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{{Short description|1940 ship bombing in Haifa, Mandatory Palestine}}
⚫ ]
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The '''''Patria'' disaster''' occurred on 25 November 1940 when the ''Patria'', a ]-built ], was bombed and sank in ] harbour, killing 267 people and injuring another 172. The sinking was caused by an attempt by the ], a ] ] group, to disable the ship. At the time of the sinking, the ''Patria'' was carrying around 1,800 Jewish illegal immigrants who were being deported from the ] to ] and ]. The deportation was opposed by ] organisations including the underground Haganah, which sought to prevent the ship from leaving Haifa. The survivors were subsequently permitted to remain in Palestine on humanitarian grounds.
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Italic title|string=Patria}}
⚫ ]
The '''''Patria'' disaster''' was the sinking on 25 November 1940 by the Jewish paramilitary organization ] of a French-built ], the 11,885-ton {{SS|Patria|1913|6}}, in the ].

''Patria'' was about to depart with about 1,800 Jewish refugees whom the British authorities were deporting to ]. ] organizations opposed the deportation, and the underground paramilitary Haganah group planted a bomb intended to disable the ship to prevent it from leaving Haifa.

The Haganah claims to have miscalculated the effects of the explosion. The bomb blew the steel frame off one full side of the ship and the ship sank in less than 16 minutes, trapping hundreds in the hold, killing 267 people and injuring 172.<ref name="jewishsf2">{{cite news |date=14 December 2001 |title=Deaths of 260 in 1940 ship explosion commemorated |url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/16938/deaths-of-260-in-1940-ship-explosion-commemorated/ |work=JWeekly.com |publisher=San Francisco Jewish Community Publications Inc}}</ref> The British allowed the survivors to remain in Palestine on humanitarian grounds.

Who was responsible and the true reason why ''Patria'' sank remained controversial until 1957, when ], the person who planted the bomb, published a book about his experiences.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mardor |first=Munya Meir |year=1970 |orig-year=1957 |title=Shelihut Alumah: Pirke Mivtsaim Meyuhadim Be-Maarkhot Ha-Haganah |location=Tel Aviv |publisher=Tseva haganah le-Yisrael, Hotsaat Maarakhot: Misrad ha-bitahon |language=he}}</ref>


==Background== ==Background==
Before the government of ] made the decision to ] in January 1942, Nazi policy still allowed for the reduction of Jewish numbers in Europe by emigration. Jewish organizations, both mainstream and dissident, ran operations which attempted to bring Jews from Europe to ] in violation of the immigration rules of the ] government and stop them going anywhere else. Before the government of ] decided in 1941 to ], its policy allowed the reduction of Jewish numbers in Europe by emigration.<ref name=Friendlander>{{cite book | author = Saul Friedländer | title = The Years of Extermination—Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939–1945 | page = 286 | publisher = Harper-Collins | year = 2008}}</ref> Jewish organizations, both mainstream and dissident, ran operations that tried to bring Jews from Europe to Palestine in violation of the ] applied by the British government.


This required cooperation with the Nazi authorities, who saw the opportunity to make trouble for the British as well as to get rid of Jews. The Committee for Sending Jews Overseas was an office that operated under the supervision of ], organizing emigration of Jews from the Nazi-controlled parts of Europe. In September 1940, the Committee chartered three ships, the ''Milos'', the ''Pacific'' and the ''Atlantic'', to transport Jewish refugees from the ]n port of ] to Palestine. Their passengers consisted of about 3,600 refugees from the Jewish communities in ], ] and ]. This required cooperation with the Nazi authorities, who saw the opportunity to make trouble for Britain as well as to get rid of Jews. The ''Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung'' (] or ZjA) worked under the supervision of ], organizing Jewish emigration from the Nazi-controlled parts of Europe. In September 1940 the ZjA chartered three ships, {{SS|Pacific|1880|6}}, {{SS|Milos|1878|6}} and {{SS|Atlantic|1885|6}}, to take Jewish refugees from the Romanian port of ] to Palestine. Their passengers consisted of about 3,600 refugees from the Jewish communities of ], ] and ].{{citation needed|date=March 2013}}


