Draft:Bank of the Templer Society
History of the German Templer Society in then Palestine who established a bank. (Closed)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Bank [1]of the Templer Society (German: Bank der Tempelgesellschaft) was a bank[2] in the land of Israel established by the Templer Society, and operated between 1925 and 1939.
This draft duplicates another submission, Bank of the Templer Society, currently submitted for review. To save time, we will review the other submission only. Any future edits or improvements should be made on that submission, not here.
Where to get help
How to improve a draft
You can also browse Wikipedia:Featured articles and Wikipedia:Good articles to find examples of Wikipedia's best writing on topics similar to your proposed article. Improving your odds of a speedy review To improve your odds of a faster review, tag your draft with relevant WikiProject tags using the button below. This will let reviewers know a new draft has been submitted in their area of interest. For instance, if you wrote about a female astronomer, you would want to add the Biography, Astronomy, and Women scientists tags. Editor resources
|  |
Comment: Same-author duplicate of Bank of the Temple Society; discussed with author and this one was their pick to withdraw. M kuhner (talk) 14:02, 5 August 2026 (UTC)
 | This is a draft article. It is a work in progress open to editing by anyone. Please ensure core content policies are met before publishing it as a live Wikipedia article. Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL Last edited by M kuhner (talk | contribs) 16 days ago. (Update)
Finished drafting? |
The German Templers who arrived in the Land of Israel, starting in 1868, needed a bank. At first they used the bank services of Johannes Frutiger, a banker of Swiss origin, in Jerusalem, but it went bankrupt in 1896. Frutiger's bank was an incarnation of the bank of the "Pilgrim Mission" from St. Chrischona (near Basel). After the collapse of the bank, Deutsche Palestine Bank[3] opened its doors with the support of the German Foreign Ministry, with the aim of helping German subjects as Templers, and also as a counterweight to the French Credit Lyonnais Bank. This bank was liquidated after World War I, as enemy property.
On July 10, 1887, the Templers established the "Central Treasury of the Temple" (Zentralkasse des Tempels). The fund was first registered in the German consulate in Jerusalem and in 1904 was recognized by the Ottoman government. The treasury minted coins for community use. In 1922, following the closure of Deutsche Palestine Bank, the fund was registered in the Companies Registry. The purpose of the fund was to provide funding to the Templers.
But the fund was too small and it was decided to establish a bank[4][5] at the same time.
The "Society of the Templers[6] (the temple)" established its bank on July 11, 1924. The main branch was in Jaffa, and branches were opened on Market Street in Haifa and in Jerusalem. The bank employed dozens of German workers, but also Arabs and Jews. The directors of the bank were Christoph W. Hoffman until 1932, and Timothy Wurst until the closing of the bank. The bank was involved in financing the Templer activity in the agricultural areas (such as the export of oranges from Sarona), industry and commerce. The bank was also integrated into the Zionist movement which grew greatly during the Fifth Aliya. In 1933 the bank was appointed as the representative of Deutsche Reichsbank.
A ban on transactions with Jews after Kristallnacht, in November 1938, brought the Bank of the Templer Society to near bankruptcy. In order to get out of bankruptcy, it was offered by the Haavara Agreement to purchase, with the help of the bank, land in the Sharon area. Since a Haavara Agreement worked "with the approval" of the Nazi government, it was an attempt to bypass the ban and continue the flow of the bank's capital. The outbreak of World War II thwarted the sale immediately.
The British government ended the German Templer colonies in Israel, and the bank was closed[7] by the official receiver's office, on September 12, 1939. The final closure of the bank was with the establishment of the State of Israel.