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» excerpts from the book
Times of Change: Chapters on Urban Jerusalem
(© 2002 Heike Zaun-Goshen)
JERUSALEM'S AMERICAN COLONY
Social Work and Business
(Condensed Version)
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The colony prospered. Swedish Noble Prize winner Selma Lagerlöf,
who visited Jerusalem in 1900 and subsequently wrote her novel Jerusalem
with its heroine quite possibly modeled after Anna Spafford, was
full of praise, expressed in a speech in 1925 in Stockholm:
The colony now owned a great palace, located not far from
the Gate of Damascus, as well as six smaller buildings. It owned
dromedaries and horses, cows and goats, buildings and land, olive
and fig trees, shops and workrooms. Photographs of Palestine from
its studio were sold all over the world, and it outfitted caravans
which transported travelers far and wide in Palestine and Syria.
(6)
One of the colony's biggest successes was indeed the photography
department. An old camera found its first assignment in 1898, during
the historic visit of the German Emperor Wilhem II. One of the colony
members, Elijah Meyers, had some knowledge of photography, and together
with Frederick Vester, Bertha's soon-to-be fiancé, he followed the
imperial party around Palestine. The Kaiser, it seems, was well
aware of the public relations value this new medium possessed, as
Estelle Blyth, daughter of the Anglican Bishop, could not avoid
noticing:
As the imperial party emerged from the church (St. George's),
we heard the "click" of the waiting photographers, and it was
amusing to see how the Kaiser fell into a good pose, instantly
and almost unconsciously. (7)
The photographic department developed rapidly and became quite
profitable. Another photographer, Eric Matsson, was trained. Visitors
now were eager to take home a view or two of the city. Over the
years, the colony's photographers made an important contribution
to historiography. More than 60 years of history in Jerusalem and
Palestine have been made visually accessible that way: From the
turn of the century to the Young Turk revolution in 1908, WW I and
the collapse of Turkish rule, the British Mandatory period, WW II
and the emergence of the Jewish state. The comprehensive photo collection
is now in Washington's Library of Congress.
 Social
life was equally active. There were not many cultural activities
in Jerusalem in those days, yet the colony's chronicles abound with
accounts of gatherings, receptions, and parties, attended by the
European groups in the city as well as members of the Jewish and
Moslem communities and even Bedouin visitors from the eastern desert.
The Colony played the role of a Y.M.C.A., and often, travelers requested
to stay on the premises overnight - hotel accommodation was still
scarce. In the 1890s, therefore, part of the compound was turned
into a hostel. Besides the Swedish author, Dr. Lagerlof, there were
quite a few other outstanding personalities among the colony's guests.
In 1883, Sir Charles G. Gordon, the British general famous for his
military successes in China, Russia, and the Sudan, arrived in Palestine
and became a frequent visitor at the colony.
Another military man with a reputation who visited the colony was
T.E. Lawrence, the much-fabeled "Lawrence of Arabia";
and the colony was friends with Lord Allenby and Sir Ronald Storrs.
In the course of history, its members met with or witnessed the
visits of, Lord Balfour, Winston Churchill, Emir Abdullah, who became
the first king of Jordan; Sir Herbert Samuel, the first British
High Commissioner in Palestine; and John D. Rockefeller, who financed
Jerusalem's first museum of antiquities.
In 1914, World War I brought martial law and food shortages to
Jerusalem, and the colony - with donations from the United States
- started a soup kitchen. At the peak of its operation, when the
kitchen supplied food for almost 2,500 people every day, it was
closed by Turkey's allies, the Germans. Incidentally, the German
major who delivered the order had been a pupil at the colony's school.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians were starving. When the
grand mufti of Jerusalem offered the Americans to take over the
Moslem soup kitchen, they continued handing out food there, starting
with a crowd of 400, which grew to 4,000 and finally 6,000 people
every day. (8)
Beginning with the Grand New Hotel, which was confiscated for the
purpose, the American Colony eventually found itself in charge of
four hospitals in Jerusalem, too. It was a sheet from one of those
hospital beds which Anna Spafford gave to the city's mayor, Hassain
al-Husseini, to use as a white flag when he surrendered to the British.
Under the British Mandate, the colony continued to play an important
role in the city's life. It started cooperating with the Red Cross
and opened an orphanage. Following the death of Anna Spafford, her
daughter, Bertha, became the colony's leading figure. Palestine
went from Occupied Enemy Territory Administration to civil administration.
Sir Herbert Samuel took over as the first high commissioner from
the last military governor, Sir Louis Bols, and was asked to sign
a receipt: Received from Major General Sir Louis Bols one Palestine
complete. (9)
 In
the 1920s and 1930s, the Arab riots against Zionist aspirations
rocked Palestine and Jerusalem, as did the Jewish underground's
attacks against the British. The colony's photographers covered
both the bombing of British headquarters at the King David Hotel
by Jewish guerrillas in 1946 and the blowing-up of the Jewish Agency
by Palestinian partisans in 1948. Following World War II, with Palestine
divided between Arabs and Jews, the British prepared to leave. Again,
war broke out. Located on the border of Jerusalem's Jewish and Arab
sectors, the American Colony witnessed heavy fighting, and the main
building was seriously damaged. The Red Cross flag was hoisted on
the roof, and subsequently, more than 17,000 casualties of the first
Jewish-Arab war were treated at the colony's clearing station. At
the end of the battles - which Bertha Spafford herself called a
civil war - Jerusalem was divided.
The wall cutting through the city went right past the American
Colony, which remained in Jordanian territory for almost 20 years.
East Jerusalem became a quiet town, with a slow commercial and cultural
life. Fewer visitors came. The colony gradually broke apart -- its
older members died, the younger ones moved away. While Bertha continued
managing the children's hospital in the Old City, her daughter,
Anna Grace, turned the renovated hostel into the American Colony
Hotel. In 1967, during the Six Day War, the colony became the scene
of intense fighting between the Israeli and Jordanian armies. Twice
it was hit by mortar fire before it was taken by the Israelis. A
year later, Bertha Spafford Vester died at the age of 90, and with
her, one of Jerusalem's worthiest causes.
Bertha Spafford and Frederick Vester had six children, and numerous
grandchildren and great-grandchildren. In 1981, a group of 20 of
them met at the hotel to celebrate the colony's 100th anniversary,
joined by then president Yitzhak Navon. Today, the American Colony
Hotel, counting many local Arab urban professionals among its patrons,
is very popular with foreign journalists and diplomats. During her
time in Jerusalem as one of the foreign press, Bronwyn Drainie observed:
The only problem with the American Colony was a touch of politically
correct priggishness among the clientele. If you were eating dinner
there, you were assumed to be sympathetic to the Palestinian cause
and hostile towards the Israelis. This was an unspoken assumption,
but nonetheless marked for that, and it was one that often made
me uncomfortable. (10)
More Chapters from the Book Coming Soon!
[Overview] [Introduction]
[From the Book] [About
the Author]
Photos: The American Colony Hotel's Photo Archives,
courtesy of Mrs. Vester
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