Twenty-six years after The Jewish Chronicle published two articles about Miss Annie Edith Landau, found and Headmistress of the Evelina de Rothschild School in Jerusalem, The Palestine Post (today, The Jerusalem Post) published an article that is both a reminiscence and an observation: Miss Landau, in 1941 sixty-eight years old, presents her recollections of life in that city during the First World War, and, muses about living conditions in the Yishuv during the “Great War” in comparison with those of contemporary times – the early 1940s – less than two years after the September, 1939 advent of the twentieth century’s second global war.
The article closes on a small note of irony: Whereas the Chronicle’s articles of 1915 spoke of supplies sent to the Yishuv from beyond, the Post’s 1941 article notes that Miss Landau is sending a parcel in the opposite direction: to England.
Annie Edith Landau passed away three and a half years later, and is buried in Jerusalem.
The article…
MISS LANDAU REMEMBERS WHEN PALESTINE WAS BESIEGED
The Palestine Post
July 3, 1941
“During the last war Palestine was only a ‘pauper colony.’ Who would have dreamed of the changes which have come about since then,” muses Miss Annie Landau, head mistress of the Evelina de Rothschild School.
Miss Landau came to Jerusalem from England 42 years ago. During the War of 1914-18 she was the last British subject to be exiled from Palestine to Egypt. However, this war sees the tables reversed. Last week she received a family of evacuees from Cyprus. One of them turned out to be a five months old baby and there was some ado about arranging a crib to welcome the little guest. As Miss Landau talks, five year old Mary from Famagusta sits on the floor, learning to spin a new top.
It is a far cry from the last war when Miss Landau left, for Egypt on the last orange boat from Jaffa and taught school in mud huts for several years. There was no bath tub available, so they fetched her the silver bath of a khedive, which was the one sign of luxury in the desert.
In those days, there was no thought of air raid shelters in Palestine. Who would waste a bomb on the place? But there were other hardships to be endured. To trade in gold was forbidden; and yet merchants would not accept paper money. And so there was practically no bread in the towns. Miss Landau remembers purchasing flour in the villages with illegal gold and baking bread in the cellar.
There were practically no Jewish agricultural settlements and the shortage of vegetables and dairy products was acute. “We never saw a potato,” added Miss Landau.
Waiting for Letters
Those who complain about the slow mails may be comforted by the fact that the mails were as slow and sometimes slower. In those days, there was an added difficulty. Even after the mails arrived, they could not be landed at the Jaffa port if the sea was rough. Miss Landau remembers queues reaching from the Citadel to beyond Jaffa Gate on the days when a mail boat had arrived.
At the beginning of the last War; the Evelina de Rothschild School had 700 pupils and 23 teachers. Although the staff was depleted when the foreign teachers were ordered to leave, the school continued to function throughout the war.
After Allenby marched into Jerusalem, “we literally sat on the steps of the Consulate in Egypt waiting for permission to return,” relates Miss Landau. Meanwhile, she wired friends in China and received money to buy supplies. She scoured the Cairo markets for food, cottons, and leather. Six weeks later she received permission to return. Together with sacks of toasted bread and other necessities, she came back to Jerusalem.
Escorted by a platoon of soldiers, Miss Landau combed Jerusalem for her pupils. She found 500 and it was later revealed that the others had succumbed to hunger or disease. The black-boards were ferreted out from the homes of those who had stolen them, although they had no idea what to do with their “booty.” Several hundred desks had been kindly rescued by some priests.
And so, with the desks back in their places; the pupils behind the desks; and the black-boards on the wall, school began again.
Yes, the tables are reversed. The days when one brought supplies to Palestine seem far-away; Miss Landau has just been sending a parcel to England. And little Mary from Famagusta sits on the floor, spinning her new top.
D.K.B. -A.