Aliyah Bet

{{Short description|Illegal immigration by Jews to Mandatory Palestine in the 1930s and 1940s}} {{pp-extended|small=yes}} {{italic title}} {{Distinguish|Second Aliyah}} {{Aliyah}}

'''''Aliyah Bet''''' ({{langx|he|עלייה ב׳}}, "Aliyah 'B{{'-}}" &ndash; bet being the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet) was the code name given to illegal immigration by Jews, many of whom were refugees escaping from Nazi Germany or other Nazi-controlled countries,<ref name="Aliyah-Bet">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2020 |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/aliyah-bet |title=Aliyah Bet |encyclopedia=Holocaust Encyclopedia |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |location=Washington, D.C. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613211919/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/aliyah-bet |archive-date=13 June 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=12 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |year=2020 |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/german-jewish-refugees-1933-1939 |title=German Jewish Refugees, 1933–1939 |encyclopedia=Holocaust Encyclopedia |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |location=Washington, D.C. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614022420/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/german-jewish-refugees-1933-1939 |archive-date=14 June 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=12 October 2020}}</ref> and later Holocaust survivors,<ref name="Aliyah-Bet"/><ref name="Aftermath">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2020 |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-aftermath-of-the-holocaust |title=The Aftermath of the Holocaust |encyclopedia=Holocaust Encyclopedia |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |location=Washington, D.C. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613204309/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-aftermath-of-the-holocaust |archive-date=13 June 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=13 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |year=2020 |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/postwar-refugee-crisis-and-the-establishment-of-the-state-of-israel |title=Postwar Refugee Crisis and the Establishment of the State of Israel |encyclopedia=Holocaust Encyclopedia |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |location=Washington, D.C. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613204445/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/postwar-refugee-crisis-and-the-establishment-of-the-state-of-israel |archive-date=13 June 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=12 October 2020}}</ref> to Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and 1948,<ref name="Aliyah-Bet"/> in violation of the restrictions laid out in the British White Paper of 1939, which dramatically increased between 1939 and 1948.<ref name="Aftermath"/> With the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948, Jewish displaced persons and refugees from Europe began streaming into the new state in the midst of the 1948 Palestine war.<ref name="Aftermath"/>

In modern-day Israel, it has also been called by the Hebrew term '''''Ha'apala''''' ({{langx|he|הַעְפָּלָה|link=no}}, "Ascension"). Those who underwent Ha'apala are known as '''''Ma'apilim'''.'' The ''Aliyah Bet'' is distinguished from the ''Aliyah Aleph'' ("Aliyah 'A{{'-}}", Aleph being the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet) which refers to the limited Jewish immigration permitted by British authorities during the same period. The name ''Aliya B'' is also shortened for ''Aliya Bilti Legalit'' ({{langx|he|עלייה בלתי־לגאלית||illegal immigration|link=no}}).

==Organization== {{Main|Aftermath of the Holocaust|History of the Jews during World War II|The Holocaust}} {{Further|Anti-Jewish violence in Central and Eastern Europe, 1944–1946|Antisemitism in Europe|Consequences of Nazism|Holocaust survivors|Jews escaping from German-occupied Europe|Relations between Nazi Germany and the Arab world}} [[File:Holocaustdeathtoll%.png|thumb|right|230px|Holocaust death toll as a percentage of the total pre-war Jewish population in Europe]]

During ''Ha'apala'', several emissaries from the Yishuv, Jewish partisans, the Jewish Brigade of the British Army, Zionist youth movements and organizations worked together to facilitate the immigration of Jews escaping from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine beyond the established "White Paper" quotas.<ref name="Aliyah-Bet"/><ref name="Aftermath"/> As the persecution of Jews dramatically intensified in German-occupied Europe during the Nazi era, the urgency driving the immigration also became more acute.<ref name="Aliyah-Bet"/><ref name="Aftermath"/>

''Ha'apala'' occurred in two phases. The first one, from 1934 to 1942, was an effort to enable European Jews to escape Nazi persecution and genocide. The second one, from 1945 to 1948, in a stage known as ''Bricha'' ("flight" or "escape"),<ref name="Aftermath"/> was an effort to find homes for Jewish survivors of the Nazi crimes (''Sh'erit ha-Pletah'', "Surviving Remnant")<ref name="Aftermath"/> who were among the millions of displaced persons ("DPs") languishing in refugee camps scattered across post-war Europe,<ref name="Aliyah-Bet"/><ref name="Aftermath"/> primarily located in Allied-occupied Germany and Austria, and Italy."<ref name="Aliyah-Bet"/><ref name="Aftermath"/>

During the first phase, several Zionist organizations (including Revisionists) led the effort; after World War II, the Mossad LeAliyah Bet ("the Institute for Aliyah B"), an arm of the Haganah, took charge. The Palyam, a maritime branch of the Palmach, was given responsibility for commanding and sailing ships from Europe to Mandatory Palestine.

