“Patria” ( French Patria ) is a French- built passenger ocean liner. It was sunk in the Haifa raid on November 25, 1940 as a result of a bomb explosion planted by members of the Jewish paramilitary organization Hagana . At the time of the explosion, there were 1800 illegal Jewish immigrants from Europe on the ship, whom the British authorities wanted to transfer to Mauritius and Trinidad . As a result of the flooding of the ship, between 250 and 267 immigrants died.
Content
Previous Events
In 1940, the Nazis encouraged the immigration of Jews from Europe. The Committee on the Expulsion of Jews from Europe, led by Adolf Eichmann , chartered three ships: Milos, Pacific, and Atlantic. In the Romanian port of Tulcea, ships took on board 3,600 Jewish refugees from Vienna , Danzig and Prague . The Nazis tried to get rid of the Jewish population and at the same time harm the British, who, after 1939, restricted Jewish immigration due to the Arab uprising in Palestine [1] .
When the ships arrived in Palestine in November 1940 , they were intercepted by the British Navy and taken to a raid in Haifa. The British High Commissioner in Palestine, Sir Harold MacMichael, issued a decree requiring all illegal refugees to be transported to the Mauritius Islands in the Indian Ocean and to Trinidad in the Caribbean . It was assumed that 100 passengers would go ashore in Suez , as they wanted to join the Czechoslovak army as part of the allied forces.
Refugees began to be transferred to the ship "Patria", which was an ocean liner, previously belonged to France and was captured by the British in Haifa after the German invasion of France. Most of the refugees from Milos and Pacific and a small part of refugees from the Atlantic, who arrived in Haifa only on November 24, were transferred to Patria. [2] .
Explosion
The Haganah sought to prevent the deportation of refugees from Palestine and decided to render the ship unusable. It was decided to plant a bomb to ruin the engines. However, according to the version of the performers, the consequences of the explosion were calculated incorrectly and a huge hole was pierced in the bottom of the ship. The explosion occurred at 10 a.m. on November 25, 1940. Immediately after the explosion, everyone in the port rushed to rescue Jewish immigrants, among them were Arabs, British soldiers and police. Despite all attempts, the rescuers failed to depressurize the lower holds, and people, including women and children, were trapped. The ship sank within 15 minutes. Most of the passengers were saved, but from 250 to 267 people died. The dead were buried in Zikhron Yaakov, near Haifa, some were buried in nameless graves. Children who lost their parents in the explosion were sent to an orphanage called the Mossad (“institution” or “foundation, foundation”). [3]
Consequences
The British authorities allowed the surviving passengers to remain in Palestine on humanitarian grounds. At first they were placed in an immigrant camp in Atlite , but later they were released from there. Passengers of the Atlantic ship were transported to Mauritius. After the war, after they were allowed to leave the refugee camp, about 80% of them moved to Palestine.
At first, it was assumed that the blast was prepared by the Irgun group, but later it turned out that it was arranged by members of the Hagana [1] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Patria zionism-israel.com
- ↑ Deaths of 260 in 1940 ship explosion commemorated
- ↑ The Story of the S / S Patria By Eva Feld
See also
- Exodus
- "Struma"
Links
- B. Wasserstein, Britain and the Jews of Europe .
- D. Ofer, The Rescue of European Jewry and Illegal Immigration to Palestine in 1940. Prospects and Reality: Berthold Storfer and the Mossad le'Aliyah Bet. Modern Judaism , Vol. 4, No. 2 (1984) 159-181.
- History of the Patria vessel
- " The Story of the S / S Patria ", by Eva Feld. Some quotations from relevant memoirs.
- Photos of the Patria (Fr.)