German colony (Haifa)

The German settlement was founded in August 1868, about three kilometers from the city of Haifa (which at that time was in the Lower City ). The Templars built a colony in accordance with the strict principles of urban planning. The settlement was planned so that between it and the Lower City , at that time - almost exclusively Muslim - well-visible fields were broken. In addition, the fields were located on the other side of the Moshava Germanit, in the direction of the present Bat-Galim region . In 1875, the main street was laid 30 meters wide, running from north to south and leading further to the port (now Ben-Gurion Avenue); houses were built on both sides of the street. Behind the houses, between them and the fields, two more streets were laid, narrower (now a-Ghanim St. and Meir St.). Smaller streets departed from the main one. At the southern end of the colony were the Templar vineyards (where the Bahá'í World Center is now located). The colony was built like a garden city, with single-family houses surrounded by gardens and shady trees standing in a row along the main boulevard. ^[1] The colony was the first urban planning model in Palestine.

In 1874, the Christian faith of the Templars underwent schism , and later the emissaries of the Evangelical Land Church in the Old Prussian provinces successfully converted the schismatics to their faith, as a result of which the number of converts was about a third of the colonists. So the colony became the place of stay of fanatical adherents of two different Christian faiths and, accordingly, their congregations.

While the Templars were considered sectarians in Germany, the Gospel proselytes received great financial and psychological support from the German Lutheran and Gospel church structures. This created an atmosphere of mistrust and envy among the German colonists in Haifa. On July 17, 1886, proselytes petitioned the Supreme Church Council of the Evangelical Land Church in the Old Prussian provinces for assistance in establishing the Gospel congregation and recognizing it as such. In 1891, Jerusalemsverein , an evangelical charity based in Berlin that sponsored Protestant activities in the Holy Land, decided to support the new Haifa congregation.

Jerusalemsverein directed and sponsored teachers for children of parishioners. In 1892, Jerusalemsverein decided to loan the congregation the money needed to build a prayer hall. (The Templars did not build churches in their settlement. The church was built later for tourists. For them, the first inn in Haifa was also built.) A resident of Haifa, Otto Fisher (1813-1910) donated land at the foot of Mount Carmel, and the Haifa engineer August Voigt drew construction plans for free. ^[2] Construction began in September 1892, and on July 2, 1893, Pastor Karl Schlicht (Jerusalem) inaugurated the prayer hall and two school rooms, which became the community center of the district. In the same year, Jerusalemsverein began sponsoring the pastor of the new Haifa Evangelical Congregation.

Master Herrmann founded the choir. Since 1900, Marie Tekhaus, a deaconess , sponsored by the Kaiserverts Mothers House Deaconess , has run a medical station open to patients of all faiths and faiths. In 1907, the congregation built a separate school building; later the discrepancies between the two German-speaking congregations, the Gospel and the Templar, decreased, so the schools were united before the First World War.

The population between 1870 and 1914 ranged between 300 and 400 inhabitants. Of the colonists, sixty were American citizens, and their leader, Jacob Schumacher, served as an agent for the US consulate in Haifa and northern Palestine. ^[3] In connection with the growth of their numbers and the ongoing urbanization of Haifa, the colonists sought to buy land to establish new settlements. The latter was to be exclusively monoconfessional. So the templars settled in Bethlehem of Galilee, and the evangelical Protestants founded nearby Waldheim. ^[four]

The Templars did almost as much for Haifa as did the Turks. The Turkish railway made Haifa an important industrial city and port; the templars conducted the first line of carriages from Haifa to Nazareth , making Haifa a transit center for pilgrims. They were the first to arrange regular transport services between Jaffa, Acre and Nazareth , which also made mail delivery possible. The Turkish authorities created the police in Haifa, and the templars created fire brigades and ambulances. The Templars laid the foundation for local industry, which brought modern trends to Palestine, which for a long time was abandoned by the Ottoman Turks . Templars gained autonomy and self-government, organized their own internal police, security service, hospital, hotel. It was thanks to the Templars that Haifa began to develop as a European city.

Using modern farming methods, the Templars introduced fertilizer, better crop rotation methods, and new crops such as potatoes. They imported agricultural machinery and engaged in “mixed farming”, combining dairy farming and field cultivation. ^[five]

Land registration was problematic due to arrears and regional disputes overseas that sometimes spilled over into aggression. ^[6] As a result, the templars abandoned farming in favor of industry and tourism. They built hotels, opened workshops, and founded an olive oil soap factory. ^[7]

A rich German colony stood out among its poor environment. Here lived the only doctor in the city, and one of the residents was a construction engineer. By the end of the Ottoman era, the colony totaled 750 inhabitants, 150 houses and a dozen businesses. ^[7]

During the First World War, many of the colonists were recruited into units of the German imperial army , together with the allied Ottoman army resisting the British conquest. When General Allenby recaptured Palestine from the Ottoman Turks, the German colonists were treated as citizens of the enemy state. The British entered Haifa and the colony only at the end of the fighting. Thus, the Haifa colonists were not deported to Egypt as residents of other colonies located to the south (Jaffa, Rephaim, Saron and Wilhelm ), which were located on the battlefields.

In the 1930s, the mood of unity with Nazi Germany intensified among the templars. A branch of the NSDAP was opened in Haifa, many teenagers who lived in Moshava Germanit joined the Hitler Youth . In 1937, 34% of the templar were members of the Nazi party - the owners of the relevant certificates. ^[8] On Coronation Day in 1937, flags with a swastika fluttered over all Templar colonies. ^[9]

All this led to the fact that England, then in possession of a mandate for Palestine, considered it necessary to regard Moshav Germanit as the camp of the enemy. At the beginning of World War II, colonists with German citizenship were assembled by the British and, together with citizens of the enemy states of Italy and Hungary, were sent to internment camps in Waldheim and Bethlehem of Galilee. ^[10] On July 31, 1941, 661 templars were deported to Australia via Egypt, 345 were left in Palestine. ^[8] According to one version, the British saved German settlers from the retaliation of the Jews, who miraculously escaped the horrors of the Holocaust . Be that as it may, by the time the State of Israel was formed, all the Templars had left Palestine and settled in Australia.

In recent years, some of the old Templar houses have been restored. Buildings along Ben Gurion Boulevard turned into cafes, boutiques and restaurants, and the colony turned into the center of nightlife in Haifa. ^[eleven]

• Templar houses built in the late 19th century and restored in the late 1990s.
• Tourist Information Center.
• Haifa City Museum.
• Lots of cafeterias and restaurants serving Arabic, Mediterranean, Balkan, Italian, Maghreb and Far Eastern cuisines.
• Shopping Center City Center (pictured).
• The lower level of the terraces of the Bahai Gardens.
• College of Design.
• The regional center of Women's International Zionist Organization. The Haifa League's “ What? Where? When? ".
• An Italian hospital served by nuns from a Carmelite monastery.
• Center for preventive testing of personal protective equipment issued to the public (in the City Center shopping center).