King David Hotel
The King David , Hebrew מְלוֹן הַמֶּלֶךְ דָּוִד Məlōn ha-Melech David , is a luxury hotel in Jerusalem . It has been one of the Leading Hotels of the World for several years .
history
It is a founding of the Palestine Cooperation by Sir Robert Waley Cohen , in which the Egyptian banker Ezra Mosseri held half of the shares in the hotel company, another 46% of the shares were held by other Cairians and the rest by the private National Bank of Egypt . The hotel was built from 1929 to 1931 according to plans by Emil Vogt (construction) and Gustave-Adolphe Hufschmid (interior design) under the supervision of Benjamin Chaikins . Vogt had built a hotel in Luxor in 1925. The King David Hotel then went into operation under the direction of Karl Albert (Charles) Bählers (1868–1937), the hotelier who was successful in Egypt tourism. Since then it has housed several monarchs , such as King Alfonso XIII in 1931 . of Spain , 1936 Haile Selassie of Abyssinia and 1942 Georg II of Greece .
The attack on July 22, 1946
The hotel became known worldwide after the bomb attack on July 22, 1946 by the radical Zionist terrorist organization Irgun, led by Menachem Begin . The hotel then housed some departments of the British Mandate Government and offices of the General Staff of the British Army for Palestine. Most of the complex was still used as a hotel. The attack on the hotel was originally a plan by several Jewish underground organizations as part of the “Jewish rebellion” against the British mandate. However, after the " Operation Agatha " of the Palestine Police and British troops , Haganah and Palmach withdrew from the preparations for the attack. From now on, the Irgun planned the attack alone. The Palestine Police's Criminal Investigation Department had long had evidence that the hotel was about to be attacked. Although the chief of police pushed for security measures to be strengthened, the only result was that the barbed wire fence was reinforced.
attack
Late in the morning of July 22nd, a group of Irgun members disguised as Arab workers drove to the delivery entrance of the hotel and unloaded several milk cans filled with explosives . From there they brought the milk cans to a restaurant in the basement - at least 350 kg of explosives. They had to pass a room in which the Royal Signals had their office. An officer of the Royal Signals stepped out of the room, probably learn to what the noise was. He was immediately gunned down by one of the attackers, as was a police officer who rushed to his aid.
The further course is confusing. There are witnesses who report one small explosion beforehand, others from two explosions. The police suspected this was part of a diversionary maneuver. This explosion saved the lives of many people who ran from the hotel to the street to see what had happened. According to the official report from the Headquarters (HQ) of the British Forces in Palestine on July 23, 1946, a detonation occurred at 12:25 p.m. At the same time, the British security forces in and around the hotel already knew that two of their comrades had been gunned down in the basement. At 12:20 p.m., according to the official HQ report on July 23, the Irgun group left the hotel to flee. There was now an exchange of fire between the rushing British security forces and the Irgun fighters. One of the attackers, Aharon Abramovich , was killed and two others injured. At 12:37 p.m. the explosive device exploded in the basement.
Telephone warning
From the start, the Irgun and their leader Menachem Begin insisted that the security forces be informed of the attack in good time. Three communications had been sent by telephone: one to the Palestine Post , one to the French embassy, which was about 200 meters as the crow flies from the hotel, and one to the hotel directly. Edward Horne, who was a police officer in Palestine from 1941 to 1946, tries in his book A Job Well Done to describe the events as the police say they happened.
There were three calls. The first arrived at the Palestine Post at 12:35 p.m. A woman's voice warned of an explosion and called for the hotel to be evacuated as an explosion was imminent. The newspaper has informed the security forces. The police responded by calling the hotel switchboard. The second call came from the French Consulate General . The police were able to trace a person who remembered receiving a message. At what point in time the person couldn't tell. A woman's voice pretending to be from the Irgun said something about a bomb. You probably didn't take the call too seriously, but you decided to open the windows and stay away from them. The UK authorities were not informed. The third call was made directly to the hotel. The police could not find the time. The hotel switchboard was very likely unable to find the security officer in charge who was trying to get to the bottom of the unrest in the hotel with his people.
Salvage
The area around the hotel was cordoned off immediately after the explosion and a curfew was later imposed. British Army pioneers with heavy equipment as well as individuals searched the rubble for survivors.
The victims
The public watched with horror at the increasing number of people killed, wounded and missing. However, the information about this varies. Some sources speak of 91 victims, others of 92, 93 and even 176. The information about the nationality of the victims also varies. There is talk of 16 or 28 British killed, 17 or a third of Jews killed. Without a doubt, the majority of the victims were of Arab origin. Most of the victims were civilians. None of the victims in the bomb explosion were active British soldiers.
After 1948
The British expanded the previous hotel into a fortress before vacating it on May 14, 1948, shortly before the end of the mandate. It was briefly used by the Israeli army during the fighting for Jerusalem, at the end of the First Arab-Israeli War , the King David Hotel overlooked the no man's land on the armistice line in the direction of the Old City from the Israeli side.
It was reopened after Israel captured East Jerusalem in the Six Day War . In 1957 the German-Jewish Federmann family from Chemnitz bought the hotel. The brothers Xiel and Samuel Federmann turned the "ruin with bullet holes" they found into a luxury hotel. The hotel formed the cornerstone for the Dan Hotels of Israel.
Today it is one of Israel's leading 5-star hotels . It is one of the founding members of The Leading Hotels of the World .
Israel held a 60th anniversary commemoration in 2006, which the British embassy protested.
Trivia
In the film Exodus, the attack is carried out by a passenger on the ship " Exodus ", played by Sal Mineo , while the real Exodus did not sail until July 1947 and the passengers were not allowed on land.
literature
- Edward Horne: A Job Well Done. Anchor Press, 1982.
Web links
- The King David Hotel (English)
- The King David , on The Leading Hotels of the World , de.lhw.com
To the stop:
- Attack on the King David Hotel (English) Depiction of the Irgun veteran Prof. Yehuda Lapidot
Individual evidence
- ↑ Vanessa Gianno Talamona: Vogt, Emil. In: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz ., Accessed on April 11, 2017.
- ^ Christoph Zürcher: Bähler, Karl Albert. In: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz ., Accessed on April 11, 2017.
- ^ Horne: A Job Well Done p. 299.
- ↑ a b c The hotel choice is a political statement in Jerusalem in: Die Welt from April 11, 2011
- ↑ Palestinian Fireworks: A Mission Failed in: Der Spiegel 21/1948 of May 22, 1948
- ↑ http://www.danhotels.com/AboutDanhotels/History/index.htm
- ↑ Peter Riesbeck, “Middle East - Foreign Minister Steinmeier strives to find a solution to the bloody conflict. Israel agrees to UN troops in southern Lebanon. Chancellor Angela Merkel rejects the participation of German soldiers. The British criticism of Israel's military strategy upsets the USA ” , in: Berliner Zeitung , July 24, 2006.
Coordinates: 31 ° 46 ′ 27.8 " N , 35 ° 13 ′ 20.7" E