A chartered ship left Cyprus Wednesday night, and docked at the Haifa port early Thursday morning.  The voyage was a mini-reenactment of the voyage of the Exodus ship, which was cruelly turned back by the British in 1947 when it attempted to arrive in the Land of Israel. 

The 300 passengers, most of them from Paris, included donors to Jewish causes, dozens of new immigrants, Bar Mitzvah boys, and Holocaust survivors.  The trip was the initiative of the Appel Unifie Juif de France (AUJF, the United Jewish Appeal in France), in cooperation with the Jewish Agency, AMI, and CRIF (an umbrella group of French Jewish organizations).

As the memorial ship entered Israel’s territorial waters, it was accompanied by an Israeli navy vessel that performed a ceremonial salute with its water cannons in commemoration of the historic “Exodus” ship.  An official reception was held in the presence of Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav, AUJF President Pierre Besnainou, Jewish Agency Chairman Ze'ev Bielski, new immigrants, soldiers, and other dignitaries.

Zionist Pioneering and British Cruelty

The story of the “Exodus” ship is one of true pioneering Zionism and harsh British cruelty.  Though the British did not allow the boat to land in what was to become Israel, they were ultimately forced to give up their mandate over the land just a few months later - after most of the original passengers were back in the land, having succeeded in overcoming British barriers. 

The Exodus left southern France on July 11, 1947 carrying over 4,500 Holocaust survivors.  The British attacked the ship and its defenseless passengers outside the territorial waters of Palestine, killing three Jews in the ensuing battle and wounding many more.  British ships then escorted the ship to Haifa, where the wounded were hospitalized, but the thousands of others were forced onto three deportation boats. 

The British informed the Jews that they were taking them to Cyprus, and in fact supplied them with a day's worth of rations for the short trip.  However, the British sailors themselves were supplied with 10 days' worth of food - and in fact they deceitfully headed the ships back to France. 

Conditions on the ships were frightful. On each one, close to 1,500 people were crammed into a barbed-wire-bordered area of the boat with space enough for 500 - in the stifling summer heat. One of the British captains later described his ship and its conditions as a "floating Auschwitz," featuring five-year-old biscuits, wormy macaroni, only 24 bathroom stalls, a total of two salt-water showers, no change of clothes for eight weeks, and more.

French Refuse British Dictates

After arriving at a port in France on July 29, the British demanded that the French force the refugees off the ships, or at least withhold all food and water until the Jews would disembark on their own.  The French refused to fulfill the British dictates, and allowed the ships to dock off-shore.  Jewish organizations supplied the refugees with food.

After three weeks, admist mounting public pressure around the world, the British informed the Jews that if they did not agree to leave the ships by Aug. 22 at noon, they would be taken to a German port, where they would be forced off.  The pioneers/refugees' response was to sing the modern Jewish national anthem, HaTikvah, and insist that they would disembark only in their own national homeland.

The ships left on Aug. 22, and arrived in British-controlled northern German on Sept. 7 - nearly two months after their original departure from France.  The homeless Jews were forced off the ships, after having agreed to employ only passive resistance in order to ensure no loss of life.  Soldiers were brought from Britain to remove them; five soldiers were said to be required to remove one child.

The Jews were brought to camps reminiscent of the concentration camps in which they had spent months or years not long before, with barbed wire and armed guards surrounding the camps for a period.  The Jews gradually settled into a camp routine with which they were very familiar.

Within several months, most of the Jewish refugees had managed to make their way back to Palestine, and a minority of them arrived after the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948.

"We won," the Exodus refugees sum up. "The world heard our cry, the cry of refugees of the Holocaust, and saw how we stood strong.  The United Nations recognized our right to establish the State, with the help of the Rock of Israel. We merited having taken an active part in our nation's struggle, together with those who were already in the Land.  We thank the organizations that aided us, and all those who stood by our side during our struggle."