Safed, or Tsfat, the Galilee mountain town, is considered one of Judaism's holiest cities, along with Jerusalem, Hebron, and Tiberias.
Safed (circa 1900)
The town was a magnet for Jews fleeing the Spanish Inquisition and the home of some of Judaism's greatest medieval scholars -- Rabbi Yitzhak Luria (the "Ari"), Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz (author of the prayer Lecha Dodi), and Rabbi Yosef Karo (the author of the Shulchan Aruch code of laws).
While Jews flocked to Safed over the last 800 years, they also had to flee on many occasions. Earthquakes, plagues and attacks decimated the community. Over the centuries, Druze, Ottoman and Arab gangs and militias plundered the Jewish quarter and murdered residents.
Meiron, near Safed, the burial site of Rabbi
Shimon bar Yochai (1920s)
The ancient and famous synagogues of Safed were destroyed in earthquakes in 1759 and 1837 and then rebuilt.
Safed, "a city built on a
hill" (1900)
In 1929, just days after the massacre of Jews in Hebron, Arab mobs stormed the Jewish neighborhoods in Safed and killed 20 Jews and wounded dozens.
Heavy fighting took place in Safed during the 1948 war of Israel's independence. The Arabs of Safed fled, many fearing Jewish revenge for the 1929 massacre.
Safed (1898)
Today, the mountain-top town is home to many artists and galleries.
Safed's flat roofs are covered with drying wheat (1920).
Safed aerial view (1937)
Safed today (Wikipedia)
Postscript: The mother of the late New York senator, Jacob K. Javits, was born in Safed. Ida Littman fled Safed when she was 19 after an Arab pogrom.
Click on the photos to enlarge.
Click on the captions to see the originals.
The Israel Daily Picture site published a photo essay in September as part of a series on the 1936-1939 Arab Revolt.
Arab hostage on a flatbed in front of a British patrol
checking the tracks for mines (1939)
The Arab attacks against the Jews and British in Palestine were frequently directed against motor vehicles and railroads. The essay's pictures from the Library of Congress-American Colony collection show the extensive damage to the trains and the special measures taken by the British, including armed escorts.
One of the British army's brutal tactics was to put an Arab hostage on a flatbed in front of a rail car in the expectation that Arab terrorists would desist from planting mines on the track.
We discovered this picture recently while viewing other pictures in the Library of Congress collection. The caption on the picture was incorrect, leading to the picture's misplacement, possibly for decades.1
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The British Mandatory forces sought to crush the Arab Revolt in 1936-1939 with an iron fist. Arab militias were hunted down and even the Royal Air Force was deployed. Widespread arrests and the destruction of Arab homes and even neighborhoods were common and were documented by the American Colony photographers and reproduced on these pages.
A British raid in the Jewish Machaneh Yehuda market
in Jerusalem
But the British also clamped down on Jewish fighters who organized to defend against Arab attacks and carried out retaliatory attacks against Arab targets.
Raids, arrests and even capital punishment were carried out against Jewish fighters, particularly members of the Irgun underground, led by Ze'ev Jabotinsky.
British troops patrol Jaffa Road in Jerusalem on the
eve of Bar-Yosef's execution in 1938
When the British responded to Arab demands to block Jewish immigration to Palestine, the Irgun organized illegal aliya-- Jewish immigration to Eretz Yisrael.
In April 1938, in reprisal for an Arab attack, three Irgun members attacked an Arab bus. The three were captured by the British, and one, Shlomo Ben-Yosef, was executed in June 1938 despite appeals by the Jewish Yishuv's leadership.
Machane Yehuda market today - at the site of the 1930s
British raid (Photo credit: The Real Jerusalem Streets)
Ben-Yosef was the first of 12 Jews executed by the British, mostly in 1947, when underground groups sought to end the British Mandate and turned their guns on British targets.2
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World War I brought widespread devastation to the Middle East as German and Turkish armies fought British, Australian and New Zealand troops in battlefields from the Suez Canal in the south to Damascus in the north.
The American Colony photographers
took hundreds of pictures of the
locust plague and the insects'
metamorphosis from larvae to adult
The war meant a cut-off of aid and relief to the Jews of Palestine from Jewish philanthropists in Europe and the United States.
As many as 10,000 Jews were expelled from Jaffa-Tel Aviv in April 1917, and many perished from disease and hunger.But the famine that struck the residents of Palestine was also caused by a massive plague of locusts that swarmed into Eretz Yisraelin March 1915 and lasted until October. Accounts of the locusts and the subsequent starvation and pestilence recalled the plagues of Bible.
