Templers (religious believers)
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Templers are members of the Temple Society (German: Tempelgesellschaft). It is a name they use in referring to themselves and their religious denomination. The word Temple here is derived from the concept of the Christian Community as described in the New Testament, see 1 Cor. 3:16 and 1 Peter 2:5, where every person and the community are seen as temples in which God's spirit dwells. Although Templers may believe in different spiritual teachings many of them reject common christian dogmas. Jesus is rather seen as an example to follow and not as the Son of God. What unites the Templers is their daily wish to work for the Kingdom of God on Earth.
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[edit] Temple Society
Christoph Hoffmann and Georg David Hardegg founded the Temple Society (not to be confused with the Knights of the Templars) at Kirschenhardthof near Ludwigsburg in 1861. This religious society has its roots in the Pietism within the Lutheran Church in the State of Württemberg. Called "Deutscher Tempel" by its founders, their aim was to promote spiritual cooperation to advance the rebuild of the Temple in the Holy Land (Palestine of the time) In the belief that their foundation promotes the second coming of Christ. On their course to achieve that goal, their contributions towards raising the standards of agriculture, crafts, scientific research, business and building in an undeveloped province under Turkish rule were significant. Many see them as an indispensable helping force in the early establishment of the Yishuv, and perhaps a role model for the Zionist Movement of the time.
[edit] Beginning of Palestine settlement
Hoffmann and Hardegg proceeded to purchase lands at the base of Mount Carmel, the downtown of today's Haifa, and in 1868 broke ground and started building a colony. At the time, Haifa was a town of 4,000 people. The Templers are just one of the groups credited with Haifa's development at the time. It was around this time that the Bahá'u'lláh, (founder of the Bahá'í Faith) arrived in Haifa. The colony's main street was one of the most beautiful streets built during that era and was cause for much admiration. The street was 30 meters wide and had trees on both sides. The houses were built of stone, under the supervision of the architect Jakob Schumacher and boasted red-shingled roofs, a rare combination of style and color for the area at the time. The work of those pioneering settlers took a high toll, harsh mideastern weather and epidemics claimed the lives of many of them before the examplary colony was erect and self-sustaining.
The Templers purchased land that was far from the city and set out to build the first planned agricultural community in the Holy Land. Hardegg stayed and established the community in Haifa, while Hoffmann established the second Templar community in Jaffa a year later, Followed by the German Colony of Jerusalem.
The first agricultural colony was Sarona (commonly pronounced Sharona, est. 1871) on the road from Jaffa to Nablus, The colony's oranges where the first to carry a "Jaffa orange" brand, one of the better known agricultural brand in Europe, used to market the fruits to this day (though no longer connected to Jaffa for over a century, at times not even originating from Israel!).
From the beginning though, trades played also an important role for the Templers. Building construction and road transport became a significant source of income. Coaches as a means of road transport and travel were virtually unknown. The Templers established a regular coach service between Haifa and the other cities, and by 1870 there was a thriving tourist industry, especially in the pilgrim traffic between Jaffa and Jerusalem. Theodor Sandel, an engineer from Jaffa, took control of road construction.
[edit] Second wave of settlers
After the 1899 visit of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, one of the Kaiser's traveling companions, Colonel Joseph Freiherr von Ellrichshausen, initiated the formation of the society for the advancement of the German settlements in Palestine, in Stuttgart in 1899. It enabled the settlers to acquire land for new settlements by offering them low interest loans. A second wave of pioneer settlers founded Wilhelma (now Bnei Atarot)(1902) near Lod, Valhalla (1903) near the original Jaffa colony, followed by Bethlehem, Galilee (1906) and Waldheim (1907). At its height, the Templer community in Palestine was 2,200 people strong. In July and August 1918 the British deported the inhabitants of the southern settlements to an internment camp at Helouan near Cairo in Egypt. The 850 people (mainly women and children and old men) petitioned after the war to be allowed to return to Palestine. In April 1920 though 350 internees were transported to Germany. Then on 29 June that year the Foreign Secretary, Lord Curzon, declared before the British Upper House that Great Britain agreed in principle to the return of the German internees to Palestine. The Mandate government showed understanding of the needs and problems of re-settlement, and with the support of the Public Custodian of Enemy Property, E. Keith Roach, the Mandate government paid the settlers approximately 50% restitution for war losses of livestock and other property. The Bank of the Temple Society, formed in 1925 with its head office in Jaffa and branches in Haifa and Jerusalem, became at that time one of the leading credit institutions in Palestine.
[edit] Affiliation with the Third Reich
During the 1930s, with the rise of the Nazi party to power, the colonies were also registered as supporters of the new rule. Nazi youth movement activities were popular and the plans to open schools based on Nazi ideologies turned the once-friendly Jewish Yishuv away and the Templers' produce was boycotted.
As all male German citizens, the Templars too enlisted with the German army. With the outbreak of World War II, some of the colonies were turned by the British authorities into internment camps and in 1939 many of the settlers were deported by the authorities to Australia under charges of aiding the enemy, though a few were exchanged for Jewish prisoners from the death camp of Bergen-Belsen. In 1947, the rest of the community was deported to Australia as well, via Cyprus. The saga came to an end, when in 1962, the State of Israel paid 54 million Deutsche Marks in severance fees to the deportees.
