The Transformation of a Mass Suicide Incident into a National Motivational Factor: Masada Fortress
The story’s main character, Shmarya Gutman, was a Jew born in Scotland. Gutman arrived in Palestine at the age of three and, later in life, worked as a Zionist who sought to persuade Jews in Eastern Europe to immigrate to Palestine.
Hello everyone, today I wanted to share with you an intriguing story from the book *My Promised Land* by Ari Shavit, a reporter for the Haaretz newspaper, which I recently read. The story describes how a defeat and the subsequent suicide incident shaped the collective consciousness of a nation, and how this process ultimately reinforced the nation’s identity. The younger generation born in Israel, particularly in the 1940s, grew up with this narrative and reinforced their national ideals through it.
The story’s main character, Shmarya Gutman, was a Jew born in Scotland. Gutman arrived in Palestine at the age of three and, in later life, worked as a Zionist striving to convince Jews in Eastern Europe to immigrate to Palestine. Before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, he undertook various covert missions within the Haganah, a Jewish paramilitary organization. He maintained a close friendship with Israel Galili (1), one of the Haganah’s most prominent figures. In January 1942, Gutman decided to take a group of Jewish youths to Masada. However, this planned trip was no ordinary cultural excursion. The young people heading to Masada Fortress would pioneer the start of a new symbolic movement for the Israeli nation. On January 23, 1942, Gutman and his forty-six students departed from Jerusalem. Palestinians accompanied them all the way to their destination. Gutman believed he was witnessing the final moments of Zionism. The military successes of Rommel’s Army had instilled in him a deep sense of anxiety and contemplation. In this state of despair, he believed that only Jewish daughters and sons could save the nascent Jewish nation. For this reason, Jewish youth must prepare for a great struggle as soon as possible.
Gutman begins to feel excited when he sees his students struggling to cross the desert and reach their destination. Masada Fortress has become an internal matter for Gutman. He believes that these stones and rocks are the sole solution for his nation’s ideals. He would attempt to connect an event from the year 73 A.D. to the year 1942, and through his long efforts, he would transform the dust and soil found in the middle of the wilderness into a National Symbol. When Gutman and his students noticed the castle’s ghostly silhouette in the distance, their long desert march ceased to be a burden for them. In an instant, they forget all their fatigue and feel the urge to fight for a single purpose. The young people, marching in single file, begin to climb toward the siege wall built by the Romans. Gutman tells his students not to look down and urges them to keep climbing. Gutman and his students eventually scale the wall and enter Masada Fortress. When Gutman reaches the summit once more, this journey brings old memories back to life within him. He feels as though he and the students beside him are once again being besieged by the Roman Legions. The Jewish youths begin to set up camp among the ruins of the fortress and sing songs. Gutman reflects that Zionism must serve as a motivation and begins to tell his students the story we will soon hear.
During the Roman Empire’s campaign to suppress the Jewish revolt, Masada Fortress had become a crucial defensive stronghold for the Jews. Under the command of Elazar Ben Yair, the Sicarii and the Jews had taken refuge in this fortress to escape the Roman Army. The fortress was renowned for its cliffs, which were several meters high, and steep slopes that were extremely difficult to traverse. The Roman army, led by Flavius Silva, had the fortress under siege, starving the defenders inside and ultimately planning to capture the fortress. Silva constructed a massive ramp on the western side of the fortress using thousands of tons of earth. This allowed them to launch regular attacks on the walls with battering rams. The systematic siege imposed by the Roman army prevented anyone from escaping the fortress.
After witnessing the intensity of the Roman assault, the group’s leader, Elazar, concluded that they must die to prevent worse things from befalling the group. He gathered his closest friends, spoke with them, and tried to convince them of this idea. Elazar’s speech led to various divisions within the group. Even those who initially agreed with Elazar began to waver and back away from the idea as they contemplated the possibility of their wives and children being killed. When Elazar saw people wavering, he continued speaking to prevent their fears from influencing others. Elazar repeatedly explained to his people the destructive power of Rome and the horrors that would befall them if these walls were captured, striving to encourage them and convince them that this action would be their ultimate salvation. He repeatedly explained to those who feared that women and children should leave this world rather than fall under Roman rule.