A New York Times account from April 1915 described deaths from starvation. By November 1915, the Times detailed a cable from theAmerican Counsel General in Jerusalem in which he described "fields covered by the locusts as far as the eye could reach." The diplomat reported on efforts made by the Turkish leader of Palestine to combat the locusts. A Jewish agronomist, "Dr. Aaron Aaronsohn, who is well known to the Department of Agriculture at Washington, was appointed High Commissioner" to the "Central Commission to Fight the Locusts."
A tree before the locusts arrived
The same tree after the locusts
finished
[Aaronsohn would go on to establish the anti-Turkish NILI spy ring in 1917. His sister Sarah was captured by the Turks for her involvement in the spy ring, and after torture, she committed suicide.]The American Colony in Jerusalem established soup kitchens to feed starving residents in Jerusalem. The colony's photographers documented more than 200 pictures of the locusts' devastation, efforts to combat them and the locusts' life cycle. An album of color (hand tinted) photographsis stored in the Library of Congress collection.
"Locusts stealing in like
thieves through
the window"
The Times reported, "Few crops or orchards escaped devastation. This was especially true on the Plain of Sharon, where the Jewish and German colonies, with their beautiful orange gardens, vineyards, and orchards, suffered most severely... In the lowlands there was a complete destruction of crops such as garden vegetables, melons, apricots and grapes ... upon whose supply the Jerusalem markets depend... few vegetables or fruits [were] to be had in the markets."
Team waving flags tries to push a swarm of locusts into a
trap dug into the ground. The Turkish governor demanded
that every man deliver 20 kilo (44 pounds) of locusts
"In Jerusalem and Hebron," the report continued, "the heaviest loss from the onslaught of the locusts has been in connection with the olive groves and vineyards. Olive oil is a staple of food among the peasants and poorer classes....The grape, too, is a similar staple among all classes."
Garden of Gethsemane, Jerusalem,
before the locusts
Garden of Gethsemane, Jerusalem, after the locusts
"When the larvae appeared near Jerusalem," the Times related, residents were mobilized "for immediate organized resistance....Tin-lined boxes were sunk in the earth in the direction in which the locusts were advancing." Men, women and children were given flags and "the flaggers would drive the locusts together in a dense column toward the trap..."
Both the forces of war and nature combined to take a terrible toll on the residents of Palestine during World War I.2
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Well before the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948, Jewish life in Eretz Yisrael was well established. The "OldYishuv," consisting primarily of Orthodox Jews, had been living in Jerusalem, Safed, Hebron, Tiberias, Jaffa and even Gaza for centuries.
Inspecting polished diamonds (1939) View the factory here
After 1880, the "New Yishuv," often supported by overseas philanthropists, purchased properties throughout Palestine and established agricultural settlements and industries. The photographers from the American Colony recorded dozens of pictures of these enterprises.
The economic development of the Yishuv is described by Mark A Tessler in his book, A History of the Israeli Palestinian Conflict (Indiana University Press, 1994). The following is an excerpt:
Tnuva cheese processing. Another
picture here. (1939)
The number of agricultural communities and workers grew rapidly.... There were 82 agricultural settlements by 1936. In the same year, there were about 32,000 Jews employed in agriculture, in contrast to fewer than 4,000 in 1921.
A similar pattern of growth took place in the industrial sector. By 1936 there were 5,602 manufacturing establishments in the Yishuv, about 90 percent of which were small-scale handicraft operations. The number of industrial workers rose from fewer than 5,000 in 1921 to almost 29,000 in 1936, and the value of industrial output reached $42 million in the latter year. Most of the products of the Yishuv's industries were consumer goods and construction materials, both of which were sold on the domestic market.....
Textile factory (1939). Textile
dyeing here
Furniture making. Another picture
A good overall indication of the Yishuv'sexpanding economic base during this period is the rapid acceleration that occurred in the consumption of electricity. The output of the Palestine Electric Company, whose largest shareholder was the Jewish Agency and whose principle consumer was the Yishuv, grew from 2 to 65 million kilowatt hours between 1926 and 1936. Industry and irrigation each consumed about one-third of this total.
