Aaron (Aaronsohn) Aaronson (1876 - 1919)

Born 21 May 1876 in Bacau, Romania

Died 15 May 1919 at age 42 in Zikhron Ya'akov, Haifa, Israel

Biography

Aaron was born in Bacau, Romania. His family relocated to Eretz Yisrael (The land of Israel) when he was 6-years old. They settled in a town called Zichron Yaakov, which overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. Aaron received his education in France due to the sponsorship of Baron Edmond de Rothschild. After leaving school, Aaron began studying the flora, natural minerals and terrain of Eretz Yisrael. Aaron's comprehension of Eretz Yisrael's botany was unsurpassed for the time.

In 1906, he discovered wild wheat (mother of wheat) in the upper hills of the Galilee, in Rosh Pina and became a famous agronomist. When World War I broke out in 1914, Aaron and his friends had enough of Turkish oppression and decided to act. Aaron and Avshalom Feinberg, organized a spy ring, which became known as Nili. Their mission was to aid the British by supplying them with intelligence, to aid in their attack on Jerusalem in Dec. 1917. Aaron became a respected member of British Intelligence. Aaron was killed in a plane crash off the coast of France. He was on his way to the Paris Peace Conference on an RAF plane. The cause of the crash is still a mystery.

Sources

• Goldstone, Patricia, Aaronsohn's Maps: The Untold Story of the Man Who Might Have Created Peace in the Middle East (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. September 10th 2007). ISBN 0151011699

• Kahana, Ephraim, Historical Dictionaries of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, No. 3. (The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Oxford, 2006). Pages xix, 1, 2, 92, 207 and 208. [1]

• Katz, Shmuel, The Aaronsohn Saga (Gefen Publishing House.) Hard Cover, 362 pages. ISBN 978-965-229-416-6

• Wikipedia: Aaron Aaronsohn

• Wikipedia: Nili

Documentary

• Freedom Fighters of Nili is shown occasionally on Jewish Life Television Duration: 1:07:00 Description: Following the heroic efforts of the Aaronsohns and NILI Spies, a Jewish espionage network which assisted the British in its fight against the Ottoman Empire in Palestine during WW I Broadcast In: English - See more at: [2]