==Routes== Post-World War II, ''Ha'apala'' journeys typically started in the DP camps and moved through one of two collection points in the American occupation sector, Bad Reichenhall and Leipheim. From there, the refugees travelled in disguised trucks, on foot, or by train to ports on the Mediterranean Sea, where ships brought them to Palestine. Most of the ships had names such as ''Lo Tafchidunu'' ("You can't frighten us") and ''La-Nitzahon'' ("To the victory") designed to inspire and rally the Jews of Palestine. Some were named after prominent figures in the Zionist movement, and people who had been killed while supporting Aliyah Bet.<ref>{{cite book|last=Halamish|first=Aviva|title=The Exodus affair: Holocaust survivors and the struggle for Palestine|year=1998|edition=1st|publisher=Syracuse University Press|location=Syracuse, NY|isbn=978-0-8156-0516-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/exodusaffairholo00hala/page/68 68]|url=https://archive.org/details/exodusaffairholo00hala/page/68}}</ref> More than 70,000 Jews arrived in Palestine on more than 100 ships.<ref name=Reich>{{cite book|last=Reich|first=Bernard|title=A Brief History of Israel|location=New York|publisher=Checkmark Books|isbn=978-0-8160-5793-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryofis00bern_0/page/39 39–40]|url=https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryofis00bern_0/page/39|year=2005}}</ref> thumb|400px|The journey of Aliyah Bet Group 14

American sector camps imposed no restrictions on the movements out of the camps, and American, French, and Italian officials often turned a blind eye to the movements. Several UNRRA officials (in particular Elizabeth Robertson in Leipheim) acted as facilitators of the emigration. The British government vehemently opposed the movement, and restricted movement in and out of their camps. The British set up naval patrols to prevent immigrants from landing in Palestine.

==History== [[File:PikiWiki Israel 5694 immigrants from poland.jpg|thumb|250px|''Olim'' from Poland aboard the SS Polonia, c. 1937]] Over 100,000 people attempted to illegally enter Mandatory Palestine. There were 142 voyages by 120 ships. Over half were stopped by the British patrols. The Royal Navy had eight ships on station in Palestine, and additional ships were tasked with tracking suspicious vessels heading for Palestine. Most of the intercepted immigrants were sent to internment camps in Cyprus: (Karaolos near Famagusta, Nicosia, Dhekelia, and Xylotymbou. Some were sent to the Atlit detention camp in Palestine, and some to Mauritius. The British held as many as 50,000 people in these camps (see Jews in British camps on Cyprus). Over 1,600 drowned at sea. Only a few thousand actually entered Palestine.

The pivotal event in ''Ha'apala'' program was the {{SS|Exodus||2}} incident in 1947. ''Exodus'' was intercepted and boarded by a Royal Navy patrol. Despite significant resistance, passengers from ''Exodus'' were forcibly returned to Europe, and eventually put in camps in Germany. This was publicized, to the great embarrassment of the British government.

One account of Aliyah Bet is given by journalist I. F. Stone in his 1946 book ''Underground to Palestine,'' a first-person account of traveling from Europe with displaced persons attempting to reach the Jewish homeland.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/the-first-draft-of-israeli-history/article1149079|last=MacArthur|first=John R.|title=The first draft of Israeli history|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=22 May 2009}}</ref>

More than 300 volunteers, most of them American World War II veterans, including Murray Greenfield (of the ship ''HaTikva''), volunteered to sail ten ships ("The Jews' Secret Fleet") from the United States to Europe to load 35,000 survivors of the Holocaust (half of the illegal immigrants to Palestine), only to be deported to detention camps on Cyprus. {{Clear}}