Beverage and bottling
It should also be noted that the economy of the Yishuv was almost completely independent of the Arab economic sector. The monetary value of inputs from the Arab economy was only about 3 percent of all inputs....0
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"Arab Jew from Yemen" circa 1900 The 1880s saw the arrival of two immigrant groups in Jerusalem: The members of the American Colony, a group of American Christian utopians who first settled in the Old City, and a group of Yemenite Jews who were forced to settle in the Shiloach (Silwan) village outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City when they were not warmly received by the Jewish residents of the city.
"Rabbi Shlomo" circa 1936
More pictures of the rabbi
can be viewed here
As we wrote in an earlier posting, the most famous Jewish Yemenite migration to the Land of Israel took place in 1949 and 1950 when almost 50,000 Jews were airlifted to Israel in "Operation On Eagles Wings -- על כנפי נשרים" also known as "Operation Magic Carpet."
"The village of Siloan" 1901. The man is
a Jew from Habani according to experts
on the Yemenite Jewish community
The earlier Yemenite migration took place 70 years earlier in 1881-1882 when a group of Jews of Yemen arrived by foot to Jerusalem. They belonged to no "Zionist movement." They returned out of an age-old religious fervor to return to Zion.
Yemenite family probably from
Sanaa, according to expertsAnd the Christian photographers of the American Colony clearly loved to photograph them. Around 1900 they photographed a Yemenite Jew (without identifying him in the caption) standing above the Shiloach. In 1899 they photographed anotherYemenite (also unidentified) near the Yemin Moshe and Mishkenot Sha'ananim projects.
Yehia, on the Sukkot festival
The new immigrants settled on Jewish-owned property in the Shiloach village outside of the Old City walls of Jerusalem.
Other American Colony photos included Yemenite family portraits and portraits of two Yemenite rabbis, Avram and Shlomo.
Yemenite man announcing
the Sabbath with shofar
Rabbi Avram 1935
Yemenite scribe Shlomo Washadi, 1935
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The American Colony photo collection possesses an amazing visual record of the violent events in Palestine in 1938. The photographers traveled the width and breadth of Palestine to record the results of many of the Arab attacks against British institutions, Jewish communities, and strategic targets such as the rail system.
Aftermath of Hebron attack on Barclay's Bank and British
armored car, August 1938. The driver was killed
The photographs also record one aspect of the British military's reaction -- the widespread destruction of homes in the urban hotbeds of the Arab revolt.
Arson of lumber yard in Jerusalem's
German Colony, August 1938
The Galilee was one of the hottest areas in the conflict -- a war in all its aspects. Here are examples of reports filed by the British Mandatory office in their 1938 annual report just for the Jenin area:
Remains of Bethlehem police barracks
and post office after attack. Click here
to view arrival of British troops
Tiberias synagogue after 1938 attack 
Terrorist barricade on main road
between Nablus and Jenin, July 1938On March 3rd, there was a heavy engagement west of Jenin in which a military force, with aircraft co-operation, engaged and dispersed an armed band of between two and three hundred Arabs. One British officer was killed and an officer and two soldiers wounded. The losses among the band were thirty known to be killed and were estimated at twice that number. Sixteen prisoners were taken and a considerable quantity of arms, ammunition and bombs.
On August 24th Mr. Moffat, the acting Assistant District Commissioner in Jenin, was fatally wounded by an Arab assassin who penetrated to his office. In this case the murderer was almost immediately apprehended by troops and, in an ensuing attempt to escape, was shot dead.
Jenin debris after demolition operation
More pictures can be viewed here
"On October 2nd there occurred a general raid on the Jewish quarter of Tiberias. It was systematically organized and savagely executed. Of the 19 Jews killed, including women and children, all save four were stabbed to death."
The Special Night Squads led by the legendary British officer Orde Wingate were deployed during this period.
Following the assassination of the Mandate's assistant district commissioner in Jenin, many of Jenin's homes were blown up -- according to some accounts one-quarter of the town. The American Colony photographers recorded the widespread ruins.
Troops of the Irish Guard "on the outskirts of Nablus leaving to
fight the gangs on hills." July 1938
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Click on the photos to enlarge.
Click on the captions to see the originals.1
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British army's "urban renewal" in Jaffa, near the shore, 1936 The widespread Arab attacks in Palestine in 1936 threatened British rule. British and Jewish institutions were attacked, travelers on the roads were held up and killed, land mines derailed locomotives, and snipers killed Jewish civilians and British officers.
