Gap or moat

© Goethe-Institut

However one thing is certain – it wasn’t Wilhelm II himself who ordered such an attack in advance, of which he is frequently accused, but the Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid. In any case a new breach of the wall was created back then, which still represents one of the key entry routes into the Old Town today – thanks to Wilhelm II.

He is said to have ridden through the Jaffa Gate on white horses with the Empress. Later, unlike them, the British General Allenby dismounted from his horse for his victorious entrance on 9th December 1917, just as the pilgrims had been doing for centuries.

© Goethe-Institut

There is also a small monument commemorating the Emperor’s visit on Mount Carmel, which Wilhelm climbed after arriving in Haifa. The Templers had erected it in his honour. The English destroyed it in 1919. More than 60 years later it was restored and reinaugurated in the presence of the Kaiser’s grandson Prince Louis Ferdinand.