The ''Pacific'' reached Palestinian waters on ], followed by the ''Milos'' a few days later. The ships were intercepted by the ] and taken to the ]. Warned in advance of the ships' arrival, the British ] was determined to refuse entry to the immigrants. Now that their military situation had improved, they decided it was better to offend the Jews than to provoke an ] revolt, and decided that an example should be made of the immigrants. The British High Commissioner for Palestine, Sir ], issued a deportation order on 20 November, ordering that the refugees be taken to the British ] territory of ] and the ] territory of ].<ref name="Bauer">Yehuda Bauer, ''American Jewry and the Holocaust'', pp. 143-144. Wayne State University Press, 1981. ISBN 0814316727</ref> ''Pacific'' reached Palestinian waters on 1 November, followed by ''Milos'' a few days later. The ] intercepted the ships and escorted them to the port of Haifa. Warned in advance of the ships' arrival, the British ] was determined to refuse entry to the immigrants. With the security situation in the region improving following British successes in the ], the Colonial Office decided it was less risky to provoke Jewish anger than to risk an ] revolt, and that an example would be made to dissuade other potential immigrants from making the attempt.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}}


The British High Commissioner for Palestine, Sir ], issued a deportation order on 20 November, ordering that the refugees be taken to the British Indian Ocean territory of Mauritius and the ] territory of ].<ref name="Bauer">{{cite book |last=Bauer |first=Yehuda |author-link=Yehuda Bauer |year=1981 |title=American Jewry and the Holocaust |publisher=] |isbn=0-8143-1672-7 |pages=143–144}}</ref>
The refugees were transferred to another ship, the ''Patria'', for the journey to Mauritius. The ''Patria'' was a 12,000 ton ] which had recently been seized by the British following the French ] to ]. It was a 27 year old steel-hulled vessel with a crew of 130.<ref>"", ""</ref> As a civilian liner, it was only permitted to carry 805 people (including the crew); after its requisitioning, it was reclassified as a troop transport, permitting it to carry 1,800 people (excluding the crew). However, it still only had enough lifeboats for the original 805 passengers and crew, with the rest having to rely on rafts in the event of an emergency.<ref>Geneviève Pitot, ''The Mauritian Shekel: The Story of Jewish Detainees in Mauritius, 1940-1945''. Rowman & Littlefield, 2000. ISBN 0742508552</ref>


The refugees were transferred to another ship, SS ''Patria'', for the voyage to ]. ''Patria'' was an 11,885-ton ] dating from 1913 that the French company ] ran between ] and the ]. She had reached the ] shortly before ], and then remained in port for safety. After the ] the British authorities in Haifa first detained ''Patria'' and then seized her for use as a ]. As a civilian liner she was permitted to carry 805 people including her crew,<ref name=Pitot83/> but after being requisitioned she was authorised to carry 1,800 troops (excluding the crew).<ref name=Pitot83>{{cite book |last=Pitot |first=Geneviève |year=2000 |title=The Mauritian Shekel: The Story of Jewish Detainees in Mauritius, 1940–1945 |location=Lanham, MD |publisher=] |isbn=0-7425-0855-2 |page=83}}</ref> She still only had enough lifeboats for the original 805 passengers and crew, so these were supplemented with ].<ref name=Pitot83/>
⚫ The refugees from the ''Pacific'' and ''Milos'' were soon transferred to the ''Patria''. The ''Atlantic'' arrived on ] and the transfer of eight hundred of its 1,645 passengers began.


⚫ The refugees from ''Pacific'' and ''Milos'' were soon transferred to ''Patria''. ''Atlantic'' arrived on 24 November and the transfer of eight hundred of its 1,645 passengers began.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}}
==Disaster==


==Bombing==
⚫ Meanwhile, the Zionist organizations were considering how the deportation plan could be thwarted. A general strike had little effect. The ] attempted unsuccessfully to place a bomb on the ''Patria'' to disable it.<ref>J. Bowyer Bell, ''Terror Out of Zion: The Fight for Israeli Independence'', p. 53. Transaction Publishers, 1996. ISBN 1560008709</ref> The Haganah also sought to disable the ''Patria'', with the intention of forcing it to stay in port for repairs and thus buying time that could be used to pressure the British to rescind the deportation order. The officer in charge of the operation was ], but his authority came from ] (Shertok), who was the leader of the Political Department of the ] in the temporary absence of the imprisoned ].
]
⚫ Meanwhile, Zionist organizations were considering how to thwart the deportation plan. A ] had little effect. The ] tried unsuccessfully to place a bomb on ''Patria'' to disable her.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bell |first=J. Bowyer |author-link=J. Bowyer Bell |year=1996 |title=Terror Out of Zion: The Fight for Israeli Independence |location=Piscataway, NJ |publisher=] |isbn=1-56000-870-9 |page=53}}</ref> The Haganah also sought to disable ''Patria'', with the intention of forcing her to stay in port for repairs and thus gaining time to press the British to rescind the deportation order. The Haganah officer in charge of the operation was ], authorised by ], who led the Political Department of the ] in the temporary absence of ], who had left for the United States on 22 September and did not return until 13 February 1941.<ref>{{cite book |last=Friling |first=Tuvia |year=2005 |title=Arrows in the Dark: David Ben-Gurion, the Yishuv leadership, and Rescue Attempts During the Holocaust |location=Madison, WI |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-299-17550-4 |pages=40, 44}}</ref>


