Page 10 - Virtual Tour - The German Colony - Historical View, Advanced - 110716

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Advanced Level – ?המושבה הגרמנית החדש?

The Templers

The German Colony was established in 1873 by the Templers. This
was one of the colonies that the Templers built in Israel. The origin of
the word ‘Templers’ comes from ‘Temple’.
They were Christians who escaped from Germany, because they had
been persecuted by the government, and (they) came to Israel out of
the desire to establish a pure society with Jerusalem as its center. They
thought that redemption would come if they would help build the
Land of Israel.
The Templers built the German Colony in the style of a German
village – square houses with simple lines and plants around them.
Between the houses they built narrow paths full of flowers in order to
provide privacy for the houses.
When the wealthy Arabs, who lived in Talbieh and Baq'a, saw that the
German Colony is growing and developing and that it has potential to
be a central neighborhood connecting Bethlehem and their
neighborhoods, they too started building large houses there, in an
Arabic style.
In the beginning of the Second World War, when the Templers
showed that they identify with the Nazi regime, they were deported by
the British to Italy.
The Arab residents left the neighborhood during the War of
Independence and left their houses empty and abandoned.
Some of the houses have been re-inhabited by veteran Israelis and
some by new immigrants.

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