Families searching through rubble of a
house destroyed in Lydda (Lod), 1936,
after a derailment and an attack on the
nearby airport
A tally of the hostilities and political activities in Palestine in 1936 can be found in the British Mandate's annual report for 1936.
Arab houses blown up in Halhul Within days the British Mandate authorities imposed emergency regulations that permitted detention without charges for up to a year, censorship, the right of entry into homes, widespread confiscation of property and goods, and capital punishment.
Army reinforcements were rushed to Palestine. Travel along the roads of Palestine was conducted in convoys with armed escorts. Roaming Arab gangs and militias were engaged by the British army, and the Royal Air Force took to the air to strafe and bomb the terrorists.
"Cutting a new road" through Jaffa
In Jaffa, the British demolition crews cut wide swaths through the Arab neighborhoods of Jaffa. More than 200 homes were destroyed in Jaffa.
Homes were destroyed in Halhul and Lydda (Lod) in response to terror attacks in the area.
Royal Air Force pilot and machine gunner
In the six months of Arab attacks and British "police action" in 1936, some 80 Jews, 37 British soldiers and policemen, and as many as 1,000 Arabs were killed. 
Skies over Jaffa after dynamiting
"slum sections"
British buglers warn of another blast in
Jaffa, 19360
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Two destroyed cars owned by Jews, 1936 The Arab revolt in Palestine (1936-1939) was a frequent subject for the American Colony photographers. They recorded on film the Arab attacks on Jews, British soldiers, and strategic targets such as the railroad network in Palestine. They also photographed the sometimes draconian British response.
Jews evacuating Jaffa, 1936. Click here
to see Jews evacuating Jerusalem's
Old City
Fawzi al-Kauwakji salutes his volunteers
as they cross into Palestine. (Listen
Vanessa) The Arab general strike in April 1936 was called by the Arab Higher Committee, headed by the Mufti Haj Amin al Husseini. The strike escalated into widespread attacks by gangs and militias.By August, "volunteer" Arab guerrilla forces from Syria had invaded. The annual British Mandate report for 1936 revealed that one of the guerrilla leaders "was Fawzi ed Din el Kauwakji, a Syrian who had achieved notoriety in Syria in the Druze revolt of 1925-26. This person subsequently proclaimed himself generalissimo of the rebel forces, and 'communiqués' and 'proclamations' purporting to have emanated from him were circulated in the country." [The photo of Kauwakji is the only photo not from the Library of Congress collection.]
Derailed train, 1936. Click here to
see more pictures of the Arab war
against the rail systemThe consequences of the Arab revolt, labor strikes and attackswere numerous: - The British instituted the White Paper in 1939 limiting Jewish immigration into Palestine -- precisely when hundreds of thousands of Jews were trying to flee Nazi Europe.
- It forced the Jews of Palestine to establish their own militias, the precursors of the Israel Defense Forces.
- The revolt actually fractured Palestine's Arab society, and many of the Arab casualties were caused by competing Arab gangs and clans.
Jewish lumberyard in Jaffa burned down - With strategic facilities subject to the Arab strike, the Jews of Palestine established their own port, key industries, and airfields.
- The British struck back against the Arab militias and gangs with force and sometimes brutality. Aircraft were used to bomb and strafe Arab forces.
"Palestinian disturbances 1936, Fire in
the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem"
Today's feature shows examples of the Arab attacks in 1936.
Tomorrow's posting will include the British response, including widescale destruction of Arab homes.1
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The American Colony photographers clearly enjoyed taking portraits of Jerusalem's citizens, particularly the poor, new immigrant and ultra-Orthodox Jews of Mea Shearim, the Old City, and the Bukharin Quarter.
Yemenite fruit vendor in Jerusalem
Bukharan Jewish washwoman
We present a gallery of the Library of Congress photos taken in the 1930s.
Click on photos to enlarge. Click on the caption to see the original.
Jewish milkman in Jerusalem 
"Jewish scribe"
"Young Jewish jeweler using the
blow pipe"
Money Changer. The signs behind him say "room for rent, store
for rent, and apartment for rent." The name of the money
changer appears on the sign: Leib Goldberger, along with "Geld
Wexler" -- money changer in Yiddish. [thanks to readers who
caught our earlier mistake on the translation!]
Fruit store in Mea Shearim
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- The young women of Nahalal's "Girls' Agricultural Training School" thank you for not letting them be forgotten. These pictures were taken approximately 90 years ago.