On 22 November agents of the Haganah smuggled a two-kilogram bomb on board the ship, timed to explode at 9 pm that day. It failed to explode, and a second, more powerful, device was smuggled on board on 24 November. At 9 am on 25 November, the bomb exploded alongside the inner hull of the ship.<ref>Monty Noam Penkower, ''Decision on Palestine Deferred: America, Britain and Wartime Diplomacy'', pp. 55-59. Routledge, 2002. ISBN 0714652687</ref> By this time, the ''Patria'' was carrying 1,770 refugees from the ''Pacific'' and ''Milos'' and had taken on board 134 passengers from the ''Atlantic''. The plan had been for the ship to be disabled without causing casualties, but the Haganah had miscalculated the effect of the explosion. The bomb blew a large hole measuring three meters by two in the side of the ship and it sank in only fifteen minutes.<ref name="Stein">Leslie Stein, ''The Hope Fulfilled: The Rise of Modern Israel'', pp. 227-228. Greenwood Press, 2003. ISBN 0275971414</ref> On 22 November Haganah agents smuggled a {{convert|2|kg|adj=on}} bomb aboard the ship, timed to explode at 9 p.m. that day. It failed, so a second, more powerful bomb was smuggled aboard on 24 November and hidden next to the ship's inner hull. At 9 a.m. on 25 November, it exploded.<ref>{{cite book |last=Penkower |first=Monty Noam |year=2002 |title=Decision on Palestine Deferred: America, Britain and Wartime Diplomacy |location=London |publisher=] |isbn=0-7146-5268-7 |pages=55–59}}</ref> The Haganah had miscalculated the effect of the charge and it blew a large hole measuring {{convert|3|x|2|m|ft}} in the ship's side, sinking her in only 16 minutes.<ref name="Stein">{{cite book |last=Stein |first=Leslie |year=2003 |title=The Hope Fulfilled: The Rise of Modern Israel |location=Westport, CN |publisher=] |isbn=0-275-97141-4 |pages= |url=https://archive.org/details/hopefulfilledris00lesl/page/227 }}</ref>


The majority of persons on board were rescued by British and Arab boats that rushed to the scene <ref name="Chazan">Meir Chazan, The Patria Affair: Moderates vs. Activists in Mapai in the 1940s. ''Journal of Israeli History'', Vol. 22, No. 2 (2003), pp 61-95.</ref> However, 267 others - mostly Jewish refugees - lost their lives, with another 172 being injured. Many of the dead were trapped in the hold of the ship and were unable to escape as the ship foundered.<ref>Dalia Ofer, ''Escaping the Holocaust: Illegal Immigration to the Land of Israel, 1939-1944'', p. 35. Oxford University Press, 1990. ISBN 0195063406</ref> 209 bodies were eventually recovered and buried in Haifa.<ref>William R. Perl, ''The Four-front War: From the Holocaust to the Promised Land'', p. 250. Crown Publishers, 1979. ISBN 0517538377</ref> When the bomb exploded, ''Patria'' was carrying 1,770 refugees transferred from ''Pacific'' and ''Milos'' and had taken on board 134 passengers from ''Atlantic''. Most were rescued by British and Arab boats that rushed to the scene.<ref name="Chazan">{{cite journal |last=Chazan |first=Meir |year=2003 |title=The Patria Affair: Moderates vs. Activists in Mapai in the 1940s |journal=Journal of Israeli History |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=61–95 |doi=10.1080/13531040312331287644|s2cid=155043034 }}</ref> However, 267 people were declared missing – over 200 Jewish refugees<ref name="jewishsf">{{cite news |date=14 December 2001 |title=Deaths of 260 in 1940 ship explosion commemorated |url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/16938/deaths-of-260-in-1940-ship-explosion-commemorated/ |work=JWeekly.com |publisher=San Francisco Jewish Community Publications Inc}}</ref> plus 50 crew and British soldiers – and another 172 were injured. Many of the dead were trapped in ''Patria''{{'}}s hold and were unable to escape as she rolled on her side and sank.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ofer |first=Dalia |year=1990 |title=Escaping the Holocaust: Illegal Immigration to the Land of Israel, 1939–1944 |location=Oxford |publisher=] |isbn=0-19-506340-6 |page=35}}</ref> 209 bodies were eventually recovered and buried in Haifa.<ref name=Perl>{{cite book |last=Perl |first=William R. |author-link=William R. Perl |year=1979 |title=The Four-front War: From the Holocaust to the Promised Land |location=New York |publisher=] |isbn=0-517-53837-7 |page= |url=https://archive.org/details/fourfrontwarfrom00perl/page/250 }}</ref>


