Friedrich Keller (Templar)

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Friedrich Keller (born September 20, 1838 in Neuweiler ; † December 3, 1913 in Haifa ) was German vice-consul in the Templar colony in Haifa from 1878 to 1908 .

Keller learned the butcher's trade in Calw . In 1862 he became a supporter of the Templar movement and from 1863 received an evangelist training at the Kirschenhardthof . After four years in Switzerland as an evangelist and butcher, he and his school friend Friedrich Proß moved to Beirut in May 1868 at their own risk and account .

In the fall of 1868, Keller married his cousin Katharina Krafft from Oberkollwangen . The ceremony was carried out by Christoph Hoffmann , the co-founder of the Temple Society and a former member of the Frankfurt National Assembly .

After the Keller couple had acquired a building site in Haifa in 1869 and built a house, Friedrich Keller began to rise from a butcher's apprentice to the imperial vice-consul. He held this position successfully from 1878 to 1908. His main merit was, after a long dispute with the Ottoman authorities and the Carmelites , the expansion of the German settlement onto Mount Carmel . On October 18, 1898, Friedrich Keller was allowed to receive the German Emperor Wilhelm II and Empress Auguste Viktoria in his consulate in Haifa and accompany them to Mount Carmel.

Memorial plaque for Keller on his former summer house (cellar house) in what was then Carmelheim on Mount Carmel

Friedrich Keller died on December 3, 1913 in Haifa.

In his honor there has been the “Keller-Haus” since 1993, the seat of the “Gottlieb Schumacher Institute” of the University of Haifa at 2 Kellerstraße in Haifa. The “Keller-Haus-Stiftung” in Stuttgart , which provides financial support for the “Gottlieb Schumacher Institute”, was also named after him .

literature

  • Barth, Fritz: Templars and other awakening movements in the northern Black Forest and far beyond . 2nd edition, self-published, 2004
  • Carmel, Alex: The settlements of the Württemberg Templars in Palestine 1868-1918 [publications by the Commission for historical regional studies in Baden-Württemberg] 2nd edition, W. Kohlhammer Verlag Stuttgart, 1997
  • Perry, Yaron: Swabian colonists conquer mountain - memories of Fritz Keller, 'King of Carmel' in Palestine ". In: Contributions to regional studies of Baden Württemberg. Issue 2, April 2001
personal data
SURNAME Keller, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Vice Consul in the Templar Colony in Haifa (1878–1908)
DATE OF BIRTH September 20, 1838
PLACE OF BIRTH Neuweiler
DATE OF DEATH December 3, 1913
Place of death Haifa