Tel Aviv: 100 Years Ago

BACKGROUNDSince the late nineteenth century, millions of Jews fleeing

persecution in Russia and Eastern Europe migrated to other parts of the world: Western Europe, USA and South America (especially

Argentina).

Immigration officials discussed new arrivals at Ellis Island, New York, in the early twentieth century.

This neighborhood would be destroyed by the Jordanians when they occupied the

city after its division in 1948.

Two corners of the old Jewish quarter of Jerusalem in 1898 (left) and 1915 (below).

Others decided to move to their ancestral land, the Land of Israel ("Eretz Israel"), which the Romans had called "Palestine" to join the ancient Jewish communities that remained there in the midst of hardship.

Top: Jewish quarter of Hebron in 1900.Top right: Yeshiva (religious school) in Hebron in 1911.Right below: Synagogue "Avraham Avinu" in Hebron in 1925.Almost all of the ancestral community of Hebron had to leave the city after the 1929 anti-Jewish riots.

Others decided to move to their ancestral land, the Land of Israel ("Eretz Israel"), which the Romans had called "Palestine" to join the ancient Jewish communities that remained there in the midst of hardship.

Others decided to move to their ancestral land, the Land of Israel ("Eretz Israel"), which the Romans had called "Palestine" to join the ancient Jewish communities that remained there in the midst of hardship.

Ancient city of Galilee, inhabited since the Middle Ages by Jews engaged in

mysticism. Photo 1913.

Young people, especially those who emigrated from Czarist Russia from 1882, were idealists who were working to "redeem the land.",

Draining swamps in the Galilee, then infested with malaria, in 1904.

Yafa 1900.

But others wanted to develop an urban life, and settled in the main entrance to the Ottoman territory, the port city of Yafa (Jaffa).

Jewish wedding in Yafa, 1899

Above: barrels factory (1910)

Right: Orange picker (1915)

Jews in Yafa

Some had an idea more ambitious and a little crazy :create the first modern Jewish city in the Land of Israel

Yafa was packed and had a very low quality of life, thereby adding to a law known as muhram, under which the Jewish inhabitants were obliged to change residence every year.

The Convention of the Jews of Jaffa, which took place in July 1906, a group of families decided to move to an entirely new urban center, to which were purchased some land north of Jaffa. This was not the first initiative of this kind, but the most ambitious.The new town would follow the architectural lines of the English Garden City movement, then in fashion, with wide streets and abundant greenery. The first land purchased was subdivided into 60 plots.

In May 1910 he changed the name of the "city" of Tel Aviv, "Hill of Spring", inspired by the biblical book of Ezekiel and the Hebrew name of the utopian novel Altneuland ("Old New Land") of founder of Zionism, Theodor Herzl. Given the conditions, the name was ironic.

On, April 1, 1909 a group of Jews from Jaffa met on a sand dune by the sea. They wrote their names on marine shells collected on the beach, and used in a "lottery" to distribute the first plots.So they founded their city, they called "Ahuzat Bait" ("Home Ownership").

Of course, first had to level the dunes ...

Of course, first had to level the dunes ...,

The first public building (1910): City Hall, post office and water tank, all at once.

While beginning to build ...

Meir Dizengoff House (1861-1936), the first and legendary mayor of Tel Aviv, completed in 1911.

Big ambitions: in 1911, this wasteland was named "Rothschild Boulevard." Incredibly, some of the kiosks are in the same place a century later. At bottom, the water tank.

The "Rothschild Boulevard" soon after, photographed from a top the water tank. A city is beginning to emerge from nowhere.

Preparing the ground for the Herzlia High School in the future Herzl Street (1909).

Herzl Street in 1913, with the Lyceum in the background.

The Herzlia High School in 1917.During the early years was the cultural center of Tel Aviv.

In 1914, just five years after the founding of the city, the opening of the first film, "Eden," a cafeteria "European style" ...

First setback: THE EXILE OF TEL AVIV

A family evauated from Tel Aviv.

On March 1917, at the end of World War I, the Ottomans (who were part of the Axis of Germany and Austro-Hungary) was expelled from Jaffa and Tel Aviv to the people considered sympathetic to the Allies, including all the Jews. They have fled their homes and moved to other cities, even to Damascus (Syria), Alexandria (Egypt), which then had large Jewish communities.