==Aftermath== ==Aftermath==
⚫ The surviving refugees from ''Patria'', together with the remaining 1,560 passengers of ''Atlantic'', were taken to the ]. Later, after an international campaign, the survivors of ''Patria'' were given permits to stay in Palestine. However, the other ''Atlantic'' passengers were deported to Mauritius on 9 December. After the war they were given the choice of where to go; 81% chose Palestine and arrived there in August 1945.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}}


In December 1945 ''Ha-Po'el ha-Tza'ir'' ("Young Worker") a ] party newspaper, commented ''"On one bitter and impetuous day, a malicious hand sank the ship"''. The comment was written by the deputy editor, Israel Cohen, who did not know that all of the people responsible were Mapai leaders.<ref name="Chazan"/> Angered by the newspaper's comments, some Haganah leaders sent Ben-Gurion's son Amos to the newspaper office where he slapped the editor, Isaac Lofven, across the face.<ref name="Chazan"/>
⚫ The surviving refugees from the ''Patria'', together with the remaining 1,560 passengers of the ''Atlantic'', were taken to the ] detention camp. Later, after an international campaign, the survivors of the ''Patria'' were given permits to remain in Palestine. However, the ''Atlantic'' passengers were forcibly deported to Mauritius on 9 December. After the war, they were given the choice of where to go; 81% chose Palestine and arrived there in August 1945.


]
The role of the Haganah was not publicly revealed and for years the British believed that the Irgun was probably responsible. ''Ha-Po'el ha-Tza'ir'', a newspaper of the ruling ] party, unaware that all of the persons responsible were Mapai leaders, lamented that "On one bitter and impetuous day, a malicious hand sank the ship." The article led Ben-Gurion's son Amos to physically assault the newspaper's editor.
A bitter debate over the correctness of the operation raged in secret within the Zionist leadership. The decision had been made by an activist faction, without consulting more moderate members according to normal procedure, and this caused serious internal divisions that persisted for many years. The bombing was ordered by ] as ] was away at thetime of the bombing.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Shragai |first1=Nadav |title=Unintended heroes |url=https://www.jns.org/unintended-heroes/ |website=Jewish News Syndicate |access-date=24 December 2023}}</ref> An effort was made to enshrine the incident as an icon of Zionist determination, but this largely failed.<ref name="Chazan"/> As early as 15 December 1945 Isaac Lofven warned a Mapai meeting against trying to ''"sanctify"'' the tragedy.<ref>{{cite news | place = ] | url = http://www.news1.co.il/Archive/003-D-33313-00.html?tag=22-42-26 |script-title=he:היד הזדונית |trans-title=Malicious Hand | newspaper=] |language=he |access-date=4 March 2013}}</ref>


Meanwhile, a bitter debate over the correctness of the operation was raging in secret within the Zionist leadership. The decision had been made by an activist faction, without consulting more moderate members according to normal procedure, and this caused serious internal divisions that persisted for many years. An effort was made to enshrine the incident as an icon of Zionist determination, but this was largely unsuccessful.<ref name="Chazan" /> Some leaders of the Jewish community in Palestine, the ], argued that the loss of life had not been in vain, as the ''Patria's'' survivors were allowed to stay in the country. Others declared that the Haganah had had no right to risk the lives of the immigrants, as they had not decided of their own free will to become participants in the underground Jewish conflict with the British authorities.<ref>Dalia Ofer, "A Dual Perspective: Yaakov Shabtai and the Historian's Account of the Deportation to Mauritius", in Ronit Lentin, ''Re-presenting the Shoah for the Twenty-first Century'', p. 95. Berghahn Books, 2004. ISBN 1571818022</ref> Some leaders of the ] (the Jewish community in Palestine) argued that the loss of life had not been in vain, as ''Patria''{{'}}s survivors had been allowed to stay in the country. Others declared that the Haganah had had no right to risk the lives of the immigrants, as they had not decided of their own free will to become participants in the underground Jewish conflict with the British authorities.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ofer |first=Dalia |editor-last=Lentin |editor-first=Ronit |editor-link=Ronit Lentin |year=2004 |chapter=A Dual Perspective: Yaakov Shabtai and the Historian's Account of the Deportation to Mauritius |title=Re-presenting the Shoah for the Twenty-first Century |location=New York |publisher=] |isbn=1-57181-802-2 |page=95}}</ref>


