Templers (religious believers)

Templers in Wilhelma, Palestine

Templers are members of the Temple Society (German: Tempelgesellschaft), a German Protestant sect with roots in the Pietist movement of the Lutheran Church. The Templers were expelled from the church in 1858 because of their millennial beliefs. Their aim was to realize the apocalyptic visions of the prophets of Israel in the Holy Land.^[1] Membership in the Temple Society, as of 2009, is about 1000 members.^{[citation needed]}

Etymology

The word Templer is derived from the concept of the Christian Community as described in the New Testament, see 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 1 Peter 2:5, where every person and the community are seen as temples in which God's spirit dwells.^[2]

History

Christoph Hoffmann and Georg David Hardegg (1812–1879) founded the Temple Society at Kirschenhardthof near Ludwigsburg in 1861. This religious society has its roots in the Pietist movement within the Lutheran Evangelical State Church in Württemberg. Called "Deutscher Tempel" by its founders, their aim was to promote spiritual cooperation to advance the rebuilding of the Temple in the Holy Land, Palestine, in the belief that this foundation will promote 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 Ottoman rule were significant. Many see them as an indispensable aid in the early establishment of the Yishuv, and perhaps a role model for the Zionist Movement of the time.^{[citation needed]}

While the Lutheran state church in Württemberg condemned and fought the Templers as apostates, the Prussian Protestant position was somewhat milder. Their settlement in the Holy Land found a warm support through Wilhelm Hoffmann (1806–1873), who was no apostate from the official church, like his younger brother Christoph.^[3] Wilhelm Hoffmann served as one of the royal Prussian court preachers at the Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church in Berlin and was a co-founder and first president of Jerusalem's Association (German: Jerusalemsverein), a charitable organisation founded on 2 December 1852 to support Samuel Gobat's effort as bishop of the Anglo-Prussian Bishopric of Jerusalem.^[4]

Christoph Hoffmann fell out with his fellow leader Hardegg, so that in June 1874 the Temple denomination underwent a schism with Hardegg and about a third of the Templers seceding from the Temple Society. The schismatics around Hardegg searched to join another Christian denomination. To this end they addressed the Lutheran Church of Sweden (1874) and the Anglican Church Missionary Society (1879), but both refused to take care of the schismatics.^[5] In 1878 Hardegg and most of the schismatics founded the Temple Association (Tempelverein), but after Hardegg's death in the following year the cohesion of its adherents faded. Then envoys of the Evangelical State Church of Prussia's older Provinces successfully proselytised among the schismatics, gaining most of them.^[6] Thus some colonies became a place of partisans of two different Christian denominations and their respective congregations (Haifa, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Sarona).

While in Germany the Templers were regarded sectarians, the Evangelical proselytes gained major financial and mental support from German Lutheran and united church bodies. This created an atmosphere of mistrust and envy among the colonists of different denominational affiliation.^[7]

Early settlement in Palestine

The remains of Templer buildings of Sarona in HaKirya, Tel Aviv

Hoffmann and Hardegg purchased land at the foot of Mount Carmel and established a colony there in 1868. At the time, Haifa had a population of 4,000. The Templers are credited today with promoting the development of the city. The colonists built an attractive main street that was much admired by the locals. It was 30 meters wide and planted with trees on both sides. The houses, designed by architect Jacob Schumacher, were built of stone, with red-shingled roofs, instead of the flat or domed roofs common in the region. Hard work, the harsh climate and epidemics claimed the lives of many before the colony became self-sustaining. Hardegg stayed in Haifa, while Hoffmann established colonies in Sarona near Jaffa a year later, in the Valley of Refaim Jerusalem.The Templer's first agricultural colony was Sarona on the road from Jaffa to Nablus. The colony's oranges were the first to carry a "Jaffa orange" brand, one of the better known agricultural brands in Europe, used to market Israeli oranges to this day. The Templers established a regular coach service between Haifa and the other cities, promoting the country's tourist industry, and made an important contribution to road construction.

Templer colonies

Templer Cemetery in the German Colony, Jerusalem

After the 1898 visit of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, one of the Kaiser's traveling companions, Colonel Joseph Freiherr von Ellrichshausen, initiated the formation of a society for the advancement of the German settlements in Palestine, in Stuttgart. 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) in 1902 near Lod, Valhalla (1903) near the original Jaffa colony, followed by Bethlehem of Galilee (1906) and Waldheim (now Alonei Abba) in 1907. At its height, the Templer community in Palestine numbered 2,200.

In July and August 1918 the British sent 850 Templers to an internment camp at Helwan near Cairo in Egypt. In April 1920, 350 of these internees were deported to Germany. All the property of the Templers of enemy nationality (thus except of that of few US citizens among them) was taken into public custodianship. With the establishment of a regular British administration in 1918 Edward Keith-Roach became the Public Custodian of Enemy Property in Palestine, who rented out the property and collected the rents.^[8]

In April 1920 the Allies convened at the Conference of San Remo and agreed on the British rule in Palestine, followed by the official establishment of the civil administration on 1 July 1920.^[9] From that date on Keith-Roach transferred the collected rents for property in custodianship to the actual proprietors.^[10] On June 29, 1920, the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Curzon, informed the British Upper House that Great Britain agreed in principle to their return to Palestine.