But later that same year, British troops occupied Palestine under the command of General Edmund Allenby, ending Ottoman control.British Foreign Secretary, Lord Arthur Balfour, issued the famous declaration in which the Empire guaranteed the creation of Jewish, "National Home in the Land of Israel”. as a result of the efforts of the Zionist movement and in gratitude for services rendered during the conflict.

Allenby entra en Jerusalén .Diciembre de 1917.

In 1920, the League of Nations granted the British Empire the "Mandate" Palestine formal. The British divided the territory in 1922: to the east of the Jordan River created the artificial "Kingdom of Transjordan (now Jordan), and the name of Palestine began to apply only to the small western area.

Growth accelerated after the First World War

Herzl Street in 1920. Not a single car in sight.

Diligence between Tel Aviv and Jaffa. The mass mobilization were horses, camels and bicycles.

Growth accelerated after the First World War

But that did not stop the dream ... Here it was decided to build a European style flask: the future Dizengoff Square. Photo 1919.

Ben Yehuda street construction in 1924.

In 1925, the famous British planner Patrick Geddes designed a Master Plan for Tel Aviv, which was adopted and remained in place until mid-century, tree-lined wide roads, radio intercepts, abundant gardens.

The original concept of the utopian Garden City of Patrick Geddes (1902).

Almost every community in Jaffa was moved to Tel Aviv. Eventually Jaffa were impoverished, because business and industry moved into the new city.

Tel Aviv's population increased dramatically: in two years, between 1924 and 1926, doubled to reach 40,000. But this growth, and insufficient capital investment, resulting in unemployment and the first serious recession in the city.

Obrero de la construcción en la década de 1920.

In May 1921, violent anti-Jewish riots broke out in Jaffa, urged on by fanatical Arabs continue trying to prevent Jewish immigration to Palestine. These facts were killed 47 Jews.

First power plant in Tel Aviv, established in 1923.

In the twenties great progress occurred

New industry: assembly of buses (1924).

The twenties brought great progress

When they removed the height limitation of two stories, there were striking buildings as the "Pagoda House" on the street Nahman (1925), still standing.

Allenby street in 1926.

The first "Grand Hotel", the Palatin (1926), was also the first building with elevator in the city.

Cultural life starting to develop

First Day of the Book of Tel Aviv (1926), the predecessor of Book Week is celebrated annually throughout Israel.

Also developed in cultural life

Agglomerations Habima to get tickets. Right: Hanna Rovina, star of the company by 1930.

The Hebrew Habima Theater Company, originally founded in Moscow, visited the city in 1927 amid great expectations. In 1931 he established his permanent seat Habima in Tel Aviv, where he had held numerous symphonic concerts, opera and ballet.

Albert Einstein, who always supported the Zionist movement, visited Tel Aviv several times. This appears in the company of Mayor Dizengoff and other dignitaries of the city in 1923.

It appears the White City

But not all Germans professionals got jobs in their fields ... A group of scholars

received training as window washers (1933).

The 1930's saw a new population explosion in Tel Aviv. Many European Jews fleeing Nazism and Italian Fascism were established in the city, which grew to 150,000 in 1937, one third of the Jewish population of Palestine. As part of this immigration, arrived in Tel Aviv many German architects and artists of the Bauhaus movement, banned by the Nazis. His influence led to a rise of "international style" in architecture in the area later called "White City."

Constructor workers (above) Beilinson Hospital and Tel Aviv, the Bauhaus

style, then avant-garde.

The White City began to develop

Tel Aviv has the largest concentration of Bauhaus buildings in the world (only in the 1930's were built more than 3000). In 2003, Unesco declared the "White City"

Bauhaus Museum in Tel Aviv

Building Ahad Ha'am Street

In 1932 the city held the first Maccabiah Games, sports event involving athletes from Jewish communities in many countries. The World Maccabiah in Israel are still held every four years.

That same year the “fiera del Leavante” took place in Tel Aviv, which was the largest city in Palestine, began to acquire international importance.

In 1936, during a new wave of violence, the Arabs closed the port of Jaffa pressuring the British to stop Jewish immigration. Tel Aviv then built its own port.

Left: newly opened port of Tel Aviv move local products bound for Karachi, in British India (now Pakistan)

Soon after, in 1938, opened near the village of Lydda, Airport Wilhelma. Then it was called Lod airport, now Ben Gurion.