The Haganah's role was not publicly revealed and a story was put out that the deportees, out of despair, had sunk the ship themselves (the version recounted, for example, by ]).<ref>{{cite book |last=Koestler |first=Arthur |author-link=Arthur Koestler |year=1983 |orig-year=1949 |title=Promise and Fulfilment – Palestine 1917–1949 |location=London |publisher=] |isbn=0333351525 |page=60}}</ref> For years Britain believed the Irgun was probably responsible.
The Haganah's role was finally publicly disclosed in 1957 when Munia Mandor, the Haganah operative who had planted the bomb, wrote an account of his activities with the Haganah.<ref>Kameel B. Nasr, ''Arab and Israeli Terrorism'', p. 22. McFarland & Company, 1997. ISBN 0786402806</ref>


The Haganah's role was finally publicly disclosed in 1957 when Munya Mardor, the operative who had planted the bomb, wrote an account of his activities in the Jewish underground. He recounted, ''"There was never any intent to cause the ship to sink. The British would have used this against the Jewish population and show it as an act of sabotage against the war effort"''.<ref name = "feld">{{cite news | last= Feld | first= Eva | place = IL |date=August 2001 | title = The Story of the S/S Patria |url= http://www.jewishmag.co.il/46mag/patria/patria.htm | newspaper = Jewish Magazine}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Nasr |first= Kameel B |year= 1997 |title= Arab and Israeli Terrorism |location= Jefferson, NC |publisher= ] |isbn= 0-7864-0280-6 |page= |url= https://archive.org/details/arabisraeliterro0000nasr/page/22 }}</ref> He said that it was in the highest interest of the Haganah to fight the sanctions of the British ], and the primary objective was to avoid casualties.<ref name = "feld" /> The British estimated 267 people were killed,<ref name=Perl/> but neither the Jewish Agency nor the Haganah could establish how many people escaped the sinking and how many had died.<ref name="feld" />
⚫ ==References==
⚫ {{reflist}}


Munya Mardor continued to work at the port in order to remove suspicion from himself.<ref name = "feld" /> The Haganah also put up an investigative body to find out why such a relatively small amount of explosives could create such a large hole in the ship. The Haganah investigators concluded that the boat's superstructure was in poor condition, and therefore unable to withstand the pressure of the explosion.<ref name = "feld" />
⚫ ==Other sources==

* B. Wasserstein, ''Britain and the Jews of Europe''.
Rudolf Hirsch, a Jewish-German writer who had emigrated to Palestine in 1939, was a close associate of ] there, and later remigrated with Zweig to ], published a novel about the incident, ''Patria Israel'',<ref>{{cite book |last=Hirsch |first=Rudolf |year=1983 |title=Patria Israel |location=Rudolstadt | publisher =Greifenverlag |isbn=3-7352-0071-0}}</ref> in which he also explicitly refers to Mardor's account.
⚫ * 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.
*
* "", by Eva Feld. Some quotations from relevant memoirs.
*


==See also== ==See also==
* '']'' * ]
* {{SS|Exodus}}
⚫ * '']''
* {{SS|Ocean Vigour}}
⚫ * ]
* ] (1882–1958) was allegedly implicated in the Patria affair

⚫ ==References==
⚫ {{reflist|30em}}

⚫ ==Other sources==
*{{cite book |last=Wasserstein |first=B |year=1979 |title=Britain and the Jews of Europe 1939–45 |location=Oxford |publisher=] |isbn=0198226004 |pages=not cited}}
⚫ *{{cite journal |last=Ofer |first=Dalia |year=1984 |title=The Rescue of European Jewry and Illegal Immigration to Palestine in 1940. Prospects and Reality: Berthold Storfer and the Mossad le'Aliyah Bet |journal=Modern Judaism |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=159–181 |doi=10.1093/mj/4.2.159}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.messageries-maritimes.org/patria.htm |last=Ramona |first=Philippe |title=Le Patria |work=L'Encyclopedie des Messageries Maritimes |publisher=Philippe Ramona |language=fr}}


