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{{Short description|Jewish spy working for the British in World War I (1890–1917)}}
⚫ ]'''Sarah Aaronsohn''' (] – ], ]) was a member of ], a ring of ]ish ] working for the ] in ], and a sister of notable ] ].<ref> (], based on ''New Encyclopedia of Zionism and Israel'', ed., Geoffrey Wigoder, Copyright 1994 by Associated University Press, The Jewish Agency for Israel and The World Zionist Organization.)</ref> Sometimes she is referred to as the "heroine of Nili."<ref>{{cite book | last = Herzog | first = Chaim | title = Heroes of Israel | publisher = Little, Brown | location = Boston | year = 1989 | isbn = 0316359017 | authorlink = Chaim Herzog}}</ref>
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sarah Aaronsohn
| image = Sarah Aaronsohn, portrait 2.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1890|1|5}}
| birth_place = ], ], ]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1917|10|9|1890|1|5}}
| death_place = ], ], ]
| nationality = Ottoman
| other_names =
| occupation = Spy
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| family = *] (brother)
*] (brother)
*] (brother in-law)
}}
⚫ '''Sarah Aaronsohn'''; 5 January 1890 – 9 October 1917) was a member of ], a ring of ]ish ] working for the ] in ], and a sister of ] ]. She is often referred to as the "heroine of Nili."<ref>{{cite book | last = Herzog | first = Chaim | title = Heroes of Israel | publisher = Little, Brown | location = Boston | year = 1989 | isbn = 0-316-35901-7 | author-link = Chaim Herzog | url = https://archive.org/details/heroesofisraelpr00herz }}</ref>


==Biography==
⚫ Sarah was born and died in ], ], which at the time was a province of the Turkish-ruled ]. She lived briefly in ] until ], when she returned home to Zichron Yaakov to escape an unhappy marriage in December. On her way from Istanbul to ], Sarah personally witnessed the ]. In her testimony, she describes seeying hundreds of bodies of men, women and babies, sickened Armenians being loaded onto trains and a massacre of up to 5,000 Armenians by bounding them to a pyramid of thorns and setting it alight.<ref name="god's name">{{cite book |first = Omer, Phyllis | last = Bartov, Mack | title = In God's Name: Genocide and Religion in the Twentieth Century | publisher = Berghahn Books | pages = p. 274-275 | year = 2001 | id = ISBN 1571812148}}</ref> Since her trip to Haifa, any allusions to Armenians got her into a fit of hysteria.<ref name="god's name"/> According to ], Sarah decided to assist British forces after she witnessed the Armenian genocide by the ]s in ].<ref>http://www.genocide1915.info/research/view.asp?ID=8</ref>
]
Sarah Aaronsohn was born in ], which at the time was part of ]. Her parents were Zionists from Romania who had come to Ottoman Palestine as some of the first settlers of the ] and were founders of the ] where Aaronsohn was born.<ref name="jwa.org">{{cite web|url=http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/aaronsohn-sarah|title=Sarah Aaronsohn – Jewish Women's Archive|website=jwa.org|accessdate=5 October 2017}}</ref> Encouraged by her brother Aaron, she studied languages and was fluent in Hebrew, Yiddish, Turkish and French, had reasonable command of Arabic and taught herself English.<ref name="jwa.org"/> On 31 March 1914, she was married in ] to Haim Abraham, an affluent merchant from Bulgaria, and Zionist activist <ref>{{Cite web|title=Haim Abraham|url=http://www.danielabraham.net/tree/abraham/haim/|access-date=2020-12-12|website=www.danielabraham.net}}</ref> and lived briefly with him in ]; but the marriage was an unhappy one and she returned home to Zichron Yaakov in December 1915.


⚫ On her way from Istanbul to ], Aaronsohn witnessed part of the ]. She testified to seeing hundreds of bodies of Armenian men, women, children, and babies; sick Armenians being loaded onto trains; with the dead being tossed out and replaced by the living.<ref name="god's name">{{cite book |first1 = Omer|first2= Phyllis | last1 = Bartov|last2= Mack | title = In God's Name: Genocide and Religion in the Twentieth Century | publisher = Berghahn Books | pages = 274–275 | year = 2001 | isbn = 1-57181-214-8}}</ref> After her trip to Haifa, any allusions to Armenians upset her greatly.<ref name="god's name"/> According to ], Aaronsohn decided to assist British forces as a result of what she had witnessed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genocide1915.info/research/view.asp?ID=8|title=Armenian Genocide Research – The First World War : A Complete History<!-- Bot generated title -->|accessdate=5 October 2017|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928001629/http://www.genocide1915.info/research/view.asp?ID=8|archivedate=28 September 2007}}</ref>
Sarah, her brothers Aaron and Alex and their friend ] formed and led Nili.


