ABSTRACT The article deals with two settlements, Wilhelma and Atarot, whose histories are connected: the settlers of Wilhelma were deported by the British Mandate authorities in 1948 and became refugees, and the settlers of Atarot had to leave their settlement as it fell in the same year and also became refugees. They were re-settled in Wilhelma as it was vacated by the British. The German settlers of Wilhelma were deported to Australia where they were naturalized, mostly in Melbourne and Sydney. The name Wilhelma was replaced with Bnei Atarot by the Jewish settlers from Old Atarot.
The article opens with an introduction describing the relations between Jews and Germans in Palestine from the beginning of the German settlement until the Germans were forced to leave the country. It follows with an encounter with the Luz family, in Bnei Atarot and their narrative of the events that led to the evacuation of Old Atarot in 1948; the acts of settlement in Old Atarot and Wilhelma; the impact of the 1948 War of Independence on both communities, the heavy fighting in Atarot and Neve Yaakov; what happened to the lands of Wilhelma; and other Jewish refugees who joined for the re-settlement of Wilhelma. The article ends with an epilog, surveying the events in Old Atarot, to the cemeteries of Wilhelma and Old Atarot, and the Luxemburg Agreement (1952) and its significance to both communities.
issue 25 / n. 1 (2024)