==Further reading== ==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Friedmann |first=Ronald |year=1998 |title=Exil auf Mauritius 1940 bis 1945. Report einer "demokratischen" Deportation jüdischer Flüchtlinge |location=Berlin |publisher=Edition Ost |isbn=3-932180-29-1 |language=de |pages=not cited}}
* ] - ''Exodus 1947: The Ship that Launched a Nation'' (1999) ISBN 0-8129-3154-8
*{{cite book |last=Gruber |first=Ruth |author-link=Ruth Gruber |year=1999 |title=Exodus 1947: The Ship that Launched a Nation |location=New York |publisher=] |isbn=0-8129-3154-8 |pages=not cited}}
* David C. Holly - ''Exodus 1947'' (1995) ISBN 1-55750-367-2
*{{cite book |last=Holly |first=David C |year=1995 |title=Exodus 1947 |location=Annapolis, MD |publisher=] |isbn=1-55750-367-2 |pages=not cited}}
* Gershon Erich Steiner - ''Story of the Patria'' (1982) ISBN 0-8052-5036-0
*{{cite book |last=Mardor |first=Munya M. |year=1964 |title=Strictly Illegal |location=London|publisher=Robert Hale}}
*{{cite book |last=Steiner |first=Gershon Erich |year=1982 |title=Story of the Patria |location=Washington, DC |publisher=] |isbn=0-8052-5036-0}}


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Latest revision as of 01:56, 12 December 2024

1940 ship bombing in Haifa, Mandatory Palestine

SS Patria sinking in Haifa port

The Patria disaster was the sinking on 25 November 1940 by the Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah of a French-built ocean liner, the 11,885-ton SS Patria, in the port of Haifa.

Patria was about to depart with about 1,800 Jewish refugees whom the British authorities were deporting to Mauritius. Zionist organizations opposed the deportation, and the underground paramilitary Haganah group planted a bomb intended to disable the ship to prevent it from leaving Haifa.

The Haganah claims to have miscalculated the effects of the explosion. The bomb blew the steel frame off one full side of the ship and the ship sank in less than 16 minutes, trapping hundreds in the hold, killing 267 people and injuring 172. The British allowed the survivors to remain in Palestine on humanitarian grounds.

Who was responsible and the true reason why Patria sank remained controversial until 1957, when Munya Mardor, the person who planted the bomb, published a book about his experiences.

Background

Before the government of Nazi Germany decided in 1941 to exterminate all Jews in Europe, its policy allowed the reduction of Jewish numbers in Europe by emigration. Jewish organizations, both mainstream and dissident, ran operations that tried to bring Jews from Europe to Palestine in violation of the immigration rules applied by the British government.

This required cooperation with the Nazi authorities, who saw the opportunity to make trouble for Britain as well as to get rid of Jews. The Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung (Central Office for Jewish Emigration or ZjA) worked under the supervision of Adolf Eichmann, organizing Jewish emigration from the Nazi-controlled parts of Europe. In September 1940 the ZjA chartered three ships, SS Pacific, SS Milos and SS Atlantic, to take Jewish refugees from the Romanian port of Tulcea to Palestine. Their passengers consisted of about 3,600 refugees from the Jewish communities of Vienna, Danzig and Prague.

Pacific reached Palestinian waters on 1 November, followed by Milos a few days later. The Royal Navy intercepted the ships and escorted them to the port of Haifa. Warned in advance of the ships' arrival, the British Colonial Office was determined to refuse entry to the immigrants. With the security situation in the region improving following British successes in the Western Desert Campaign, the Colonial Office decided it was less risky to provoke Jewish anger than to risk an Arab revolt, and that an example would be made to dissuade other potential immigrants from making the attempt.

The British High Commissioner for Palestine, Sir Harold MacMichael, issued a deportation order on 20 November, ordering that the refugees be taken to the British Indian Ocean territory of Mauritius and the Caribbean territory of Trinidad.

The refugees were transferred to another ship, SS Patria, for the voyage to Mauritius. Patria was an 11,885-ton ocean liner dating from 1913 that the French company Messageries Maritimes ran between Marseille and the Levant. She had reached the Port of Haifa shortly before Italy declared war on France and Britain, and then remained in port for safety. After the French surrender to Nazi Germany the British authorities in Haifa first detained Patria and then seized her for use as a troop ship. As a civilian liner she was permitted to carry 805 people including her crew, but after being requisitioned she was authorised to carry 1,800 troops (excluding the crew). She still only had enough lifeboats for the original 805 passengers and crew, so these were supplemented with liferafts.

The refugees from Pacific and Milos were soon transferred to Patria. Atlantic arrived on 24 November and the transfer of eight hundred of its 1,645 passengers began.

Bombing

Graves of some of the victims of the sinking

Meanwhile, Zionist organizations were considering how to thwart the deportation plan. A general strike had little effect. The Irgun tried unsuccessfully to place a bomb on Patria to disable her. The Haganah also sought to disable Patria, with the intention of forcing her to stay in port for repairs and thus gaining time to press the British to rescind the deportation order. The Haganah officer in charge of the operation was Yitzhak Sadeh, authorised by Moshe Sharett, who led the Political Department of the Jewish Agency in the temporary absence of David Ben-Gurion, who had left for the United States on 22 September and did not return until 13 February 1941.

On 22 November Haganah agents smuggled a 2-kilogram (4.4 lb) bomb aboard the ship, timed to explode at 9 p.m. that day. It failed, so a second, more powerful bomb was smuggled aboard on 24 November and hidden next to the ship's inner hull. At 9 a.m. on 25 November, it exploded. The Haganah had miscalculated the effect of the charge and it blew a large hole measuring 3 by 2 metres (9.8 ft × 6.6 ft) in the ship's side, sinking her in only 16 minutes.

When the bomb exploded, Patria was carrying 1,770 refugees transferred from Pacific and Milos and had taken on board 134 passengers from Atlantic. Most were rescued by British and Arab boats that rushed to the scene. However, 267 people were declared missing – over 200 Jewish refugees plus 50 crew and British soldiers – and another 172 were injured. Many of the dead were trapped in Patria's hold and were unable to escape as she rolled on her side and sank. 209 bodies were eventually recovered and buried in Haifa.

Aftermath

The surviving refugees from Patria, together with the remaining 1,560 passengers of Atlantic, were taken to the Atlit detainee camp. Later, after an international campaign, the survivors of Patria were given permits to stay in Palestine. However, the other Atlantic passengers were deported to Mauritius on 9 December. After the war they were given the choice of where to go; 81% chose Palestine and arrived there in August 1945.

In December 1945 Ha-Po'el ha-Tza'ir ("Young Worker") a Mapai party newspaper, commented "On one bitter and impetuous day, a malicious hand sank the ship". The comment was written by the deputy editor, Israel Cohen, who did not know that all of the people responsible were Mapai leaders. Angered by the newspaper's comments, some Haganah leaders sent Ben-Gurion's son Amos to the newspaper office where he slapped the editor, Isaac Lofven, across the face.

A nameplate preserved from Patria

A bitter debate over the correctness of the operation raged in secret within the Zionist leadership. The decision had been made by an activist faction, without consulting more moderate members according to normal procedure, and this caused serious internal divisions that persisted for many years. The bombing was ordered by Moshe Sharett as David Ben-Gurion was away at thetime of the bombing. An effort was made to enshrine the incident as an icon of Zionist determination, but this largely failed. As early as 15 December 1945 Isaac Lofven warned a Mapai meeting against trying to "sanctify" the tragedy.

Some leaders of the Yishuv (the Jewish community in Palestine) argued that the loss of life had not been in vain, as Patria's survivors had been allowed to stay in the country. Others declared that the Haganah had had no right to risk the lives of the immigrants, as they had not decided of their own free will to become participants in the underground Jewish conflict with the British authorities.

The Haganah's role was not publicly revealed and a story was put out that the deportees, out of despair, had sunk the ship themselves (the version recounted, for example, by Arthur Koestler). For years Britain believed the Irgun was probably responsible.

The Haganah's role was finally publicly disclosed in 1957 when Munya Mardor, the operative who had planted the bomb, wrote an account of his activities in the Jewish underground. He recounted, "There was never any intent to cause the ship to sink. The British would have used this against the Jewish population and show it as an act of sabotage against the war effort". He said that it was in the highest interest of the Haganah to fight the sanctions of the British White Paper of 1939, and the primary objective was to avoid casualties. The British estimated 267 people were killed, but neither the Jewish Agency nor the Haganah could establish how many people escaped the sinking and how many had died.

