So many of you here might be aware of the latest uproar in the UK because of the comments of a former mayor of London from the Labor party, declaring that "when Hitler won his election in 1932 his policy then was that Jews should be moved to Israel", concluding that by doing this "he was supporting Zionism".

Beyond the usual robe-tearing at anything that involves Hitler and Israel, I would like to ask historians to comment in the most objective and dispassionate way about the relations between Hitler and the Nazi party with Zionism. I am aware that certain Nazi officials such as Leopold Von Mildenstein had close contacts and good relations with the WZO, and even were formally invited to visit their communities in Palestine, eventually becoming sympathetic to the Zionist cause.

Were these views extended in the high hierarchy of the party, up to Hitler himself, or were they rather an excentricity confined to Von Mildenstein and few others?