And thank you for visiting Israel Daily Picture. Please encourage your friends to subscribe.
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12
Why Is the Israeli Philharmonic Performing at the Tel Aviv Port this Week? Because They're Both Celebrating 75th Birthdays
The renovated Tel Aviv Port is a beautiful location for a romantic dinner or a stroll along the boardwalk. But as the site for a series of classical concerts by the world-renowned Israel Philharmonic Orchestra? With performances with singer Ahinoam Nini and famous cantors?
The new Tel Aviv port breakwater
Yes, the Port and the IPO will be celebrating together their 75th birthdays.
Arturo Toscanini visiting the Dead Sea resort. Pictures of the
first concert are not in the Library of Congress collection
Both were created because of the adversity Jews faced in Palestine and in Europe.
The Arab Revolt of 1936-1939 shut down the Jaffa Port, and the Jewish population of Palestine, centered around Tel Aviv, required a port.
Meanwhile, as anti-Jewish sentiments and laws were endangering the Jews of Europe, Jewish musicians found themselves out of work. Seventy-five instrumentalists were recruited and immigrated to Palestine to form the new orchestra. The Symphony's first concert was conducted by the world-famous Arturo Toscanini in Tel Aviv on Dec. 26, 1936.
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday!
Ferry brings passengers from a larger
ship to the Tel Aviv port
Driving piles during Tel Aviv
port construction
Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog dedicating the
new port of Tel Aviv0
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Here is the original caption on this picture we found online a few months ago:
The original link "Britaininpalestine" link is no longer active*
Arab demonstration, Jerusalem, 1919/1920. The banner on the left reads "We resist Jewish immigration", the banner on the right reads "Palestine is part of Syria". (Emphasis added) In the post-WWI Peace Settlement the League of Nations divided Syria and Palestine into French and British mandates. The Balfour Declaration of 1917, which pledged Britain's support for a Jewish National Home in Palestine, was included in the British mandate for Palestine.The picture reflects the political tensions in Palestine after the British captured the area from the Ottoman Empire. The region was being divided up by the Great Powers with France taking over Syria and Lebanon, and Great Britain assuming the mandate of Palestine (both sides of the Jordan River) and Iraq. And in accordance with the 1917 Balfour Declaration, Palestine was to house the national Jewish home. By 1922, the British had lopped off the eastern bank of the Jordan (some 70 percent of Palestine) to establish the Kingdom of Transjordan for Emir Abdullah.
"Anti-Zionist" demonstration in
Jerusalem, March 1920
Some Arabs in Palestine objected, particularly to the division of the single former Ottoman region of Syria and southern Syria (Palestine).
The Library of Congress photos were taken on March 8, 1920, the same week that the Syrian Congress proclaimed independence for Syria and Palestine. The demonstrations by Arabs in Palestine were echoing the sentiment expressed in Syria.
This historical period is discussed by Stanford University scholar Daniel Pipes: "No Arabic-speaking Muslims identified themselves as "Palestinian" until 1920, when, in rapid order this appellation and identity was adopted by the Muslim Arabs living in the British mandate of Palestine."
"Muslim distaste for the very notion of Palestine was confirmed in April 1920, when the British authorities carved out a Palestinian entity," Pipes wrote in 1989. "The Muslims' response was one of extreme suspicion. They saw the delineation of this territory as a victory for the Zionists; in their more paranoid moments, they even thought it reflected lingering Crusader impulses among the British...."
"By the end of World War I in November 1918," Pipes continued, "the notion of a Syrian nation had made considerable headway among the Arabs of Palestine. They agreed almost unanimously on the existence of a Syrian nation. With few exceptions, they identified with the Syrian Arab government in Damascus, headed by Prince Faysal, a member of the Hashemite family. Palestinian enthusiasm for Pan-Syrian unity steadily increased through mid-1920."
Demonstration in Jerusalem, March 1920. Note the same
signs declaring Palestine is part of Syria and denouncing
Jewish immigration. The Arabs of Palestine were strongly
anti-Jewish decades before Israel's founding
"Four major events occurred in 1920. In March, Faysal was crowned king of Syria, raising expectations that Palestine would join his independent state. In April, the British put Palestine on the map, dashing those hopes. In July, French forces captured Damascus, ending the Palestinian tie with Syria. And in December, responding to these events, the Palestinian leadership adopted the goal of an independent Palestinian state," Pipes concludes.
