German Colony

• Jerusalem's German Colony is in the triangle formed by the streets Emek Refaim, Derekh Beit Lekhem (Bethlehem Road), and Emile Zola, including both sides of those streets.
• The founders were a sect of "Pietists" who broke away from the Lutheran Church in Germany and, in the 19th century, moved to "the Holy Land" to live a holy life.
• They were craftsmen and innkeepers and good builders. Much of their iron work survives, ad do those buildings that have, so far, excaped developers. Hoffman's large house remains, tall and imposing.
• The stone building at the point of the triangle (near the Ottoman railway station) was their meeting house. I'm told they did not believe in churgh buildings. After the founding of the State Of Israel, Armenians used the building as a church until 1967, when they regained access to the Old City.
• In 1917, when the British conquered Jerusalem, they interned the Germans and sent them to Cairo. After that war, the colonists returned. In 1941, the British, citing pro-Nazi activity in the Colony, interned the Germans and shipped them to Australia and New Zealand.
• Later, when the State of Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany were discussing reparations, Germany transferred ownership to Israel and took over liability for the confiscated property. Israel had already settled refugees in the buildings. Eventually, tenants bought their flats -- or didn't and kicked themselves later.
• Many tourists walk along Emek Refaim (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/emek-refaim.html ). Few explore the small streets within the triangle. In places you might imagine yourself in a German village -- or at least in a Wisconsin version of one.
• In one house a vintner made wine, and beer was brewed in another. Across Emek Refaim, a restaurant promised local wine as well as wine from the Jewish wineries of the north. In one place an enterprising man filled his cistern ( http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/cistern.html ) with whitewash for sale.
• It is the small meeting house that is slated for encapsulation in a multi-story hotel.

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox