Sarah Aaronsohn

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Sarah Aaronsohn (before 1917)

Sarah Aaronsohn (born January 5, 1890 in Zichron Ja'akov ; died October 10, 1917 there ) was a spy who was active as a member of the Jewish pro-British spy network NILI against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War .

Life

Sarah Aaronsohn was one of six children of a grain trader and Zionist who immigrated to Palestine from Romania . The oldest son in the family was Aaron Aaronsohn , a botanist, agronomist and the founder of NILI. Another son was Alexander Aaronsohn , founder of the paramilitary organization Gideonim .

Sarah Aaronsohn grew up in the Jewish settlement of Zichron Ja'akov. She spoke Hebrew , Yiddish , Turkish , French , spoke Arabic and English, and could ride and shoot. She often accompanied her brother Aaron on his travels through Palestine. In 1914 she married the Bulgarian merchant Chaim Abraham and lived with him in Istanbul until 1915 .

On her trip from Istanbul to Haifa she witnessed the genocide of the Armenians . In agreement with Chaim Herzog, she then decided to support the British armed forces in the fight against Turkey. After her return to Palestine, she joined NILI and held a managerial position there. After the organization was blown in autumn 1917, Sarah Aaronsohn was arrested. After interrogation and torture , she killed herself . In posterity she became the heroine and symbolic figure of the Jewish nationalism of the Yishuv in Palestine.

literature

  • Ida Cowen, Irene Gunther: A Spy for Freedom: The Story of Sarah Aaronsohn. Penguin Books Ltd, 1984, ISBN 0-52-567150-1 , 156 pages, English.
  • Ronald Florence: Lawrence and Aaronsohn. Viking, New York, 528 pages, English.
  • Patricia Goldstone: Aaronsohn's Maps. Harcourt, Orlando, 352 pages, English.

Web links

Commons : Sarah Aaronsohn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Billie Melman: Sarah Aaronsohn. In: Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia.
  2. ^ Mack Bartov, Phyllis Omer: In God's Name: Genocide and Religion in the Twentieth Century. Berghahn Books, 2001, pages 274-275, ISBN 1-57181-214-8 .
personal data
SURNAME Aaronsohn, Sarah
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spy
DATE OF BIRTH January 5, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Zichron Ja'akov , Israel
DATE OF DEATH October 10, 1917
Place of death Zichron Ja'akov , Israel