A major event for the city was the inauguration of Dizengoff Square in 1938. For decades it was a symbol of the modernity of Tel Aviv and then of all Israel, as well as a meeting place of choice in a city that had very few cars.

In 1939, the British Empire gave in to Arab pressure and issued the White Paper, the law that virtually eliminated the Jewish immigration to Palestine on the eve of the European Holocaust. Then began the "Aliyah B" (illegal immigration, organized by Jewish organizations), in which numerous boats reached the shores of Palestine, especially overnight.

The ship "Parita" hits the beaches of Tel Aviv in August 1939, days before the outbreak of World War II. Hundreds of volunteers help to unload illegal immigrants fleeing pro-Nazi persecution in Romania.

When war broke out, Palestine was in sights of Nazi-Fascist Axis to be British territory. Tel Aviv came was bombed by Italian aircraft on September 9,1940 weeks after Haifa. 137 people died and there was severe damage.

Damage caused by Italy bombing Tel Aviv in 1940

Many Jews volunteered to fight against the Axis. After much discussion, the British agreed to create the Jewish Brigade in the army. Thousands of Palestinian Jews fought the Nazis and Italian fascists in Europe and Africa, in some cases using vehicles bearing the Star of David.

A Jewish Brigade of the British Army march in Tel Aviv in 1942. David Ben

Gurion said: "We will fight the Nazis as if there were no White Paper, and fight the White Paper as if there was

no war."

After World War intensified unfolding in Palestine between Arabs, Jews and Britons. There were numerous terrorist attacks and street fighting, mostly in Jerusalem. The British brought the issue to the newly created United Nations Organization, which in November 1947 decided to divide the territory to create a Jewish state and an Arab one. The Jews accepted this plan, while all Muslim countries rejected it. It was accepted, and would have a Palestinian state and the Arab-Israeli conflict would not existProposed partition of Palestine in the UN,

1947. In fact, as we saw, Palestine had been divided by the British, who created "Transjordan" (now Jordan) in 1922.

The Jewish population of Tel Aviv celebrated in the streets the UN decision to create two states in Palestine, one Jewish and one Arab (November 29, 1947)

Following the partition resolution intensified Arab attacks, instigated by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who in 1941 had agreed with Hitler's deportation of Jews from Palestine. From the minaret of the Hassan Bek mosque in Jaffa were fired at the Jews still living in that city, and also to the suburbs of Tel Aviv. In retaliation, the Haganah and the Irgun, moves that would lead to future Israel Defense Forces, laid siege to Jaffa. On May 14, the day was declared the new State of Israel, Jaffa was taken by Jewish forces, many Arabs fled.

Above: the Mufti of Jerusalem with Hitler in Berlin, 1941.Left: Hassan Bek Mosque in Jaffa today.

Above: A sign on the market (Shuk) Caramel says: "Caution! The enemy is watching you "warning about

the shooting from Jaffa.Right: Wounded by sniper in Allen by Street, in late

1947.

The Declaration and signing the minutes of the Independence of Israel took place in the former home of Meir Dizengoff, then Museum of Art in Tel Aviv. The city, of 200,000, was the provisional capital of Israel until 1950, when political power was transferred to Jerusalem.

David Ben Gurion, Prime Minister designate, Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948. That same night, six Arab countries invaded the new state.

Hundreds of people remain on the outskirts of Tel Aviv Museum, as they are expectant to

become citizens of their new country.

The war came to town

Tel Aviv was bombed several times by the Egyptian aviation in 1948. Top, remains of an Egyptian bomber fell on the beaches of

the city. At right, children run to bomb shelters at the sound of sirens. Photos of

Life magazine, May 1948.

The war came to town

Effects after one bombing in Tel Aviv in 1948.

During the first months of the War of Independence (1948-49) few believed that the new state would survive. In this image from Life magazine, children and adults in Tel Aviv filled sandbags to build barricades against an invasion that never came to the city. But one percent of Israeli Jews killed in this war.

The war came to town

Then began the mass immigration

Between 1948 and 1951 Israel's population doubled (to reach 1.7 million), receiving hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors and Jews expelled from Arab countries. Some newcomers were sent directly to the front, before the armistice of 1949.

Holocaust survivors arriving in Israel in 1948(Photo from

Life magazine.)

Then began the mass immigration

In Israel there was not enough housing for many immigrants. Hundreds of thousands had to live for months or even years, in tent camps ("Maabarot") while building a high speed. Often, Maabarot were flooded in the rainy season.

