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Search for tag "Templer colony"

from the chronology

date event locations tags see also
1868 30 Oct Christoph Hoffman, founder of the Templers, and Georg David Hardegg, his principal lieutenant, landed in Haifa to gather the Children of God in Jerusalem in preparation for the Second Coming of Christ. Hardegg remained in Haifa to head the Tempelgesellschaft while Hoffman went to Jaffa in 1869 to found a school and a hospital there. [BBD224; BBR204, 2, 15–16; DH133, SBBH1p215-218]
  • The colony on Mount Carmel was composed of a few dozen Templer families from Württemberg (S. Germany) and they were joined by kindred families of German origin from southern Russia and by some who had emigrated to America and become citizens, mainly from New York state. [Tablet to Hardegg (Lawh-i-Hirtík): A Tablet of Bahá'u'lláh to the Templer Leader Georg David Hardegg by Stephen Lambden and Kamran Ekbal, A Tablet of Bahā'-Allāh to Georg David Hardegg, the Lawḥ-i Hartīk by Stephen Lambden]
  • DH139 and GPB277 say this was 1863.
  • See BBR215–18 for the relationship between Bahá'u'lláh and the Templers.
  • A tablet addressed to Georg David Hardegg, Lawh-i-Hirtik, contained the proclamation of Bahá'u'lláh as the Promised One and the return of the Father. He also was warned not to make the same errors of the Pharisees who neglected the validity of Christ's own claims.
  • Bahá'u'lláh stayed in the houses of the colony several times. [BBR234]
  • Palestine was a neglected outpost of the Ottoman Empire when the Templers first settled in Haifa. Other settlements were soon founded in Jaffa (1869), Sarona (1871) and Jerusalem (1873) and, a generation later Wilhelma (1902), Bethlehem (1906) and, but a splinter group in Waldheim (1907). From initially hard beginnings, these communities went on to build the foundations for success: farms, flourmills, workshops, factories, shops, banks, hotels, hospitals, schools and even roads. Haifa was the largest Templer settlement. To this day, its main road is said to be the most magnificent in Israel.

    The Templers flourished in Palestine for nearly 80 years; they even survived the British occupation during World War I when many Templers were deported and interned in Egypt. Palestine was a British Mandated Territory from 1923 until 1948. Great Britain’s entry into World War II signalled the end for the Templers in Palestine. The settlements of Wilhelma, Sarona, Betlehem and Waldheim were turned into internment camps, housing close to 2,000 people. In 1941, a large number of Templers (536) was deported to Australia along with 129 other German nationals. The last remaining Templers were expelled in 1948 when the State of Israel was established. [TSA website]