[edit] Timeline of the Temple Society
- 1861 The Temple Society was founded in south-west Germany by Christoph Hoffmann (1815-1885) and his friends, following a split with the Lutheran Landeskirche in Württemberg (7/10/1859) over dogmatic rituals. Plans for a move to Palestine considered.
- The centre of the new movement was from 1856 on at Kirschenhardthof, were a community Hall and a school were commissioned in July that year. The community consisted of 9 properties of approximately 5ha each. It could at most accommodate 132 residents.
- Attempts by impatient members in 1867 at settlement in Palestine on their own had tragic consequences. Of the 25 persons in the group who tried to settle in the north, 15 died within a year, 7 in Medjedel and 8 in Samunieh.
- 1868 Beginning of carefully planned migration of Templers to the Holy Land (then part of the Ottoman Empire). Over many years urban and rural settlements with church halls and schools, and commercial, trade, farm and transport enterprises were established in a number of locations including Jerusalem, Haifa and Jaffa.
- The faith and ideas of the Templers also spread to the Russian Mennonite settlement of Molotschna where Johann Lange, former student from Wũrttemberg, formed the Tempelhof congregation in Gnadenfeld after years of bitter controversy.[1]
- 1875 Publication of 'Occident und Orient, Part 1' by Christoph Hoffmann. English translation 1995 'The Temple Society and its Settlements in the Holy Land' [ISBN 0-9597489-4-6], Occident and Orient, Part 1.
- 1921 Those Templers interned in Helouan, Egypt, towards the end of WW I returned to their settlements in Palestine (now a British Mandate). The settlements soon flourished again.
- 1939 German Templers were interned in Palestine at the outbreak of WW II.
- 1941 Over 500 Templers from Palestine were transported to Australia, where internment continued in Tatura, Victoria, until 1946-7.
- 1948 Formation of the State of Israel. Templers cannot return there, those left had to leave. Most now live in Australia and Germany.
[edit] The Temple Society Australia
- 1948-50 Australian Templers consolidate around Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. Over the years church halls and community centres were established at Boronia, Bayswater and Bentleigh in Melbourne, at Meadowbank in Sydney and at Tanunda near Adelaide.
- 1950 Formation of the Temple Society Australia with Dr. Richard Hoffmann as Regional Head.
- 1970 Australian and German Templer Regions linked formally by the appointment of Dr. R. O. Hoffmann as President of the Temple Society.
- 1972 Templer Home for the Aged opened in Bayswater - greatly expanded since.
- 1979 Tabulam Nursing Home, located next to the Templer Home for the Aged, begun as a joint undertaking with the Australian-German Welfare Society.
- 1981 New Youth Group club room and school rooms completed at Bayswater.
- 1986 Templers in Germany and Australia celebrate 125 years of Temple Society.
- 1987 Sydney Templers secure several places in the St. Hedwig Homes for the Aged of the Catholic German Community of St. Raphael in Blacktown NSW, opened in 1989.
- 1988 Dr Richard Hoffmann retires. Dietrich Ruff is elected as the new President of the Temple Society
- 1990's New initiatives: Templer residential unit development in Bayswater, Kids' Club, Australian-German Templer Exchange, Country Victorian Templer Groups.
- 2001/2 Dietrich Ruff retires. Peter Lange is elected as the new President of the Temple Society
- 2002 A new Temple Chapel is built in the Bayswater Community Centre. Extensive Remodel of the TTHA.
- 2005 The TSA Constitution is changed to reflect the changed lifestyle of its members in Australia. It is no longer a community based organisation, but one consisting of many Focus and Interest Groups
[edit] Tempelgesellschaft in Germany
- 1949 After a pause of 10 years publication of Die Warte des Tempels is resumed in September, from Stuttgart now. During the 10 year interuption a plain paper circular (Rundschreiben) had been used to keep members informed.
- 1950 The management office is installed at Mozartstrasse 58, where also meetings and religious Services were held. A room at the rear was developed into a focus point for the younger members and, under the name Treffpunkt Mozart Strasse became symbolic for the social activities of the Society. The social section in the Warte still carries that title today.
- 1954, at a General Meeting in September a revision of the existing, 20 year-old, constitution is proposed.
- 1962, on January 27 the new constitution was finalised and accepted and the Tempel Gesellschaft in Deutschland e V (TGD) instituted. A move to larger premises was initiated.
- 1967 The new community centre was officially opened in Felix-Dahn Strasse Degerloch, (home of the word's first modern TV tower) Fernsehturm Stuttgart) and the members of the TGD finally had a proper home of their own.
- 1970 the Australian and German Templer Regions are formally linked by the appointment of Dr. R. O. Hoffmann as President of the Temple Society.
- 1976 The TGD joins with the Bund für Freies Christentum
The combined Membership of the Temple Society today is about 1000 members. In its 145 year history the Society has at no stage had more than 3000 members.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Smith, C. Henry (1981). Smith's Story of the Mennonites. Newton, Kansas: Faith and Life Press, 282. ISBN 0-87303-069-9.