==Pro-British espionage==
Sarah oversaw operations of the spy-ring and passed information to British agents offshore.
]
Aaronsohn, her sister Rivka Aaronsohn, and her brothers Aaron Aaronsohn and ], with their friend (and fiancé of Rivka) ] formed and led the ] spy organization. Aaronsohn oversaw operations in Palestine of the spy ring and passed information to British agents offshore. Sometimes she travelled widely through Ottoman territory collecting information useful to the British, and brought it directly to them in Egypt. In 1917, her brother Alexander urged her to remain in British-controlled ], expecting hostilities from Ottoman authorities; but Aaronsohn returned to Zichron Yaakov to continue Nili activities. Nili developed into the largest pro-British espionage network in the Middle East, with a network of about 40 spies.<ref name="jwa.org"/>


==Torture and suicide==
During the periods when Aaron Aaronsohn was away, she headed the spying operations in Palestine.
]
In September 1917, the ]s intercepted her ] carrying a message to the British and decrypted the ] ]. In October, the ]s surrounded Zichron Yaakov and arrested numerous people, including Aaronsohn. Her captors tortured her father in front of her. She endured four days of ] herself, but she gave no information beyond what she thought of her torturers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.think-israel.org/pollack.lonepalmtree.html|title=Think-Israel|website=www.think-israel.org|accessdate=5 October 2017}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=May 2018}} Before she was to be transferred to Damascus for further torture, she asked permission to return to her home in Zichron Yaakov to change her blood-stained clothes. While there, she managed to shoot herself with a pistol concealed under a tile in the bathroom.<ref>Auron, Yair (2001). ''The Banality of Indifference''. Routledge. pp. 179–80. {{ISBN|978-0765808813}}</ref><ref>Kahana, Ephraim (2006). ''Historical dictionary of Israeli intelligence''. Scarecrow Press. p. xix. {{ISBN|978-0810855816}}</ref> According to ], in his book ''Lawrence in Arabia'', Aaronsohn shot herself in the mouth on Friday 5 October 1917. "Even this did not end the torment of Sarah Aaronsohn. While the bullet destroyed her mouth and severed her spinal cord, it missed her brain. For four days she lingered in agony." In ''Spies in Palestine'', ] quotes the diary of Dr. ] as saying that Sarah pleaded with him, "For heaven's sake, put an end to my life. I beg you, kill me…I can't suffer any longer…." Instead, Dr. Yaffee administered morphine.<ref>Srodes, James (2016). ''Spies in Palestine''. Berkeley: Counterpoint Press, p. 175. {{ISBN|978-1619026131}}.</ref> She died on 9 October 1917.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Anderson|first1=Scott|title=Lawrence In Arabia: War, deceit, imperial folly and the making of the Modern Middle East|url=https://archive.org/details/lawrenceinarabia00ande|url-access=registration|date=2013|publisher=Doubleday|location=New York & Canada|edition=First}}</ref> In her last letter, she expressed her hope that her activities in ] would bring nearer the realization of a national home for the Jews in ].


Because of the ], Aaronsohn was denied a traditional burial in a ]. However, refusing a Jewish burial for her was unpopular. As a compromise, a small fence was placed around her grave in the cemetery (symbolically removing her grave from the surrounding hallowed ground).
Sometimes she travelled widely through Ottoman territory collecting information useful to the British, and brought it directly to them in Egypt. In ] Alex urged her to remain in British-controlled ], expecting hostilities by Ottoman authorities. She neverhtheless returned to Zichron Yaakov to continue Nili activities.


