Consulate general of Germany in Jerusalem (CGGJ)

The Prussian Consulate in Jerusalem was established in 1842. From 1868 it operated as the Consulate of the Norddeutsche Bund and during the years 1871‐1913 as the Consulate ‐ and since 1913 as the Consulate General ‐ of the German Reich. In 1844 a German Consular Agency was established in Jaffa, which acted as a branch of the Consulate in Jerusalem. In 1870 the office in Jaffa was recognized as a Vice‐Consulate. A professional consul was appointed in Jaffa in 1895 and the status of the office was altered accordingly to include jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters. In Haifa a Consular Agency began functioning in 1877 which became a Vice‐Consulate in 1908. With the conquest of Palestine by the Allied armies in 1917 the consulates were closed and German interests were handled by the Spanish Consulate. In 1924 a German Consular Representative was attached to the Spanish Consulate and in 1925 a German Consul for Palestine was re‐appointed. The Consulate was closed in 1939 at the outbreak of World War II.

During its first 25 years, the Jerusalem consulate was subordinate to the administrative authority of the consulate-general in Beyrouth; it was placed under the direct supervision of the foreign ministry in Berlin in 1868 and officially elevated to the rank of “consulate-general” in 1913.

During its 97 years of activity, the territorial limits of the consulate in Jerusalem underwent several changes. During the Ottoman period, the jurisdiction of the consulate was coextensive with the administrative domain of the sanjak (district) of Jerusalem, which included Jaffa and the Gaza area. In 1871, the sanjaks of Acre and Nablus were added, but a decade later the sanjak of Acre, including Haifa, was transferred to the authority of the German consul in Beyrouth. In 1883, the new sanjak of Ma’an (southern Transjordan) was brought under the jurisdiction of the consul in Jerusalem.

Archives held at ISA (Jerusalem) with a duplicate in Berlin.

February 2018

Dominique Bourel's review of Mordechai Eliav's book, Österreich und das Heilige Land. Ausgewälte Konsulatdokumente aus Jerusalem 1849-1917. Wien, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenchaften; 2000, 617 p. (= Fontes Rerum Austriacum, Zweite Abteilung, Diplomataria et acta 91.Bd)

Author(s) : Wojszvzyk Elise