The Rape of Lydda II
Part 2. Siegfried Lehman
Siegfried Lehman came from a rich assimilated Jewish family. After he had finished medical studies he became more aware of his Jewish origin, and a compassionate man, he used his money to create an orphanage for poor Jewish orphans in Berlin. It was a time of pogroms when persecution of Jews became commonplace. It was this which made him relocate to Palestine.
Inspired by his desire to make this a better world, he used his money to buy a land in the Lydda valley, with the intention of converting it into a kind of oasis for the victims of intolerance. This was to become Ben Shemen, a school, a refuge, a club for dispossessed Jewish youth.
Lehman was determined that his philanthropy was going to benefit everybody, Arabs and Jews. In the clinics that he created, Arabs were welcome and received free treatment and medicine. Harmony between different groups was highly desirable to this idealistic young zionist. Ben Shemen experimented with new farming techniques, workshops were
created to make and repair tools. A library was installed, with the young pioneers encouraged to educate themselves. He organised concerts and talks, and outdoor pursuits of exploration, mountain-climbing and trekking. He was very keen for his protégées to be exposed to Arab culture, and to that effect, his concerts often included Arab music and dancing.
Ben Shemen prospered, and attracted many determined young men and women, many of whom would become leaders of the nation about to be created.
Inevitably, some night activities at Ben Shemen attracted the attention of the honest brokers, the British overlords, who claimed neutrality in the Arab-Jewish confrontation, although it was no secret to anybody that the creation of a Jewish homeland was very high in their agenda. Rumours had been flying around to the effect that in the cover of darkness, Lehman’s pioneers were getting training into the handling and assembling of guns, provided by Orde Wingate and Wavell, with the latest weaponry galore hidden in every nook and corner of the village. They had no choice but to arrest the mild-mannered philanthropist, and sentenced him to seven years in jail, but his good friend Einstein interceded on his behalf and he was quietly released after three weeks.
The forced mass exodus of the Arabs from Lydda, which was to take place in 48, was perpetrated by Siegfried Lehman’s pioneers, including Mula Cohen and Shmaryahu Gutman, with the help of the weapons they had acquired for that purpose.