* The photograph appeared on a site called "Britain in Palestine," but the site has subsequently been dismantled. We suspect it is part of the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum's collection currently undergoing a refurbishing.0
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10
That German General not only saved the Jews of Eretz Yisrael, but also saved the city of Jerusalem
German General Erich von Falkenhayn, featured in ourprevious posting, was cited by German, Vatican, Jewish and Turkish sources as preventing the expulsion of the Jews of Palestine in 1917.
Gaza City in ruins, April 1917, after two battles between the
British and the Turks. The spike in the background are the remains
of the Gaza mosque. The picture was taken eight months
before British forces approached the city of Jerusalem
But pay attention to the Turkish sources who complained about Falkenhayn failure to rush reinforcements to Jerusalem as the British forces approached in November and December 1917. Falkenhayn's actions -- or inactionin this case -- may have saved the city of Jerusalem from destruction.
The Great Mosque of Gaza (c 1880)
Click on the photos to enlarge.
Nebi Samuel, a high point
outside of Jerusalem, before
the war
Click on the captions to see the originals.
"The British attack on Jerusalem began on 8 December." according to documents in Turkey in the First World War. "The city was defended by the XX Corps, commanded by Ali Fuad Pasha. Falkenhayn did not send reinforcements to Jerusalem because he did not want the relics and the holy places damaged because of severe fighting. [emphasis added.]"
Nebi Samuel, after
the war
"After withdrawing from Jerusalem, Ali Fuad Pasha sent a cable to Jamal Pasha: "Since my first day as the commander of the defense of Jerusalem, I did not receive any support except one single cavalry regiment.... The British, who benefited from the fatigue of my poor soldiers..., invaded the beautiful town of Jerusalem. I believe that the responsibility of this disaster belongs completely to Falkenhayn!"
Heavy British artillery being
towed on Jerusalem's Nablus
Road, 1917
Turkish gun hidden in Gaza grove,
1917The destructive power of the British and Turkish armies can clearly be seen in the pictures of the aftermath of battles in Gaza (March and April 1917) and Nebi Samuel on the outskirts of Jerusalem (November 17-24, 1917). Both armies consisted of tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of heavy artillery pieces.Perhaps not since Sennacharib, the Assyrian King (8th century BCE) who laid siege to Jerusalem and whose troops mysteriously died (II Kings 19), has the city of Jerusalem avoided devastation of Biblical proportions.
The city of Jerusalem would be spared. Aerial picture taken by a German pilot, circa 1917 3
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A version of this article was published in print edition of The Jerusalem Post Magazine on Friday, December 9, 2011, and appears in the Jerusalem Post's online Premium Zone.
German General Falkenhayn on the Temple Mt with Jamal
Pasha, Turkish governor of Syria and Palestine, 1916
(Library of Congress collection)
Please note the important comments below by the historian Michael Hesemann about the role played by the Vatican in the saving of the Jews of Palestine.
The Ottoman war effort in Palestine in World War I was led by German officers, and their involvement was recorded by the American Colony photographers. German General Erich von Falkenhayn, an able Prussian officer who served as the Chief of Staff of the German Army, was the commander of the Turkish and German troops during the critical 1917-1918 period.
A German photographic collection contains a picture of Falkenhayn leaving Palestine in 1918 and bears an amazing caption which claims that Falkenhayn prevented a Turkish massacre of the Jews of Palestine [Unfortunately, permission was not granted to use the photo, but it can be viewed here]:
"Falkenhayn and the German Staff need to be credited with have [sic] prevented an Ottoman genocide towards Christians and Jews in Palestine similar to the Armenian suffering. Wikipedia: 'His positive legacy is his conduct during the war in Palestine in 1917. As his biographer Afflerbach claims, "An inhuman excess against the Jews in Palestine was only prevented by Falkenhayn's conduct, which against the background of the German history of the 20th century has a special meaning, and one that distinguishes Falkenhayn."'" (1994, 485)
Is it true? Did a German general protect the Jewish population of Palestine from massacre? My first impulse was to find proof otherwise.
General Erich Von
Falkenhayn
(Bundesarchiv)
A Falkenhayn family genealogy, posted on the Internet, elaborates further: "While he was in command in Palestine, he was able to prevent Turkish plans to evict all Jews from Palestine, especially Jerusalem. As this was meant to occur along the lines of the genocide of the Armenians, it is fair to say that Falkenhayn prevented the eradication of Jewish settlements in Palestine."