==Timeline== ===Before World War II=== thumb|SS ''Parita'' aground off Tel Aviv, August 1939 thumb|SS ''Tiger Hill'' aground off Haifa, September 1, 1939 * In 1934, the first attempt to bring in a large number of illegal immigrants by sea happened when some 350 Jews sailed on the ''Vallos'', a chartered ship, without the permission of the Jewish Agency, who feared illegal immigration would cause the British to restrict legal immigration. She arrived off the coast of Palestine on 25 August, and the passengers disembarked with the help of the Haganah, which received special permission to assist them. * On 29 July 1939, the '' Colorado'', flying under the Panamanian flag and carrying 378 Jewish refugees from Europe was intercepted by the British; the illegal immigrants were arrested and taken into Haifa.<ref name=FRUS1096>{{cite book |author1=Office of the Historian, United States Department of State |author-link1=Office of the Historian |editor1-last=Axton |editor1-first=Matilda F. |editor2-last=Churchill |editor2-first=Rogers P. |display-editors=etal|title=Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1939, The Far East; The Near East and Africa. Volume IV |date=1955 |publisher=Government Printing Office |location=Washington D.C. |chapter-url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1939v04/d847 |chapter=Document No. 847. The Consul at Jerusalem (Steger) to the Secretary of State. September 21, 1939}}</ref> * On 19 August, the ''Aghios Nicolaus'', a Greek owned ship, transferred 840 immigrants to smaller vessels off the coast and sent them to shore.<ref name=FRUS1096/> * On 23 August, the ''Parita'', carrying some 700 refugees on board, was deliberately beached at Tel Aviv by the passengers, the captain and crew having fled in a small boat.<ref name=FRUS1096 />

===During World War II=== thumb|right|250px|''Tiger Hill'' Memorial at Frishman Beach thumb|299px|SS ''Patria'' sinking in Haifa port

