Exodus

Exodus – Departure from Europe This was the name given to the illegal immigration ship which became a symbol of the Jewish struggle to reach the Promised Land after emerging from slavery. We know that “the Land of Israel was bought with suffering,” including the suffering on the way to Israel. Why did this ship, in particular, become a symbol and a defining event in the saga of illegal immigration? The “Exodus 1947” or “Departure from Europe 1947” left the port of Sete on the southern coast of France on the 23^rd of Tammuz 5707 - July 11^th, 1947 – with 4554 Holocaust survivors on board, accompanied by their guides, messengers from Israel. They went through an arduous journey but were not allowed to enter the country. "You will see the country from afar, but you will not come to it" (Deuteronomy 32:52). Upon reaching Israeli shores, the British attacked the boat, and three passengers were killed. The refugees were then transferred to three deportation ships and sent back to Germany. Thus, the ship also became a symbol of the strictness of the British. In Israel in those days, there was a UNESCO committee whose task was to examine the question of the Land of Israel on behalf of the United Nations. Two of its members saw the incident on the shore of Haifa. The broadcast made by the passengers of the ship to the shore, and the sight of the Holocaust survivors being returned to the cursed lands of Europe, moved them. From then on, public opinion pressured the governments to transfer the decision on the Land of Israel from Great Britain to the United Nations. Knowingly and unknowingly, the occupants of the ship took part in the struggle to end the British Mandate. To mark the 75th anniversary of the Exodus ship - the Departure of Europe 1947 - we present testimonies and photos from the Ganzach Kiddush Hashem collections.

"We Were on the Exodus"

Necha Barzel – The Journey on the Exodus Ship (Poland - USSR)

Open Book

From Fort de Bouc to Hamburg (Exodus)

Displaced persons with their equipment next to their living quarters in the Papendorf DP camp

Refugees arriving at the Papendorf DP Camp, Germany

A newspaper report about the Exodus ship

Certificate stating that a specific passenger was being sent back to Germany after trying to reach Israel on the Exodus 1947 ship

A group of illegal immigrants from the Exodus ship who were deported back to France

The half-destroyed Exodus ship

The Exodus illegal immigration ship, full of passengers

The Exodus ship

The Exodus illegal immigration ship upon its arrival to the shores of Israel

The Exodus ship arriving at the shores of Haifa and greeted by crowds filling the shore

The flag of Israel hoisted up on the Exodus ship

The Exodus anthem in Yiddish, as it was published in the Papendorf DP camp in 1947

A protest of children against the expulsion of the Exodus 1947 ship from Israeli shores, at the summer camp in Schwartzenberg

A protest organized in Israel on behalf of the illegal immigrants aboard the Exodus

British soldiers evacuating passengers of the Exodus following their takeover of the ship, damaging it and injuring some passengers

British soldiers evacuating passengers of the Exodus 1947 ship in the Haifa Port, July 18th, 1947

British soldiers evacuating Jews from the Exodus ship at the Haifa Port

British soldiers carrying a stretcher with an injured Exodus passenger

British soldiers helping illegal immigrants from the Exodus to disembark a train in Hamburg

British soldiers looking for weapons on children from the Exodus

Zahava Schwartz

Escape from Poland

In the beginning of 5706 (1946), a rumour spread the the borders of Poland were about to close and it would become impossible to emigrate. My mother's cousin, Leibel Shermer, arrived in Bielsko and took me to the Rappoport family, who was known for smuggling Jewish children out of Poland. I asked my aunt's permission to leave Poland, but by the time my aunt received the message and arrived in Bielsko to say farewell, I was already on my way to France.

Accompanied by a messenger and three additional children, we crossed the Polish-Czechoslovakian border by train to Deblice. From there we continued by train to France.

And thus I left Poland, the land of my birth. Poland, the land where every tree is soaked in Jewish blood, a land full of beautiful landscapes, which every time I look at, I am filled with anger at the nation and land that allowed these crimes to occur on its soil.

Aix-les-Bain

We were in Aix-les Bain, France, until the month of Sivan 5607 (June 1947) in the charedi institution Poalei Agudath Israel. The institution was located in a beautiful hotel in the city. There were many Holocaust refugee children among us, and in our eyes, the hotel was like a palace, the likes of which we had never seen before.

At the initiative of one of the activists from Eretz Yisrael, named Asher Wassertil, the issue of immigrating to Israel came up. We, a small group of girls, decided to immigrate to the Land of Israel. Our group included Hela Kugler, Ruti Eshel, and Lilka Zito.

Asher Wassertil took us to the Pelissanne camp in Marseilles, France, where all the people were gathered until it was time to sail. Our group, the Poalei Agudath Israel, was crystallized in the Pelissanne camp.

Exodus - The Struggle and the Expulsion

The ship approached the Haifa port.

When the English discovered us, they ordered the ship to turn back and return to France, but the illegal immigrants were determined to fight.

Four destroyers approached us, and a battle broke out between the British navy and the Jewish survivors. From my place in the belly of the ship, I could hear the battle cries and the cries of the wounded. The passengers took out all the food that was left, and fought the British with canned food, potatoes, and bottles.

On the first day of Av 5607 (Friday July 18th, 1947), which was my 16th birthday, the ship anchored at the Haifa port, captured by the British. They unloaded us from the ship onto the deck, where we were detained for about a day, tightly guarded by British soldiers.

I remember how my friends and I looked at the black night and the shining lights of the Carmel in the distance, which seemed so promising. Small flames of the Shabbat candles in the houses flashed from the windows. Happiness filled my heart. I was sure that I had finally arrived at my desired place! But my hopes were dashed. The British were determined.

They moved us onto three deportation ships, destined to return to Europe. Our personal belongings were taken from us and we never saw them again.

And Again - One the Way to Israel

In the winter of 5608 (February 1948), after more than 8 months of waiting in DP camps in Germany, my destiny arose. Meir Teifenbrun, Ruth Weisberg, and Lilka Zito also received certificates with me. We said goodbye to the residents of the camp, went to France by train, and after a few days a number of us boarded the ship Providence, which sailed to Alexandria and from there to Israel.

The Providence ship was a magnificient tourist ship, and symbolically, it was a sort of final station of calm and peace for me after the endless upheavals I went through.

(Hadassa Chulik, Chambers of Horror: The Life Story of Zahava Schwartz)

Female survivors standing at the opening to the train car that will take them to the Exodus ship

Female survivors on the deck of the Exodus illegal immigration ship

Children from the Poalei Agudath Israel movement, deportees from the Exodus, while in Papendorf, Germany

An announcement circulated secretly proclaiming the arrival of the Exodus illegal immigration ship

Passengers who were forced out of the Exodus illegal immigration ship and onto the British deportation ship, Empire Rival, praying on the Tisha B’Av fast day, during their return journey to France

As a sign of protest, illegal immigrants aboard the British Runnymede Park deportation ship waving a flag showing the swastika next to the British flag