The League of Nations legitimised the British administration and custodianship by granting a mandate to Britain in 1922 and Turkey, the Ottoman successor, finally legalised the British Mandate by the Treaty of Lausanne, signed on 24 July 1923 and becoming effective on 5 August 1925.^[11] Thus the public custodianship ended in the same year and the prior holders achieved the fully protected legal position as proprietors.^[12]

The Mandate government and the Public Custodian of Enemy Property paid them 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 one of the leading credit institutions in Palestine.^[13]

Affiliation with the Third Reich

After the Nazi takeover in Germany the new Reich's government streamlined foreign policy according to Nazi ideals, using financial pressure especially. The Nazi emphasis was on creating the image, that Germany and Germanness are equal to Nazism, thus all non-Nazi aspects of German culture and identity were discriminated against as un-German. All international schools of German language subsidised or fully financed by government funds were obliged to redraw their educational programmes and to solely employ teachers aligned to the Nazi party. The teachers in Bethlehem were financed by the Reich's government, so Nazi teachers also took over there. In 1933 Templer functionaries and other Gentile Germans living in Palestine appealed to Paul von Hindenburg and the Foreign Office not to use swastika symbols for German institutions, without success. Some German Gentiles from Palestine pleaded with the Reich's government to drop its plan to boycott shops of Jewish Germans on April 1, 1933.^[14] Some Templers enlisted in the German army. By 1938, 17% of the Templers in Palestine were members of the Nazi party. According to historian Yossi Ben-Artzi, "The members of the younger generation to some extent broke away from naive religious belief, and were more receptive to the Nazi German nationalism. The older ones tried to fight it."^[15] At the start of World War II colonists with German citizenship were rounded up by the British and sent, together with Italian and Hungarian enemy aliens, to internment camps in Waldheim and Bethlehem of Galilee.^[16] 661 Templers were deported to Australia via Egypt on July 31, 1941, leaving 345 in Palestine.^[17]

In 1939, at the start of World War II, the British authorities declared the Templers enemy nationals, placed them under arrest and deported many of them to Australia.^[18] During the war the British government brokered the exchange of about 1000 Templers for 550 Jews under German control. "The swap, Bauer stresses, stemmed primarily from British and German interests: Just as the British wanted to get the Germans out, Germany was happy for the chance to rid itself of a few hundred more Jews. The exchange, however, was not an even one. The number of Germans deported from Palestine was greater than the number of returning Jews."^[15] In 1962 the State of Israel paid 54 million Deutsche Marks in compensation to property owners whose assets were nationalized.^[18]

Timeline of the Temple Society

• 1861 The Temple Society was founded in south-west Germany by Christoph Hoffmann (1815–1885) and others, following a split with the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg (7/10/1859) over dogmatic rituals. Plans for a move to Palestine were considered.
  • The centre of the new movement was from 1856 on at Kirschenhardthof, where 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 Württemberg, formed the Tempelhof congregation in Gnadenfeld after years of bitter controversy.^[19]
• 1874 schism of the Temple Society, with a third of the members seceding and founding the Temple Association (Tempelverein) in 1878, later joining the Evangelical State Church of Prussia's older Provinces
• 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 Templers who had been interned in Helouan, Egypt, towards the end of World War 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 World War 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.^[20] As of 2010 most live in Australia and Germany.^[21]

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, 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 appointment of Dr. R. O. Hoffmann as President of the Temple Society
• 1972 Templer Home for the Aged opened in Bayswater
• 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 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
• 1990s 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 TSA Constitution changed to reflect the lifestyle of its members in Australia. It is no longer a community-based organisation, but one consisting of many focus and interest groups.

Tempelgesellschaft in Germany

• 1949 After a pause of 10 years, publication of Die Warte des Tempels is resumed in September. Rundschreiben keeps members informed.
• 1950 Management office installed at Mozartstraße 58, where meetings and religious services were held. Treffpunkt Mozartstraße became hub of social activities.
• 1954, at a General Meeting in September a revision of the 20 year-old constitution is proposed.
• 1962, on January 27 the new constitution was finalised and accepted and the Tempelgesellschaft in Deutschland e.V. (TGD) instituted. A move to larger premises initiated.
• 1967 New community centre officially opened in Felix-Dahn-Straße, Degerloch
• 1970 the Australian and German Templer Regions formally linked by the appointment of Dr. R. O. Hoffmann as President of the society.
• 1976 TGD joins Bund für Freies Christentum.

Templers' settlements in Palestine

• Bethlehem of Galilee, a monodenominational settlement of only Templer colonists
• German Colony, Haifa, a settlement of mixed denominational affiliation
• German Colony, Jerusalem, a settlement of mixed denominational affiliation
• Sarona, a settlement of mixed denominational affiliation
• Wilhelma, a monodenominational settlement of only Templer colonists
• Waldheim, a monodenominational settlement of only Protestant-church affiliated colonists

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Templers.

• "History of the Temple Society"
• "Temple Society Australia"
• Tempelgesellschaft in Deutschland (Temple Society in Germany)
• Templers Cemetery in Jerusalem
• Templers Cemetery in Haifa