* On 2 September, the ''Tiger Hill'', a 1,499-ton ship built in 1887, was intercepted and fired on by Royal Navy gunboats off Tel Aviv, killing two passengers (Dr Robert Schneider and Zvi Binder); the ship HMCS ''Belleville'' beached on the shore with 1,205 immigrants on board; the ''Tiger Hill'' had sailed from Constanţa, Romania, on 3 August 1939, with about 750 immigrants on board and had taken on board the passengers from the ''Frossoula'', another illegal immigrant ship that was marooned in Lebanon.<ref name=FRUS1096 /><ref name="Holmes">{{cite book |last1=Holmes |first1=Colin |title=John Bull's Island: Immigration and British Society, 1871-1971 |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-138-93849-6 |page=184}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Gilbert|first1=Martin|author-link1=Martin Gilbert|editor1-last=Marrus|editor1-first=Michael|title=The Nazi Holocaust. Part 8: Bystanders to the Holocaust|publisher=Meckler Ltd.|location=London|isbn=978-0-88736-263-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/bystanderstoholo0000unse/page/388 388]|volume=1|chapter=British Government Policy towards Jewish Refugees (November 1938-September 1939)|year=1989|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/bystanderstoholo0000unse/page/388}}</ref><ref name=Ziedenberg>{{cite book|last1=Ziedenberg|first1=Gerald|title=Blockade: The Story of Jewish Immigration to Palestine 1933-1948|date=2011|publisher=Author House|isbn=978-1-4670-4495-0|pages=29–30}}</ref> * On 16 September, the ''Rudnitchan'' transferred 364 Jewish refugees into five lifeboats outside the territorial waters of the Mandate and sent them ashore as illegal immigrants.<ref name=FRUS1096 /> * On 19 September, the '' Noemi Julia'', sailing from Sulina in Romania with 1,130 Jewish refugees from Europe on board was intercepted in the Mediterranean by a British warship and forced to Haifa port; fearing that they would be sent back, the illegal immigrants engaged in passive resistance; the British authorities brought them ashore and held them in a detention camp; they were released a month later.<ref name=FRUS1096 /><ref name=Ziedenberg /> * On 24–25 November 1939, a large group of immigrants traveled by train from Vienna to Bratislava and about 2 weeks later sailed from there on the riverboat ''Uranus'' down the Danube. At the Romanian border, the three smaller riverboats to which they had been transferred on December 14 on entering Yugoslavia were intercepted and the immigrants were forced to disembark at the old fortress town of Kladovo.<ref>Dalia Ofer and Hana Weiner (1996) ''Dead-End Journey: The Tragic Story of the Kladovo-Sabac Group'', (Lanham, MD: University Press of America) 1996, pp. 29–34.</ref> About 1,100 refugees were stranded there and came to be known as the Kladovo-Sabac Group. In May 1941, they were still in Yugoslavia, where 915 of them were caught and eventually killed by the invading Nazis. The 800 men were shot by Nazi soldiers in a farmer's field at Zasavica; after the war, the remains of the men were re-interred in a mass grave in the Belgrade Sephardi Cemetery. The women and children were imprisoned in the Sajmiste concentration camp where they perished from hunger, disease, exposure to the bitter cold winter weather, or gassed to death in a mobile gas truck. * On 18 May 1940 the old Italian paddle steamer ''Pencho'' sailed from Bratislava, with 514 passengers, mostly Betar members. The ''Pencho'' sailed down the Danube to the Black Sea and into the Aegean Sea. On 9 October, her engines failed and she was wrecked off Mytilene, in the Italian-ruled Dodecanese Islands. The Italians rescued the passengers and took them to Rhodes. All but two were then placed in an internment camp at Ferramonti di Tarsia in southern Italy. They were held there until Allied forces liberated the area in September 1943.<ref name="Pentcho">{{cite book|last1=Bierman|first1=John|title=Odyssey|date=1984|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-671-50156-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/odyssey00bier}}</ref> * In October 1940, a large group of refugees were allowed to leave Vienna. The exodus was organized by Berthold Storfer, a Jewish businessman who worked under Adolf Eichmann. They took four river boats, ''Uranus'', ''Schönbrunn'', ''Helios'', and ''Melk'', down the Danube to Romania, where the ''Uranus'' passengers, about 1,000, boarded the {{SS|Pacific|1880|2}}, and sailed on 11 October 1940. They arrived at Haifa on 1 November, followed by the {{SS|Milos|1878|2}} a few days later. The British transferred all the immigrants to the French liner {{SS|Patria|1913|6}} to take them for internment to Mauritius. To stop the ''Patria'' from sailing, the Haganah smuggled a bomb aboard. The explosion holed her side, capsizing her and killing around 260 people. The British, by order of Winston Churchill, allowed the survivors to remain in Palestine.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|last=Wasserstein|first=B.|year=1979|title=Britain and the Jews of Europe 1939–45|location=Oxford|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=978-0-19-822600-0|pages=not cited}}</ref> * In December 1940 the ''Salvador'', a small Bulgarian schooner formerly named ''Tsar Krum'', left Burgas with 327 refugees. On December 12 the ''Salvador'' was wrecked in a violent storm in the Sea of Marmara, near Istanbul. 223 persons, including 66 children, lost their lives. The survivors were taken to Istanbul. 125 survivors were deported back to Bulgaria, and the remaining 70 left on the ''Darien'' (No. 66).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.erezlauferfilms.com/index.php?go=film&id=darien|title=The Darien Dilemma|publisher=Erez Laufer Films|access-date=9 April 2018}}</ref> * On 11 December 1941, the {{MV|Struma||2}} sailed from Constanţa carrying between 760 and 790 refugees. Three days later she reached Istanbul, where Turkey detained her and her passengers for 10 weeks. On 23 February 1942, Turkish authorities towed her back into the Black Sea and cast her adrift. Early the next day the {{Ship|Soviet submarine|Shch-213||2|up=yes}} torpedoed and sank her. Between 767 and 791 people were killed, and there was only one survivor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/holocaust/0140_Struma.html#P9|last=Aroni|first=Samuel|title=Who Perished On The Struma And How Many?|year=2007|publisher=JewishGen.org|access-date=9 April 2018}}</ref> * On 20 September 1942, the ''Europa'' sailed from Romania with 21 passengers. She was wrecked in the Bosphorus. * On 21 April 1944, the ''Belasitza'' sailed from Romania with 273 passengers including 120 children, who went from Istanbul to Palestine by sealed train. * On 5 August 1944, ''Bulbul'', {{MV|Mefküre||2}} and ''Morino'' sailed from Constanţa carrying about 1,000 refugees between them. In the night the Soviet submarine {{Ship|Soviet submarine|Shch-215||2}} sank ''Mefküre'' by torpedo and shellfire, and then machine-gunned survivors in the water.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://flot.sevastopol.info/ship/podlodki/shya215.htm|script-title=ru:Подводная лодка "Щ-215"|work=Черноморский Флот информационный ресурс|language=ru|date=2013|access-date=27 March 2013}}</ref> Between 289 and 394 refugees plus seven crew were aboard ''Mefküre''; only the crew and five refugees survived. ''Bulbul'' rescued the few survivors and took them to Turkey.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wertheimer.info/family/GRAMPS/Haapalah/plc/2/7/bea98dbf1dc6d1a1772.html|title=מפקורה SS Mefküre Mafkura Mefkura|work=Haapalah/Aliyah Bet|date=27 September 2011|access-date=26 March 2013}}</ref>

===After VE Day === [[File:Buchenwald concentration camp survivors sailing to Haifa, June 1945.jpg|thumb|150px|Yisrael Meir Lau (aged 8) and Elazar Schiff, survivors of Buchenwald concentration camp, arrive at Haifa, July 1945]]

* On 28 August 1945 the Italian fishing vessel ''Dalin'', made in Monopoli, carrying 35 immigrants, landed at Caesarea Maritima, disembarked its passengers, and returned to Italy.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 4 September 1945, the ''Natan'', carrying 79 immigrants, landed in Palestine, carrying seamen and radio operators from the Palmach and Jewish Agency emissaries on the return trip to Italy. On October 1, 1945, the ''Natan'' again ran the blockade arrived at Shefayim with 73 immigrants.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 9 September 1945, the ''Gabriela'', carrying 40 passengers, arrived undetected in Palestine.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 17 September 1945, the ''Peter'', carrying 168 immigrants, landed in Palestine undetected by the British. She again slipped into Palestine undetected and arrived at Shefayim on 22 October, this time carrying 174 passengers.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 23 November 1945, the ''Berl Katznelson'', carrying 220 Jewish refugees, arrived in Shefayim. As the ship was landing immigrants she was intercepted by the Royal Navy sloop {{HMS|Peacock|U96|6}}. Of the passengers, 200 reached the beach and escaped, and 20 were arrested.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 14 December 1945, the ship ''Hannah Senesh'', carrying 252 passengers, was beached at Nahariya in Palestine after evading Royal Navy patrols. The passengers were brought ashore via a rope bridge, and evaded capture.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 17 January 1946, the ''Enzo Sereni'',{{Ref|Named after Enzo Sereni}} carrying 908 passengers, was intercepted by the destroyer {{HMS|Talybont|L18|6}} and escorted to Haifa.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 25 March 1946 the schooner ''Wingate''{{ref|Named after Ord Charles Wingate}}, carrying 248 passengers, ran the blockade and attempted to land. The Imperial British Palestine Police Force opened fire from the shore, killing Bracha Fuld, a female Palmach member. The ship was captured and escorted to Haifa by the destroyer {{HMS|Chevron|R51|6}}.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 27 March 1946 the steamer ''Tel Hai'', carrying 736 passengers, was intercepted by the destroyer {{HMS|Chequers|R61|6}} 140 miles out at sea as it approached Palestine.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 13 May 1946, the ''Max Nordau'', carrying 1,754 immigrants, was captured by the destroyers {{HMS|Jervis|F00|6}} and HMS ''Chequers''. The same day, the ships ''Dov Hos'' (675 passengers) and ''Eliahu Golomb'' (735 passengers) arrived in Palestine legally. The British had blockaded the ''Dov Hos'' after it had arrived in La Spezia, but the passengers responded with a hunger strike and a threat to blow her up, compelling the British to give them entry permits.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 8 June 1946, the ''Haviva Reik'', carrying 462 passengers, was intercepted by {{HMS|Saumarez|G12|6}} on 8 June 1946. Some 150 people had previously transferred from the ''Haviva Reik'' to the ''Rafi'' off the Palestinian coast, and the crew had disembarked. * On 26 June 1946, the ''Josiah Wedgwood'', carrying 1,259 passengers, was intercepted by {{HMS|Venus|R50|6}}. The passengers were sent to the Atlit detainee camp.<ref>{{cite news |title=This Ukrainian City Was Once Home to a Vibrant Jewish Community. Now Its Grand Synagogue Is a Sports Hall |url=https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/2020-10-22/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/this-ukrainian-city-was-once-home-to-a-vibrant-jewish-community/0000017f-f50a-d47e-a37f-fd3e39c70000 |website=Haaretz |language=en}}</ref> * On 20 July 1946, the ''Haganah'', carrying 2,678 passengers, departed from France, and transferred 1,108 of its passengers to the small steamer ''Biriah'' west of Crete. The ''Biriah'' was intercepted by {{HMS|Virago|R75|6}} on 2 July. The ''Haganah'' picked up a new party of refugees at Bakar, Yugoslavia, and set sail for Palestine, this time also carrying 2,678 passengers total. She was found at sea with engines broken down and no electrical power, and was towed to Haifa by HMS ''Venus''. Her passengers were arrested and interned.