==Legacy==
In September ], the ]s caught her ] with a message to the British and decrypted the Nili ].
Aaronsohn was the first example of a "secular, active death of a Jewish-Zionist woman for the nation, unprecedented in both religious martyrdom and in the Zionist tradition established in Palestine."<ref name="jwa.org"/> Annual pilgrimages to her tomb in Zikhron's cemetery started in 1935. After the ] of 1967, the memory of Aaronsohn and of Nili became a part of Israel's cult of heroism, officially recognized by the ] and celebrated in children's literature.<ref>https://www.ithl.org.il/page_14448| short text summarizing book by Dvora Omer "Sarah, Hero of Nili" or "Sarah Aharonson, Heroine"</ref>
In October, the ]s surrounded Zichron Yaakov and arrested numerous people, including Sarah.
After four days of ], she managed to shoot and kill herself with a pistol concealed on the premises to avoid further torture and to protect her colleagues.


==See also==
In her last letter, she expressed her hope that her activities in Nili would bring nearer the realization of a Jewish national home for the Jews in ].
⚫ *]
⚫ *]
*] by ], 2009 (Hebrew). {{ISBN|978-965-482-889-5}}


==References== ==References==
{{Reflist}}
<div class="references-small"><references/></div>


==See also== ==Further reading==
*''Aaronsohn's Maps: The Untold Story of the Man Who Might Have Created Peace in the Middle East'' by ] (2007, Harcourt Inc.) {{ISBN|978-0-15-101169-8}}
⚫ *]
*''Heroes of Israel'' by ] (1989, Little, Brown) {{ISBN|0-316-35901-7}}
⚫ *]
*''A Spy For Freedom: The Story of Sarah Aaronsohn'' by ] and ] (1984, Lodestar Books) {{ISBN|0-525-67150-1}}
*''The Nili Spies'' by ] (1959, The Hogarth Press)
*'']'' by ] (1967; Hebrew)
*''Spies in Palestine: Love, Betrayal and the Heroic Life of Sarah Aaronsohn'' by ] (2016, Counterpoint Press) {{ISBN|978-1619026131}}
*''A Strange Death'' by ] (2005, Weidenfeld & Nicolson) {{ISBN|0-297-85095-4}}
*''The Woman Who Fought an Empire: Sarah Aaronsohn and Her Nili Spy Ring'' by ] (2018, Potomac Books) {{ISBN|978-1612349435}}


==External links== ==External links==
*{{he icon}} Sarah Aaronsohn (izkor.gov.il) {{Commons category|Sarah Aaronsohn}}
*{{in lang|he}} Sarah Aaronsohn (izkor.gov.il)
* Prof. Billie Melman, (''Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia,'' Jewish Women's Archive)
* Biography on

{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Aaronsohn, Sarah}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Aaronsohn, Sarah}}
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Latest revision as of 02:37, 1 November 2024

Jewish spy working for the British in World War I (1890–1917)

Sarah Aaronsohn
Born(1890-01-05)January 5, 1890
Zikhron Ya'akov, Haifa District, Ottoman Syria
DiedOctober 9, 1917(1917-10-09) (aged 27)
Zikhron Ya'akov, Haifa District, Ottoman Syria
NationalityOttoman
OccupationSpy
Family

Sarah Aaronsohn; 5 January 1890 – 9 October 1917) was a member of Nili, a ring of Jewish spies working for the British in World War I, and a sister of agronomist Aaron Aaronsohn. She is often referred to as the "heroine of Nili."

Biography

Aaronsohn with Abraham in 1914

Sarah Aaronsohn was born in Zichron Yaakov, which at the time was part of Ottoman Syria. Her parents were Zionists from Romania who had come to Ottoman Palestine as some of the first settlers of the First Aliyah and were founders of the moshava where Aaronsohn was born. Encouraged by her brother Aaron, she studied languages and was fluent in Hebrew, Yiddish, Turkish and French, had reasonable command of Arabic and taught herself English. On 31 March 1914, she was married in Atlit to Haim Abraham, an affluent merchant from Bulgaria, and Zionist activist and lived briefly with him in Istanbul; but the marriage was an unhappy one and she returned home to Zichron Yaakov in December 1915.

On her way from Istanbul to Haifa, Aaronsohn witnessed part of the Armenian genocide. She testified to seeing hundreds of bodies of Armenian men, women, children, and babies; sick Armenians being loaded onto trains; with the dead being tossed out and replaced by the living. After her trip to Haifa, any allusions to Armenians upset her greatly. According to Chaim Herzog, Aaronsohn decided to assist British forces as a result of what she had witnessed.