Elazar’s speech resonated deeply within the group. Those who hesitated to kill their own families—as Flavius Josephus put it:
“Filled with an invincible fervor and acting with a demonic fury.”
They set out to carry out what had been urged upon them. The group’s members embraced their wives and cradled their children, bidding them a final farewell. Though the group had made this decision for their families, they had tasked their closest relatives with carrying it out. As the people in the group killed their families one by one, they had decided to burn everything they owned. Finally, they drew lots to convince 10 people to kill the remaining members. The survivors lay down on the lifeless bodies of their wives and children and allowed the 10 people whose names were drawn to cut their throats. These 10 survivors then used the same method to select one person to kill the remaining nine. After killing the nine people, the person whose name was drawn walked through the fortress one last time to check if anyone was left alive. Upon seeing that no one was left, he set the fortress on fire and stabbed himself with his sword, carrying out his own execution.
However, among the group, a relative of Elazar, his children, and an elderly woman had survived. These individuals had hidden in an underground cave and had not emerged from the cave to avoid carrying out the group’s sudden decision. This horrific act, instigated by Elazar, took place in the month of Nisan according to the Jewish calendar. When the Roman army, fully armored and expecting a major battle, entered the fortress, they realized there was no one there.
The surviving women went outside and recounted everything that had happened to the Roman army in full detail. Unsatisfied with these accounts, the Romans extinguished the fire and began entering the palace. Upon entering, they realized the women’s accounts were true when they saw the bodies lying on the ground. Even the Roman army, which had been ordered to annihilate the group, could not hide its astonishment upon seeing that their enemies had inflicted such a merciless massacre upon themselves. The Roman army had taken control of the fortress without a single battle inside, and Masada Fortress had fallen.
However, Gutman is searching for a new ending amidst these rocks. He wants a different ending to the Masada legend. According to his beliefs and goals, Masada will never be lost again. Gutman’s narrative leaves a deep impression on the students. Accompanied by national anthems, the young people, taking their tents and supplies, descend the mountain with the reality etched into their minds by Gutman, the archaeologist.
Seeing Rommel’s army approaching Palestine, the Jewish people were filled with anxiety. As rumors spread that the British would withdraw and a security vacuum would emerge in the region, some people tried to obtain foreign passports and leave the country, while others began purchasing poison. In June 1942, Haganah commanders attended a meeting in Tel Aviv to present reports regarding Masada. At this meeting, discussions centered on the possibility of returning to Masada. Forty-six young leaders who had personally visited the fortress shared their insights, and over 200 people participated in the subsequent expedition. Meanwhile, the number of Palmach—the armed wing of the Haganah—began to increase at Masada.
With the withdrawal of Rommel’s army and the Nazis beginning to lose the war, the Palestinian region began to become safer. Figures such as Isaac Tabenkin and Shmarya Gutman sought to instill a certain mindset in this new generation, which had been born and raised on Palestinian soil. By citing the millions of Jews massacred by the Nazis, the aim was to make the new generation more dynamic and enthusiastic. As described by Ari Shavit, a reporter for Haaretz:
“It is not Elazar Ben Yair who defines Masada, but Gutman. What matters are not the events that occurred or were about to occur in 73 CE, but the events that took center stage in 1942 CE. The Masada ideology put forward by Gutman would define Zionism in the 1940s. It would determine the fate of 1948 and shape the future of Israel.”
Thus, Gutman’s act of visualizing an event from approximately 1,869 years ago within his own world and conveying it to his students had a profound impact on a generation, leading to the formation of a specific perception in the memories of both soldiers and the local population.
(1) He was one of the senior commanding officers of the Haganah involved in planning the attack on the King David Hotel.
(2) Ari Shavit, My Promised Land, Tekin Publishing, Istanbul, March 2015.
(3) For Further Research on the Subject: Flavius Josephus, The Jewish War (The Destruction of Jerusalem), Dorlion Publications, Ankara, September 2024.