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}} * On 11 August 1946, the ''Yagur'', carrying 758 passengers, was intercepted by the destroyer {{HMS|Brissenden|L79|6}}, with passive resistance from the immigrants.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 12 August 1946, the ''Henrietta Szold'', carrying 536 passengers, was intercepted. The same day, the British announced that illegal immigrants would be sent to Cyprus and other areas under detention. The first British deportation ship sailed for Cyprus on the same day, with 500 illegal immigrants on board. * On 13 August 1946, two immigration ships were intercepted: ''Katriel Jaffe'' (604 passengers) by HMS ''Talybont'', and ''Twenty Three'' (790 passengers) by HMS ''Brissenden''. There was desperate resistance on board ''Twenty Three''. The same day, two British ships with 1,300 Jewish detainees on board set sail for Cyprus. A crowd of about 1,000 Jews attempted to break into the Haifa port area, and British troops responded with live fire, killing three people and wounding seven.<ref name="silverstone">{{cite web|url=http://www.paulsilverstone.com/immigration/Primary/Aliyah/shiplist2.php|title=Aliyah Bet Project|last=Silverstone|first=Paul H.|publisher=Paul Silverstone|access-date=9 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107011424/http://www.paulsilverstone.com/immigration/Primary/Aliyah/shiplist2.php|archive-date=2009-01-07|url-status=dead}}</ref> * On 16 August 1946, the yawl ''Amiram Shochat'', carrying 183 passengers, evaded the British blockade and landed near Caesarea Maritima.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 2 September 1946, the ''Dov Hos'', this time named the ''Arba Cheruyot'', carrying 1,024 passengers, was seized by the destroyers {{HMS|Childers|R91|6}} and {{HMS|Chivalrous|R21|6}}. The boarding was strongly resisted, and two people drowned after jumping off the ship.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 22 September 1946, the brigantine ''Palmach'', 611 passengers, was seized by the minesweeper {{HMS|Rowena|J384|6}}. The Royal Navy tried to board the ship four times before finally seizing her, and one passenger was killed.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 20 October 1946, the ''Eliahu Golomb'', renamed the ''Braha Fuld'', carrying 806 passengers, was captured off Lebanon by the destroyer {{HMS|Chaplet|R52|6}} and minesweeper {{HMS|Moon|J329|6}}.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 19 October, the ''Latrun'' (1,279 passengers), was intercepted by HMS ''Chivalrous'' and the minesweeper {{HMS|Octavia|J290|6}}. Four people had died ''en route'', and the ship was leaking and listing heavily when she was intercepted.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 9 November 1946, the ''HaKedosha'' (600 passengers), foundered in a gale and sank. The passengers were rescued by the ''Knesset Israel''. The ''Knesset Israel'', carrying a total of 3,845 passengers, was intercepted by the destroyers {{HMS|Haydon|L75|6}} and HMS ''Brissenden'' and minesweepers HMS Octavia and {{HMS|Espiegle|J126|6}} and taken to Haifa. The interception met no resistance, but in Haifa when the British tried to transfer them to transport ships to take them to Cyprus the refugees resisted fiercely, two were killed and 46 injured.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 5 December 1946, the ''Rafiah'' (785 passengers), was wrecked on Syrina Island in bad weather. The survivors were rescued by two Royal Navy and one Greek warship, and were taken to Cyprus. Women and children were taken to Palestine.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 9 February 1947, the wooden brigantine ''Lanegev'' (647 passengers) was captured by {{HMS|Chieftain|R36|6}} after a battle which left one refugee dead.<ref name="silverstone"/>