  • See BBR236–9 for articles written about the Bahá'ís by Templers.
  • See Der Herr ist Nahe: The Lord is Near: The Divine Mystery of the Transformation of Mt. Carmel by Harry Liedtke.
    		• Haifa; Jaffa; Israel; Palestine Christoph Hoffman; Georg David Hardegg; Templer colony; Bahaullah, Life of; Lawh-i-Hirtik (Tablet to Hardegg); Interfaith dialogue; Christianity; Prophecies; History (general)
    1872 Oct The Reverend James Huber, a missionary from the Church Missionary Society of Germany stationed in Nazareth, in the company of Georg David Hardegg of the Templer settlement in Haifa, tried to pay a visit to Bahá'u'lláh in 'Akká. They were unable to do so due to the fact that He was under police guard at the time. The two men were, however, received by 'Abdu'l-Bahá. [SBBH1p218] Akka James Huber; Georg David Hardegg; Templer Colony
    1883. Aug Bahá'u'lláh travelled to Haifa on the second of four known visits (His first is His brief stop there before travelling to Akká in 1868). This second visit lasted at least three weeks. [BBD94; DH109; GPB194]
  • He stayed in Bayt-i-Fanduq, a house in the German Templar colony, that had served as a guest house, part of which stands today. The building was located at the northeast corner of Meir Rutberg and Yafo Street. [BKG373–4; BPP173; DH10:
  • During this visit Bahá'u'lláh referred to Mount Carmel as the 'Moutain of God':
    For a few days the Mountain of God became the seat of the Temple and this is the Station which had been mentioned in the past Books. The voice of the Spirit (Jesus Christ) had been raised in this place and al the other Prophets have told of this Station. This is the mountain of God. [Journey to the Mountain p17]
    		• Haifa; Mount Carmel Templer colony; Bayt-i-Fanduq; Bahaullah, Life of
    1890 c. E. G. Browne was in `Akká. Bahá'u'lláh was staying in the Templer colony in Haifa when he arrived. [BBR253] Akka; Haifa Edward Granville Browne; Templer colony; Bahaullah, Life of
    1890. 1 Apr Bahá'u'lláh visited Haifa for a third time. He spent about two weeks there on this visit. [BBD94; BPP173; DH109; GPB194; RB4:351]
  • He first stayed near Bayt-i-Zahlán, near the town. [BKG374]
  • He then moved to Oliphant House in the German colony. His tent was pitched on a piece of land opposite (currently on Ben Gurion 6). The plot upon which the tent of Bahá’u’lláh was pitched, is now a centre for soldiers named General Pierre Koenig Soldier Centre. [BKG374; BPP173]
  • A photo of the Oliphant House as it stands today.
    		•  Haifa Templer colony; Bahaullah, Life of; Oliphant House; Bayt-i-Zahlan; Tents
    1891. 27 Jun Bahá'u'lláh visited Haifa for the fourth time. [BKG374; DH109; GPB194; RB4:351]
  • He stayed three months. [BBD94; BKG374; DH109; GPB194; RB4:351]
  • He lived in the house of Ilyás Abyad near the Templar colony, His tent pitched nearby on the foot of Mount Carmel on HaGefen Street. This house was subsequently a boarding school and then became office space for the Mercantile Bank. [BKG374; DH186]
  • Bahá'u'lláh instructed to the Master to arrange the transportation of the remains of the Báb from Persia to the Holy Land and their internment in a mausoleum below the clump of cypress trees at a spot which He indicated with His hand. It is stated that there were 15 tiny cypress trees at that time, each one the size of a finger. See Rob4p363 for a photo of the site indicated. [AB45; BKG374; DH134–5; GPB194]
  • For a story of the difficulties in obtaining land for access to the site of the Shrine of the Báb see SES79-80.
  • One day He pitched His tent a few hundred yards east of the Carmelite monastery and visited the monastery. His tent was also close to the Templar building with the inscription "Der Herr ist nahe" over the door. The spot is now marked by a circle of cypress trees. While there He fell ill and was invited in the Templar home and was seen by a Templar doctor, probably Dr J. Schmidt in the room at the north-west corner of the ground floor [DH186]
  • Bahá'u'lláh visited the cave of Elijah. [BKG375; DH174; RB4:3512]
  • He revealed the Lawh-i-Karmil (Tablet of Carmel), the `Charter of the World Spiritual and Administrative Centres of the Faith' near the site of the future Mashriqu'l-Adhkár. [BBD1 18–19; BKG375; DH109, 174; MBW63; RB4:352]
  • For the text of this Tablet see BKG376–7, G14–17 and TB3–5.
  • For an analysis of the text see RB4:353–67.
  • See the article "Carmel: The Mountain of God and the Tablet of Carmel" by Zikrullah Khadem, ZK279-300.
  • See PG102-103 for a recounting of a commemoration of Bahá'lláh's visit on the 21st of October 1919. At that time 'Abdu'l-Bahá entertained guests from India, Persia, Kurdistan, Egypt, and England in a tent which had been erected on the same spot where His tent had been pitched.
    		•  BWC; Haifa; Mount Carmel Zikrullah Khadem; Bab, Shrine of; Carmelite monastery; Cave of Elijah; Elijah; Lawh-i-Karmil (Tablet of Carmel); Charters of the Bahai Faith; Mashriqul-Adhkar; Mashriqul-Adhkar, Haifa; House of Ilyas Abyad; Templer colony; - Bahai World Centre buildings, monuments and gardens; World Centre; Bahaullah, Writings of; Bahaullah, Life of; Bahaullah, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded
    1898 Oct Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany visited Haifa where the Templer colony numbered about 700 souls. His ship docked at what is now Ben Gurion Avenue. (The modern port built during the British Mandate period reclaimed much land altering the shoreline of Haifa beyond recognition and depriving the German colony of direct access to the sea. The Kaiser's visit was the apex of the history of the colony and would be commemorated with a stone marker that today sits just above the entrance at the top of the Terraces of the Shrine of the Báb.) He, however, chose not to go to Akka where 'Abdu'l-Bahá lived and He did not go to see the Kaiser because he "was proud He was the embodiment of pride." [VAB8; LWS10, 288n20] Haifa Templer colony; Kaiser Wilhelm II

    from the main catalogue

    1. Der Herr Ist Nahe / The Lord Is Near: The Divine Mystery of the Transformation of Mt. Carmel, by Harry Liedtke (2022). Brief history of the Templer Society and Georg David Hardegg, who landed in Haifa in 1868 and built a spiritual colony at the foot of Mt. Carmel. [about]
    2. Haifa before and after 1948: Narratives of a Mixed City, by Mahmoud Yazbak and Yfaat Weiss (2011). Mention of Bahá'ís establishing homes in Haifa following their expulsion from Iran, and description of the Baha’i Gardens and the Arc buildings. [about]
    3. Major Opus, The: A Study of the German Templers Movement and Its Relationship with the Bahá'í Faith, by Fuad Izadinia (2014). The story of the journey of two parallel movements to the Holy Land in 1868: the Bahá'ís from Iran and the Templars from Germany. Includes early descriptions of Haifa from both sources, comparative translations of the Tablet to G. Hardegg, and more. [about]
    4. Tablet to Hardegg (Lawh-i-Hirtík): A Tablet of Bahá'u'lláh to the Templer Leader Georg David Hardegg, by Stephen Lambden and Kamran Ekbal, in Lights of Irfan, 4 (2003). A Tablet addressed to the German Templer/Templar leader Georg David Hardegg including the proclamation of Bahá'u'lláh as the Promised One and the return of the Father to earth. [about]
     
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