The impact of German missionary organizations on the Mutasarriflik of Jerusalem, 1876-1909

This study examines the impact of the German Protestant missionary organizations (the Syrian Orphanage, the Templar colonies, the Kaiserswerther Deaconesses, and the Talitha Kumi School and Orphanage) on the Mutassarıflık of Jerusalem during the period 1876-1909. The reason these organizations were selected for study is that they were in a position to contact relatively the largest proportion of the local population through their missionary activities, and also that they were active in diverse fields: the Schneller and Talitha Kumi Orphanages in education, the Kaiserswerther Deaconesses in health, and the Templar colonies in agriculture and manufacturing. The study relies primarily on the examination and interpretation of documents, records, and reports by individuals who lived through the events that occurred in Ottoman Jerusalem between 1876 and 1909. Using these materials, an attempt is made to investigate the impact of these German missionary organizations on contemporary Palestine in the fields of education, health, technology, language, religion, and identity formation. This research reveals that the German missionary organizations that settled in Palestine did not simply go to that region to preach the Protestant religion to the local people, but they also had an important impact on the region in terms of language, culture, technology, and architecture.