Again, is this true, or is this self-serving German testimony to balance the stain of Nazism two decades later?
The German general is pictured here in a car with the Turkish ruler of Syria and Palestine, Jamal (also written as Cemal) Pasha, a ruthless ruler and one of the "Young Turks" leadership accused of carrying out the expulsion and massacre of hundreds of thousands of Armenians across the Ottoman-controlled region during World War I.
Falkenhayn and Jamal Pasha in the
backseat of a car in Jerusalem (The
New Zealanders in Sinai and
Palestine, 1922)
Another leader was Enver Pasha who led the Ottoman Empire during World War I and on occasion visited Palestine where he was photographed with Jamal on the Temple Mount and in Be'er Sheva.
Two of the "Young Turks" - Enver Pasha
(center) and Jamal Pasha (right). Were they
responsible for the Armenian massacre?
What were they planning for the Jews?
Jamal Pasha suspected the loyalties of the Jews of Palestine. The explosion of nationalistic movements across the Empire was eroding Turkish control, and Arab and Jewish nationalism had to be crushed.
Zionists were particularly suspected of leading opposition to Ottoman rule, and leaders -- such as David Ben-Gurion -- were frequently arrested, harassed or exiled. Many were relative newcomers from Russia, an enemy state. Meanwhile, over the horizon, 1,000 Jewish volunteers for the British army, including some from Palestine, formed in 1915 the Zion Mule Corps, later known as the Jewish Legion, and they fought with valor against the Turks at Gallipoli.
The Jews of Palestine feared that after the Armenians, the Jews would be next. The fear motivated some to form the NILI spy network to assist the British war effort.
The two Pashas ride into Be'er Sheva
where the British army later broke
through and continued to Jerusalem
Eitan Belkind, who infiltrated the Turkish army and served on Jamal Pasha's staff, witnessed the killing of 5,000 Armenians. Later his brother was hung by the Turks as a NILI spy. Sarah Aaronsohn of Zichron Yaakov was traveling by train and wagon from Turkey to Palestine in November 1915. On the way she witnessed atrocities committed against Armenians.
Sarah Aaronsohn, NILI founder
In 1916 she joined her brother Aharon Aaronsohn, a well-known agronomist, in forming the NILI ring. Caught by the Turks in October 1917 in Zichron Ya'akov and tortured, Sarah committed suicide before surrendering information.
At the time, the British were moving north out of Sinai and pressing along the Gaza-Be'er Sheva front.
Sarah's brother Aharon wrote in his memoirs, "The Turkish order to confiscate our weapons was a bad sign. Similar measures were taken before the massacre of the Armenians, and we feared that our people would meet the same kind of fate."
One Zionist activist described the cruelty of the Jaffa Commandant, Hassan Bey, already in 1914:
"Tyrant" Hassan Bey
"It would suddenly come into his head to summon respectable householders to him after midnight...with an order to bring him some object from their homes which had caught his fancy. Groundless arrests, insults, tortures, bastinadoes [clubs] -- these were things every householder had to fear."
The most egregious act undertaken by the Turks was the sudden expulsion of the Jews of Jaffa-Tel Aviv on Passover eve in April 1917. Between 5,000 and 10,000 Jews were expelled. The Yishuv in the Galilee and Jerusalem sheltered many Jewish refugees, but with foreign Jewish financial aid blocked by the Turks and the land suffering from a locust plague, many of the expelled Jews died of hunger and disease. By one account, 20 percent of Jaffa's population perished.
A German historian, Michael Hesemann, described the horrible situation:
"Jamal Pasha, the Turkish Commander who was responsible for the Armenian genocide... threatened the Jewish-Zionist settlers. In Jaffa, more than 8,000 Jews were forced to leave their homes, which were sacked by the Turks. Two Jews were hanged in front of the town gate, dozens were found dead on the beach. In March, Reuters news agency reported a 'massive expulsion of Jews who could face a similar fate as the Armenians.'"
In 1921, a representative from Palestine reported to the 12th Zionist Congress on "Palestine during the War."
“In Jerusalem [apparently in 1917] …dozens of children lay starving in the streets without anyone noticing them. Typhus and cholera carried off hundreds every week, and yet no proper medical aid was organized. … Through this lack of organization a considerable portion of the Jerusalem population perished. The number of orphans at the time of the capture of Jerusalem by the English Army was 2,700. “ He continued, “In Safed conditions were similar to what they were in Jerusalem; if anything, worse.… The death-rate here also was appallingly high; towards the end of the war the number of orphans was 500.”