Pro-British espionage

Feinberg and Aaronsohn in 1916

Aaronsohn, her sister Rivka Aaronsohn, and her brothers Aaron Aaronsohn and Alexander Aaronsohn, with their friend (and fiancé of Rivka) Avshalom Feinberg formed and led the Nili spy organization. Aaronsohn oversaw operations in Palestine of the spy ring and passed information to British agents offshore. Sometimes she travelled widely through Ottoman territory collecting information useful to the British, and brought it directly to them in Egypt. In 1917, her brother Alexander urged her to remain in British-controlled Egypt, expecting hostilities from Ottoman authorities; but Aaronsohn returned to Zichron Yaakov to continue Nili activities. Nili developed into the largest pro-British espionage network in the Middle East, with a network of about 40 spies.

Torture and suicide

Sarah Aaronsohn's (right) and her mother's graves at the Zikhron cemetery in Israel

In September 1917, the Ottomans intercepted her carrier pigeon carrying a message to the British and decrypted the Nili code. In October, the Ottomans surrounded Zichron Yaakov and arrested numerous people, including Aaronsohn. Her captors tortured her father in front of her. She endured four days of torture herself, but she gave no information beyond what she thought of her torturers. Before she was to be transferred to Damascus for further torture, she asked permission to return to her home in Zichron Yaakov to change her blood-stained clothes. While there, she managed to shoot herself with a pistol concealed under a tile in the bathroom. According to Scott Anderson, in his book Lawrence in Arabia, Aaronsohn shot herself in the mouth on Friday 5 October 1917. "Even this did not end the torment of Sarah Aaronsohn. While the bullet destroyed her mouth and severed her spinal cord, it missed her brain. For four days she lingered in agony." In Spies in Palestine, James Srodes quotes the diary of Dr. Hillel Yaffe as saying that Sarah pleaded with him, "For heaven's sake, put an end to my life. I beg you, kill me…I can't suffer any longer…." Instead, Dr. Yaffee administered morphine. She died on 9 October 1917. In her last letter, she expressed her hope that her activities in Nili would bring nearer the realization of a national home for the Jews in Eretz Israel.

Because of the Jewish views on suicide, Aaronsohn was denied a traditional burial in a Jewish cemetery. However, refusing a Jewish burial for her was unpopular. As a compromise, a small fence was placed around her grave in the cemetery (symbolically removing her grave from the surrounding hallowed ground).

Legacy

Aaronsohn was the first example of a "secular, active death of a Jewish-Zionist woman for the nation, unprecedented in both religious martyrdom and in the Zionist tradition established in Palestine." Annual pilgrimages to her tomb in Zikhron's cemetery started in 1935. After the Six-Day War of 1967, the memory of Aaronsohn and of Nili became a part of Israel's cult of heroism, officially recognized by the Labor Party and celebrated in children's literature.

See also

References

  1. Herzog, Chaim (1989). Heroes of Israel. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-35901-7.
  2. ^ "Sarah Aaronsohn – Jewish Women's Archive". jwa.org. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  3. "Haim Abraham". www.danielabraham.net. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  4. ^ Bartov, Omer; Mack, Phyllis (2001). In God's Name: Genocide and Religion in the Twentieth Century. Berghahn Books. pp. 274–275. ISBN 1-57181-214-8.
  5. "Armenian Genocide Research – The First World War : A Complete History". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  6. "Think-Israel". www.think-israel.org. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  7. Auron, Yair (2001). The Banality of Indifference. Routledge. pp. 179–80. ISBN 978-0765808813
  8. Kahana, Ephraim (2006). Historical dictionary of Israeli intelligence. Scarecrow Press. p. xix. ISBN 978-0810855816
  9. Srodes, James (2016). Spies in Palestine. Berkeley: Counterpoint Press, p. 175. ISBN 978-1619026131.
  10. Anderson, Scott (2013). Lawrence In Arabia: War, deceit, imperial folly and the making of the Modern Middle East (First ed.). New York & Canada: Doubleday.
  11. https://www.ithl.org.il/page_14448%7C short text summarizing book by Dvora Omer "Sarah, Hero of Nili" or "Sarah Aharonson, Heroine"

Further reading

External links

Categories: