Hi,
As we were about to spend the weekend at the Nahshonim hotel with Atzva’s family, we decided to visit some places around here. So after we had been to The Mizgaga museum, we visited Nili the museum in Zikhron Ya’akov.
When we visited Zikhron Ya’akov last time, with was Shabbat, and the museum was closed. We did not have the pay as the museum is part of the Israeli Shabbat the new government (we are protesting against) wishes to cancel.
The Nili museum tells the story of Nili, the espionage network that operated during the end of the 600 years regime of the Ottoman Empire in the land of Israel.
The network was set up and headed by Aaron Aaronsohn, a young and brilliant agronomist and botanist which discovered what is considered “the mother of the wheat” and the elder brother in the family. Many of the Aaronsohn family were part of the Nili espionage network, and some found their death because of it.
Nili operated between 1915 and 1917 and passed important information to the British forces in Egypt during WWI. It was revealed by the Ottoman regime and its members were tortured and hanged or imprisoned.
Shara was caught and tortured and was supposed to be hanged in Damascus. She asked to clean herself and to wear a dress to be hanged properly, she then smuggled a gun which was hidden in the house, and shoot herself.
Rivka, the youngest of the family, was engaged to Avshalom Feinberg and lived here on her own until she died in 1981 and operated the museum. Avshalom was part of the Nili network and found his death on his way to Egypt trying to connect with the British.
Take Care
Gad
The original entrance to the Aaronsohn houses (to enter the museum you need to turn right and left)
The nearby old house
The building housing the museum east of the original Aaronsohn houses
The video that starts the tour in the lower floor of the museum
“Though we must gnaw stones, we shall not move” Malka Aaronsohn, the mother of the family.
Rivka Aaronsohn, that lived in this house until 1981, when she had died, telling the story of the family
Some samples of Ahron Aaronsohn planets
The top floor of the museum: the story of Nili on maps
And on the next room, the exhibition focuses on different aspects of the espionage through videos and active way: you go and open different drawers.
This draw shows the Military Handbook of Palestine, that gather the information on Turkish army in the land of Israel. A lot of the information came from Nili
Those drawers show the communication methods that could be used between Nili and the British Army
The military sign of Nili, given since 1981 to people who joined the espionage network for at least 6 months
The members of Nili. In the middle Shara’s last letter is presented and the gun she has used to shoot herself
The entrance to Nili original family house. Rivka Aaronsohn lived here until 1981 and preserved the house to present, and after her death it was opened to the public. She had also guided the tours in the museum until her death.
The wall of Nili members
The original dining table and dishes
Rivka lived in the house and guided the tours in it until her death on 1981 and renovated the kitchen
The original living room
And the original dining room
The original working room, mostly of the father of the family
The original sleeping room, and the bed where Rivka found her death on 1981
The other building in yard is Aaron Aaronsohn house, built after the parents understand the raising star need his own house.
After Nili was raveled, the Ottoman took the library of Aaron (which contain around 26,000 books) and send it over to Damascus to use as warping paper for fish in the market.
Samual, Aaron younger brother, have picked book by book. He had recognized them by initials marked on the books: A.A. (Ahron Aaronsohn) or N.T.L (Atlit experiment station). He managed to buy back 4.000 books.
The living room, a mix of East and West
The sleek, from which Shara pull out the gun she used to commit suicide
The sleeping room
The sleeping room of Aharon, after he had raveled “the mother of wheat” – his friends engraved its symbol on all his furniture
The only book I found in Hebrew – Zohar
The edge of the house: down the cellar and left to the bathroom, where Shara shoot herself
The bathroom. On the left is the dress Shara asked to be hanged in Damascus in, near it is the coal boiler and a sink with running water (both were luxurious and rare back then). On the floor you can a see the man weight they were using
Jannaeus going down to the cellar
The cellar was facilitated by Nili member to use as an escape tunnel
.