Jewish Industries in Palestine 75 Years Ago -- Part 2

Spinning yarn at Ata Textiles (1939)

By the 1930s, Jewish industries and settlements in Palestine were employing tens of thousands of Jews.  In 1939, seventy-five percent of Jewish workers, some 100,000 men and women, were members of the Histadrut, the federation of trade unions.  Many immigrants, fleeing the turmoil in Europe, were integrated into the work force. 

To see Part 1 of this feature click here.

Fish ponds near Akko. "Fish are so
plentiful they are picked up with hand
nets" (1939).  Also view here.



Rolling cigars near Haifa. View the
finished product here


Some of the small businesses photographed by the American Colony photographers are large conglomerates today. 

Bottling olive oil at Shemen plant

The Shemen corporation is a major producer of edible oils and feed with annual sales in the range of $150 million. 

Kadar factory ceramics. Vintage ceramic
pieces can be found for sale on E-Bay

The wadding plant at Ata Textiles

Ata textiles, featured in some of the pictures here, was the major industry in the town of Kiryat Ata outside of Haifa, but faced with higher raw cotton prices and cheaper competitors in the Far East, the factory closed in the 1985.

 

The Adi battery company



  

Shemen's soap factory



Margarine plant