Fw: Exodus 1947
Edward Behrendt (holcaust@RIO.COM)
Wed, 7 May 1997 10:56:04 -0700
----------
> From: LOUIS DE GROOT <louis@california.com>
> To: MEMORIES@NAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
> Cc: holcaust@rio.com
> Subject: Exodus 1947
> Date: Tuesday, May 06, 1997 4:21 PM
>
> The Exodus 1947 was a Haganah ship that sailed from Sete, France in July
> 1947 with survivors of the Holocaust as passengers for Haifa, which was
at
> that time a port city in Palestine. These survivors were DP's, or
displaced
> persons, who had not been able to go back to their own countries when
they
> were freed from the concentration camps, and lived in so-called DP camps
in
> Germany and Austria after the war. When returning to their hometowns they
> were threatened with death by the local population who did not want them
> back in their midst taking up the jobs or professions again which they
had
> been forced to leave.
> The British Government which controlled Palestine did not allow Jewish
> immigration and sent its Navy to the mediterranean to stop the ship. A
fight
> broke out on board when British sailors and Marines boarded the ship
> forcefully and took it under escort to Haifa. The passengers were
> transferred to British transport ships and taken to Hamburg, Germany
where
> British soldiers armed with clubs dragged the people off the transports
and
> incarcerated them in Poppendorf and Amstau, two former concentration
camps.
> The history of the Exodus had great influence on world opinion and
> contributed greatly to the United Nations resoluton in November 1947 to
> partition Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state. This Jewish state
> became the homeland for the Jewish refugees who had been lingering in the
DP
> camps in Europe, because just as in the thirties no country was opening
its
> borders for these unfortunate people. On May 15, 1948, the State of
Israel
> was officially founded, and seven Arab nations immediately attacked it
with
> the intent of wiping it off the map. While some of them are still at it
they
> have not succeeded.
>
> There has been a recent re-issue of the book EXODUS 1947 by David C.
Holly.
> It was published by the Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland.
> Before it became the Exodus the ship was known as the SS President
Warfield
> which had ferried between Baltimore and Norfolk. The crew of the Exodus
> donated a replica of the ship to the Smithonian in Washington where it is
on
> display.
>
> Louis de Groot
>
>
>
>
>