Sarah Aaronsohn ( he, שרה אהרונסון; 5 January 1890 – 9 October 1917) was a member of

Nili NILI was a Jewish espionage network which assisted the United Kingdom in its fight against the Ottoman Empire in Palestine between 1915 and 1917, during World War I. NILI is an acronym which stands for the Hebrew phrase "Netzah Yisrael Lo Yeshak ...

, a ring of

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish

spies Spies most commonly refers to people who engage in spying, espionage or clandestine operations. Spies or The Spies may also refer to: * Spies (surname), a German surname * Spies (band), a jazz fusion band * "Spies" (song), a song by Coldplay * ...

working for the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and a sister of

agronomist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the ...

Aaron Aaronsohn Aaron Aaronsohn ( he, אהרון אהרנסון) (21 May 1876 – 15 May 1919) was a Jewish agronomist, botanist, and Zionist activist, who was born in Romania and lived most of his life in the Land of Israel, then part of the Ottoman Em ...

. She is often referred to as the "heroine of Nili."

Biography

Sarah Aaronsohn was born in

Zichron Yaakov Zikhron Ya'akov ( he, זִכְרוֹן יַעֲקֹב, ''lit.'' "Jacob's Memorial"; often shortened to just ''Zikhron'') is a town in Israel, south of Haifa, and part of the Haifa District. It is located at the southern end of the Carmel mounta ...

, which at the time was part of

Ottoman Syria Ottoman Syria ( ar, سوريا العثمانية) refers to divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of Syria, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Arabian Desert and south ...

. Her parents were Zionists from Romania who had come to Ottoman Palestine as some of the first settlers of the

First Aliyah The First Aliyah (Hebrew: העלייה הראשונה, ''HaAliyah HaRishona''), also known as the agriculture Aliyah, was a major wave of Jewish immigration ('' aliyah'') to Ottoman Syria between 1881 and 1903. Jews who migrated in this wave ca ...

and were founders of the

moshava A moshava ( he, מושבה, plural: ''moshavot'' , lit. ''colony'') was a form of rural Jewish settlement in Ottoman Palestine, established by the members of the Old Yishuv since late 1870s and during the first two waves of Jewish Zionist immi ...

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 married in

Athlit ''Athlit'' is an album by ambient musician Oöphoi Gianluigi Gasparetti (26 March 1958 – 12 April 2013), known by the pseudonym Oöphoi, was an Italian ambient musician. He is perhaps best known for his role as the editor of ''Deep L ...

, Haim Abraham, an older and affluent merchant from Bulgaria, and lived briefly with him in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

; but the marriage was an unhappy one and she returned home to Zichron Yaakov in December 1915. On her way from Istanbul to

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

, Aaronsohn witnessed part of the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...

. 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 Major-General Chaim Herzog ( he, חיים הרצוג; 17 September 1918 – 17 April 1997) was an Irish-born Israeli politician, general, lawyer and author who served as the sixth President of Israel between 1983 and 1993. Born in Belfast and ...

, Aaronsohn decided to assist British forces as a result of what she had witnessed.

Pro-British espionage

Avshalom Feinberg and Sarah Aaronsohn, 1916

Aaronsohn, her sister Rivka Aaronsohn, and her brothers Aaron Aaronsohn and

Alexander Aaronsohn Alexander Aaronsohn ( he, אלכסנדר אהרנסון; Zikhron Ya'akov, September 28, 1888–Nice, May 28, 1948) was an author and activist who wrote about the plight of people living in Palestine in his book, ''With the Turks in Palestine''. ...

, with their friend (and fiancé of Rivka)

Avshalom Feinberg Avshalom Feinberg ( he, אבשלום פיינברג, 23 October 1889 – 20 January 1917) was one of the leaders of Nili, a Jewish spy network in Ottoman Palestine helping the British fight the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Feinberg was b ...

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 Alex urged her to remain in British-controlled

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, 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

In September 1917, the Ottomans intercepted her

carrier pigeon The homing pigeon, also called the mail pigeon or messenger pigeon, is a variety of domestic pigeons (''Columba livia domestica'') derived from the wild rock dove, selectively bred for its ability to find its way home over extremely long distan ...

carrying a message to the British and decrypted the Nili

code In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communication ...

. 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 Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

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 James Srodes (March 12, 1940 – September 27, 2017) was an American journalist and author. In 2015 and 2016, the Virginia Press Association awarded Srodes its first prize for critical writing for his series of book reviews for ''The Washington ...

quotes the diary of Dr.

Hillel Yaffe Hillel Yaffe (1864–1936) ( he, הלל יפה) was a Russian Jewish physician and Zionist leader who immigrated to Palestine during the First Aliyah. He was instrumental in curing malaria among the Jewish population of Palestine in the early 20th ...

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

would bring nearer the realization of a national home for the Jews in

Eretz Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine (see also Isra ...

. Because of the

Jewish views on suicide Jewish views on suicide are mixed. In Orthodox Judaism, suicide is forbidden by Jewish law, and viewed as a sin. Non-Orthodox forms of Judaism may instead recognize the act as more akin to a death by a disease or disorder (except in cases of purpo ...

, Aaronsohn was denied a traditional burial in a

Jewish cemetery A Jewish cemetery ( he, בית עלמין ''beit almin'' or ''beit kvarot'') is a cemetery where Jews are buried in keeping with Jewish tradition. Cemeteries are referred to in several different ways in Hebrew, including ''beit kevarot'' ...

. 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 The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...

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.https://www.ithl.org.il/page_14448, short text summarizing book by Dvora Omer "Sarah, Hero of Nili" or "Sarah Aharonson, Heroine"

References

External links

שרה אהרנסון
Sarah Aaronsohn (izkor.gov.il) * Prof. Billie Melman
Sarah Aaronsohn
(''Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia,'' Jewish Women's Archive) * Biography o
MyJewishLearning.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aaronsohn, Sarah 1890 births 1917 deaths 1917 suicides 20th-century spies Ashkenazi Jews in Ottoman Palestine Executed spies Female wartime spies People of Romanian-Jewish descent People from Zikhron Ya'akov Suicides by firearm in Mandatory Palestine Torture victims Witnesses of the Armenian genocide Women in war in the Middle East Women in World War I World War I spies for the United Kingdom Zionist activists