Munya Mardor continued to work at the port in order to remove suspicion from himself. The Haganah also put up an investigative body to find out why such a relatively small amount of explosives could create such a large hole in the ship. The Haganah investigators concluded that the boat's superstructure was in poor condition, and therefore unable to withstand the pressure of the explosion.

Rudolf Hirsch, a Jewish-German writer who had emigrated to Palestine in 1939, was a close associate of Arnold Zweig there, and later remigrated with Zweig to East Germany, published a novel about the incident, Patria Israel, in which he also explicitly refers to Mardor's account.

See also

References

  1. "Deaths of 260 in 1940 ship explosion commemorated". JWeekly.com. San Francisco Jewish Community Publications Inc. 14 December 2001.
  2. Mardor, Munya Meir (1970) . Shelihut Alumah: Pirke Mivtsaim Meyuhadim Be-Maarkhot Ha-Haganah (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Tseva haganah le-Yisrael, Hotsaat Maarakhot: Misrad ha-bitahon.
  3. Saul Friedländer (2008). The Years of Extermination—Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939–1945. Harper-Collins. p. 286.
  4. Bauer, Yehuda (1981). American Jewry and the Holocaust. Wayne State University Press. pp. 143–144. ISBN 0-8143-1672-7.
  5. ^ Pitot, Geneviève (2000). The Mauritian Shekel: The Story of Jewish Detainees in Mauritius, 1940–1945. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 83. ISBN 0-7425-0855-2.
  6. Bell, J. Bowyer (1996). Terror Out of Zion: The Fight for Israeli Independence. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers. p. 53. ISBN 1-56000-870-9.
  7. Friling, Tuvia (2005). Arrows in the Dark: David Ben-Gurion, the Yishuv leadership, and Rescue Attempts During the Holocaust. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 40, 44. ISBN 978-0-299-17550-4.
  8. Penkower, Monty Noam (2002). Decision on Palestine Deferred: America, Britain and Wartime Diplomacy. London: Routledge. pp. 55–59. ISBN 0-7146-5268-7.
  9. Stein, Leslie (2003). The Hope Fulfilled: The Rise of Modern Israel. Westport, CN: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 227–228. ISBN 0-275-97141-4.
  10. ^ Chazan, Meir (2003). "The Patria Affair: Moderates vs. Activists in Mapai in the 1940s". Journal of Israeli History. 22 (2): 61–95. doi:10.1080/13531040312331287644. S2CID 155043034.
  11. "Deaths of 260 in 1940 ship explosion commemorated". JWeekly.com. San Francisco Jewish Community Publications Inc. 14 December 2001.
  12. Ofer, Dalia (1990). Escaping the Holocaust: Illegal Immigration to the Land of Israel, 1939–1944. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 35. ISBN 0-19-506340-6.
  13. ^ Perl, William R. (1979). The Four-front War: From the Holocaust to the Promised Land. New York: Crown Publishing Group. p. 250. ISBN 0-517-53837-7.
  14. Shragai, Nadav. "Unintended heroes". Jewish News Syndicate. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  15. היד הזדונית [Malicious Hand]. News1 (in Hebrew). IL. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
  16. Ofer, Dalia (2004). "A Dual Perspective: Yaakov Shabtai and the Historian's Account of the Deportation to Mauritius". In Lentin, Ronit (ed.). Re-presenting the Shoah for the Twenty-first Century. New York: Berghahn Books. p. 95. ISBN 1-57181-802-2.
  17. Koestler, Arthur (1983) . Promise and Fulfilment – Palestine 1917–1949. London: Macmillan Publishers. p. 60. ISBN 0333351525.
  18. ^ Feld, Eva (August 2001). "The Story of the S/S Patria". Jewish Magazine. IL.
  19. Nasr, Kameel B (1997). Arab and Israeli Terrorism. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. p. 22. ISBN 0-7864-0280-6.
  20. Hirsch, Rudolf (1983). Patria Israel. Rudolstadt: Greifenverlag. ISBN 3-7352-0071-0.

Other sources

  • Wasserstein, B (1979). Britain and the Jews of Europe 1939–45. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. not cited. ISBN 0198226004.
  • Ofer, Dalia (1984). "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. 4 (2): 159–181. doi:10.1093/mj/4.2.159.
  • Ramona, Philippe. "Le Patria". L'Encyclopedie des Messageries Maritimes (in French). Philippe Ramona.

Further reading

Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in November 1940
Shipwrecks
Other incidents
1939 1940 1941
October 1940 December 1940

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