On the eve of the Great War, Jerusalem was part of the Ottoman sultanate ruled by Pashas who, in turn, were directly appointed by the government of the dictatorial triumvirate that took over power in Istanbul in 1913. A city, a district capital with significant consular representation, and a growing administrative center for Palestine, Jerusalem was largely homogeneous in terms of ethnicity, culture and language. But it was also the destination of increased Zionist Jewish migration. The changes in administration and role of diplomats that took place during the years of the war—including the departure of diplomats, institutions and citizens connected with the triple entente—although grave, did not significantly alter the social fabric of the city. Instead, the war and the conscription of the young men of the city coupled with the arrival of soldiers in conscripts from various parts of the empire to the city effected significantly how the people of Jerusalem saw themselves in relation to their Turkish rulers. The oppressive policies of the wartime administration of Jamal Pasha, coupled with famine due to the British blockade, the locust and public hanging of Arab nationalists and deserters, had a serious impact on how the people of Palestine were imaging their future and their relations. In a sense, signs of Arab, Syrian or Palestinian nationalisms were starting to be seen within the in the city in various ways. Using photographs, memoirs and papers of Jerusalemites from the period, I will illustrate how the war altered the way Jerusalemites thought of their world, themselves and their relationship to their rulers. The documents used will include family photographs, memoirs—of musician Wasif Jawhariyeh, educator Khalil Sakakini and conscript Ihsan Turjuman. Evidence of repression, changing of administrators and economic decline could be deciphered from the photographs. Juxtaposing photographs and memoirs as subaltern narratives, my aim is to argue that an antonymous voice(s) on the Palestinians were in existence in Jerusalem. Those voices found their articulations through a complex web of socially marginal activities—Jawharyih’s descriptions of indulgence in drinking and hashish consumption in the city—, nihilist political societies—Sakakini’s vagabond party—and the soldiers’ complete ambivalence towards the war—as in the diary of Turjman. My presentation will show Jerusalem as a sort of Dickensian city in both social and cultural turmoil.