Then began the mass immigration

Life returns to normal

New housing developments began to emerge in the land formerly devoted for grazing around Tel Aviv.

During the first decade of the new state governed strict rationing, and electrical goods such as refrigerators were a luxury. On the right, peddling ice bar in Tel Aviv by 1950.

As in any Mediterranean city, sitting in outdoor cafes became a favorite activity of the inhabitants of Tel Aviv.

In 1950 he decreed the conurbation of Tel Aviv Jaffa. Thus, the latter became a suburb of Tel Aviv.

La vida se normaliza

In 1949 the first elections took place in the Knesset (Parliament), and Tel Aviv was filled with election

propaganda. Most parties were center-left. The Labour dominate Israeli politics for 28 years.

In 1953 the street were opened in Arlozoroff the building of the Histadrut, the powerful union. Many criticized him for being too fancy.

La vida se normaliza

Tel Aviv created its own University

In 1956 construction began on Tel Aviv University (TAU), today Israel is the largest of more than 30,000 students.

Above: The University of Tel Aviv under construction in the mid 1950's. 

Right: and new buildings by 1970.

During the 1960's, Tel Aviv-Yafo finished absorbing surrounding small towns such as Ramat Gan, Holon, Bnei Brak, Bat Yam, totaling about 700,000 inhabitants, and took on an air of the metropolis. In the photo, Plaza Herbert Samuel and double-decker bus. The cars were still scarce.

Dizengoff Square area in the mid-twentieth century.

In 1965, in the place he had occupied the Herzlia High School, opened the first

skyscraper in Israel: Shalom Meir Tower, at that time the tallest building in the

Middle East.

In the 1980 built the first true freeway in the area of Ayalon.

But Tel Aviv bombing became known. During the first Gulf War in January 1991, Saddam Hussein launched several Scud missiles into the city, although Israel was not involved in the conflict. U.S. Patriot antimissile rockets (pictured left) did not have much effectiveness in preventing damage. Fortunately there were few casualties.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, a massive immigration of a million Jews from the former USSR and its satellites led to a new building boom. In addition, Tel Aviv became even more cosmopolitan Russian is now the second most spoken language in the city.

Immigrants from the former Soviet Union arrive at Ben Gurion Airport in the early 1990's

The highways are congested ...

Since the 90's the city has experienced a boom and is still continuing

But Tel Aviv is a walk able city, which takes into account the pedestrianBut Tel Aviv is a walk able city, which takes into account the pedestrian

The Habima Theatre is currently the National Theater of IsraelThe Habima Theatre is currently the National Theater of Israelll

Museo de Arte Moderno

Casa y Torre de la Ópera

Biblioteca Pública Beit Ariela

Cinemateca de Tel Aviv

El Parque Hayarkon es el principal oasis urbano

El Parque Hayarkon es el principal oasis urbano

Yafo es eminentemente turístico, centro de restaurantes, marinas y vida nocturna

The metropolitan area of Tel Aviv called "Gush Dan", to coincide with the territory in the Old Testament belonged to the tribe of Dan.

The population of this area is 3,200,000 inhabitants, or 40% of all Israel.

In Herzlia is the "Silicon Valley" high-tech In Herzlia is the "Silicon Valley" high-tech industrial zone where, in addition to Israeli industrial zone where, in addition to Israeli companies, the most important technology companies, the most important technology

companies in the world have installed companies in the world have installed research and development.research and development.

Tel Aviv looks to the sea ... The beaches promenade are popular day and nightTel Aviv looks to the sea ... The beaches promenade are popular day and night

Tel Aviv mira hacia el mar… El paseo de la playa es popular de día y de noche

Azrieli Center Towers are new urban iconAzrieli Center Towers are new urban icon

Las torres del Azrieli Center constituyen un nuevo icono urbano

But Tel Aviv is not a "showcase city." It was built with the hard work of its inhabitants, who live and enjoy it intensely. It is also one of the main cities of the Mediterranean.

Tel Aviv epitomizes Herzl's dream of a reborn Jewish state, an Tel Aviv epitomizes Herzl's dream of a reborn Jewish state, an emancipated people, cutting-edge but also proud of its cultural heritage, an emancipated people, cutting-edge but also proud of its cultural heritage, an example of what can be achieved with effort and knowledge.example of what can be achieved with effort and knowledge.