Exodus 1947: 70th Commemoration: Project Update

Tags:

Congressman John P. Sarbanes of Maryland has entered into the U.S Congressional Record recognition of the famed Holocaust Rescue Ship, the Exodus 1947. (see copy below). The ship, out of Baltimore, was American funded and crewed. Its historic voyage in running the British naval blockade of Palestine made it a foundation story of the modern State of Israel. Ruth Gruber called the Exodus 1947, the "Ship that Launched a Nation". Nine other largely US manned ships sailed from the U.S. among the 66 ships that ran the British naval blockade to bring remnants of European Jewry to the shores of Eretz Israel between 1945 and 1948.

Seventy years have passed since July 18, 1947, when the battered Exodus 1947, with 4,454 Holocaust survivors on board, was towed into the port of Haifa by British destroyers that rammed her in international waters. The Second Officer, Bill Bernstein, was clubbed to death on the bridge by the British boarding detail when he refused to abandon the wheel. He was the first Machalnik who gave his life in the struggle to establish the Jewish State.

This iconic episode in modern Jewish history will be remembered and honored at the AVILC Mickey Marcus Memorial taking place at West Point on May 7, 2017. Among the speakers are Ambassador Dani Dayan, Consul General of Israel; Ambassador Vasilios Philippou, High Commissioner of the Republic of Cyprus; NYC DOC Commissioner Joseph Ponte and Mr. Jerry Klinger, President of JASHP. There will be an exhibition portraying the “Aliyah Bet” or clandestine immigration that daringly confronted the British destroyers engaged in the naval blockade. There will also be a photo display of the refugees and crew apprehended by British authorities and shipped to internment camps on Cyprus.

This year being the 70th commemoration of Exodus 1947, the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation (JASHP) and Jerry Klinger, its president have launched the Exodus Memorial Project. A permanent historical, informative sculpture memorializing the Exodus 1947 has been commissioned and will be sited with supportive panels in the plaza of the port of Haifa. Jerry Klinger was instrumental in the restoration of Bill Bernstein’s grave site with honor and dignity in a Haifa cemetery.

Our purpose is to remember and reaffirm the saga of the Ma’apala (Clandestine immigration) and to tell the story of the Exodus 1947 as emblematic of the Aliyah Bet operation and the creation of the Jewish State. A dedication ceremony is being organized to be held at the port of Haifa on July 18, 2017, the day Exodus 1947 docked seventy years ago.

Those planning to travel to Israel and attend the July 18 dedication of the memorial in Haifa are asked to please contact Donna Parker at donnakparker1@gmail.com

Those interested in knowing more about the Exodus Memorial project in Haifa may contact Jerry Klinger, President, Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, directly at Jashp1@msn.com

Donna Parker

Rafi Marom

Si Spiegelman

Congressional Record, Jan. 24, 2017

HON. JOHN P. SARBANES

OF MARYLAND

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the extraordinary events surrounding the SS Exodus 1947, to which a historic memorial will be dedicated in the Port of Haifa in Israel this coming July.

The SS Exodus 1947, originally known as the President Warfield, was a passenger ship operating on the ‘‘Old Bay Line’’ between Baltimore, MD and Norfolk, VA. The ship served in that role for nearly 15 years before being repurposed during World War II, when it served both the Royal Navy and the United States Navy. Following the war, the ship returned to the U.S. and was placed in the Naval Reserve Fleet in Virginia, where it was to be sold for scrap.

Before the ship could be scrapped it was sold to the Haganah, the precursor to the Israel Defense Forces. The Haganah intended to use it, amongst 9 other ships, to evacuate displaced Jews from Europe to what was then Palestine, at the time under British Control. Before undertaking this mission the ship was towed to Baltimore, where it was refitted and crewed, primarily by volunteer Jewish-American ex-soldiers.

Once in Europe, the ship originally designed for 400 passengers was loaded with 4,454 Holocaust survivors and departed from the French Port of Se`te. The ship was intercepted in international waters by a task force of eight British Naval vessels and was boarded by Royal Marines. While the unarmed crew and passengers fought back with whatever could be turned into weapons, they were eventually overwhelmed and taken back to France and then to displaced persons camps in Germany on British prison ships.

The events on the Exodus garnered international media attention and are considered by historians to have played a role in the passage of United Nations Resolution 181, which established the State of Israel. The mayor of Haifa in 1950 dubbed the Exodus the ‘‘Ship that Launched a Nation.’’

Memorials and historical markers for the Exodus have been placed in the Baltimore Harbor, as well as France and Germany. I am proud of the small role that Baltimore played in these historic events and also commend the work of my constituent, Dr. Barry S. Lever, with the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation to dedicate a memorial to the Exodus in Israel, and I congratulate them on their successful efforts.