:
**(1973): ''There Could Have Been Peace: The Untold Story of Why We Failed With Palestine and Again With Israel''. New York: Dial Press.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kimche, Jon
1909 births
1994 deaths
20th-century Swiss Jews
Swiss writers
Jewish British writers
20th-century Swiss journalists