"On 11 November the weather broke, and the 'former' rains came down in torrents. About three the telephone rang, and Dalmeny announced from GHQ that the Germans had signed the Armistice at six in the morning. After telephoning the event to the Military Units, I went out imparting it to any soldiers I met, to the Patriarchates, the Custodia, the 'American' Colony and the Mufti. As I drove up to the Mufti's house some RA Unit sent up Verey Lights, which came down so slowly that I thought for an instant they must be stars. The Mufti, rising finely to the moment, dwelt on those who had given their lives to bring about all this glory. I afterwards learnt that O.E.T.A Staff in the Stiftung had rushed into the Chapel, sung three verses of God Save the King, consumed a fair amount of champagne and rung the bells of the Hospice..."
Situated on the Mount of Olives, the Auguste Viktoria hospice was named after the Kaiser's wife and the fortress-like building was completed in about 1910. During the war it has served as the headquarters of the Turkish-German forces on the Palestine front, and after the capture of Jerusalem it was taken over by the British. In 1918 it housed the military government known as O.E.T.A [pronounced O-EE-TA, and standing for Occupied Enemy Territory Administration]
The chapel has a beautiful ceiling seen here in a contemporary b/w photograph and in a more recent colour version (the latter taken from Benjamin Z. Kedar's book 'The Changing Land between the Jordan and the Sea' – ISBN: 965-05-0975-5)