What saved the Jewish community before the British completed their capture of Palestine in late 1917 and 1918?
Several accounts confirm that German officers and diplomats protected the Jews.
The Zionist Congress report credited foreign consular officials who "during the whole period of their stay in the country showed themselves always ready to help, and performed valuable services for the Jewish Yishuv [the Jewish community]. Especially deserving of mention are the German vice-consul Schabiner in Haifa... The Jewish population also benefited by the presence of the head of the German military mission, Colonel Kress van Kressenstein, who on several occasions exerted his influence on behalf of the Jews."
Col. Kress van
Kressenstein
Last month, Falkenhayn's biographer, Prof. Holger Afflerbach of Leeds University told me, "Falkenhayn had to supervise Turkish measures against Jewish settlers who were accused of high treason and collaboration with the English. He prevented harsh Turkish measures -- Jamal Pasha was speaking about evacuation of all Jewish settlers in Palestine."
The professor continued, "The parallels to the beginning of the Armenian genocide are obvious and striking: It started with Turkish accusations of Armenian collaboration with the Russians, and the Ottomans decided to transport all Armenians away from the border to another part of the Empire. This ended in death and annihilation of the Armenians. Given the fact that Palestine was frontline in late 1917, something very similar could have happened there to the Jewish settlers."
Kressenstein reviewing troops with
Jamal Pasha
"Falkenhayn's role was crucial, " Afflerbach explained. "His judgment in November 1917 was as follows: He said that there were single cases of cooperation between the English and a few Jewish radicals, but that it would be unfair to punish entire Jewish communities who had nothing to do with that. Therefore nothing happened to the Jewish settlements. Only Jaffa had been evacuated -- by Jamal Pasha."
Hesemann, the German historian, cites Dr. Jacob Thon, head of the Zionist Office in Jerusalem, who wrote in 1917, "It was special stroke of good fortune that in the last critical days General von Falkenhayn had the command. Jamal Pasha in this case -- as he announced often enough -- would have expelled the whole population and turned the country into ruins...."
Falkenhayn had no particular love for Jews, according to his biographer, Afflerbach. "He was in many aspects a typical Wilhelmine officer and not even free from some prejudices against Jews, but what counts is that he saved thousands of Jewish lives."
Why has no one heard about Falkenhayn and his role in protecting the Jews of Palestine? Afflerbach responded, "The action was forgotten, because Falkenhayn prevented Ottoman actions which could have resulted in genocide... The incident was not discussed for decades. It restarted only in the 1960s when scholars started to remember it."
Post Script:
Turkish sources indicate considerable tension between Jamal Pasha and Falkenhayn. The following account appears in the English-languageTurkey in the First World War:
Turkish troops evacuate Jerusalem
"The British attack on Jerusalem began on 8 December. The city was defended by the XX Corps, commanded by Ali Fuad Pasha. Falkenhayn did not send reinforcements to Jerusalem because he did not want the relics and the holy places damaged because of severe fighting. [emphasis added.]"
"After withdrawing from Jerusalem, Ali Fuad Pasha sent a cable to Jamal Pasha: "Since my first day as the commander of the defense of Jerusalem, I did not receive any support except one single cavalry regiment.... The British, who benefited from the fatigue of my poor soldiers..., invaded the beautiful town of Jerusalem. I believe that the responsibility of this disaster belongs completely to Falkenhayn!"
"Falkenhayn put the blame on Von Kressenstein and his chief of staff...Dissatisfaction with the advice and command of General Falkenhayn was growing. His inability had resulted in the loss of the Gaza-Beersheba line. His refusal to send reinforcements had resulted in the loss of Jerusalem.... Enver Pasha was losing patience too. On 24 February 1918, he replaced Falkenhayn."
Irony of ironies. The Jews of Palestine owed their survival during World War I to a German army officer, and, by extension, the State of Israel's foundations were established thanks to Falkenhayn. Some 25 years later the German army would assist in the genocide of the Jews of Europe. Ultimately, survivors of the Nazi genocide would find shelter in Falkenhayn’s legacy.The writer served as a senior Israeli diplomat in Washington. Today he serves as a public affairs consultant.11
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Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Safed (Tsfat), the Center for Jewish Kabbalah, 100 Years Ago - picture a day
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