{{Stack|[[File:Hagana Ship - Jewish State at Haifa Port (1947).jpg|thumb|Haganah ship ''Medinat HaYehudim'' ("Jewish State") in Haifa port, 1947]]thumb|{{SS|Exodus}} arriving at Haifa port, 20 July 1947[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R68235, Naharija, Landung jüdischer Auswanderer.jpg|thumb|''United States'' lands Jewish refugees in Nahariya, 1948]]}}

* On 17 February 1947, the steamer ''HaMapil HaAlmoni'' (807 passengers) was intercepted by {{HMS|St Austell Bay|K634|6}}, captured after a violent battle, and taken in tow by the minesweeper {{HMS|Welfare|J356|6}}.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 27 February 1947, the ''Haim Arlosoroff'', after the name of an assassinated leader of the Jewish Agency (1,378 passengers) was intercepted by Royal Navy destroyer HMS ''Chieftain'', and the passengers put up fierce resistance. The ship ran aground at Bat Galim, south of Haifa, just opposite a British Army camp. The passengers were arrested and deported to Cyprus.<ref name=USCG01>''Unalga'' 1912, Cutters, Craft & U.S. Coast Guard-Manned Army & Navy Vessels, U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office<!-- ISSN/ISBN, page(s) needed, if any --></ref> * On 9 March 1947, the ''Ben Hecht'' (597 passengers), the only ship sponsored by the Irgun, was captured without resistance by the destroyers HMS ''Chieftain'', HMS ''Chevron'' and HMS ''Chivalrous''.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 12 March 1947, the ''Shabtai Luzinsky'' (823 passengers) ran the blockade and beached itself north of Gaza City, where the passengers disembarked, and most escaped a British Army cordon. Hundreds of local residents came down to the beach to mingle with passengers who evaded arrest. Many residents were mistaken for refugees, arrested, and sent to Cyprus, with some 460 locals returned home the following week.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 30 March 1947, the ''Moledet'' (1,588 passengers) developed a list and suffered engine failure some 50 miles outside Palestinian waters and issued an SOS. Passengers were transferred to the destroyers HMS ''Haydon'' and {{HMS|Charity|R29|6}}, minesweeper HMS ''Octavia'' and frigate {{HMS|St Brides Bay|K600|6}}, and the Royal Navy towed ''Moledet'' to Haifa.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 13 April 1947, the ''Theodor Herzl'' (2,641 passengers) was intercepted by HMS ''Haydon'' and HMS ''St Brides Bay''. Passengers resisted heavily; three were killed and 27 were injured.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 23 April 1947, the ''Shear Yashuv'' (768 passengers) was intercepted by destroyer {{HMS|Cheviot|R90|6}}.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 17 May 1947, the ''Hatikva'' (1,414 passengers) was intercepted, rammed and captured by the destroyers HMS ''Venus'' and HMS ''Brissenden''.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 23 May 1947, the immigrant ship ''Mordei Hagetaot'', carrying 1,457 immigrants, was intercepted and boarded by the Royal Navy off southern Palestine. All of its passengers were arrested. * On 31 May 1947, the Haganah ship ''Yehuda Halevy'', carrying 399 immigrants, arrived in Palestine under escort after being intercepted by the Royal Navy. The immigrants were immediately transferred to Cyprus. * On 18 July 1947, the ship {{SS|Exodus}}, carrying 4,515 immigrants, was intercepted by the cruiser {{HMS|Ajax|22|6}} and a flotilla of destroyers. She was rammed and boarded but the immigrants resisted the boarding, and had put up barriers and barbed wire to impede boarding. Two passengers and a crewman were bludgeoned to death, several dozen were injured, and the ship was taken over. The ''Exodus'' was towed to Haifa, where the immigrants were forced onto three deportation ships and taken to France. When the deportation ships docked in Port-de-Bouc, the passengers refused to disembark after the French government announced that it would only allow the immigrants off the ships if they consented. The immigrants were then taken to Germany, forcibly taken off the ships, and sent back to DP camps.<ref>[https://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/this-month/july/1947.html "18 July 1947, British Soldiers Removing Jews from the Exodus in the Port of Haifa"]. Yad Vashem.</ref> * On 28 July 1947, the ''14 Halalei Gesher Haziv'', carrying 685 Eastern European Jews was intercepted by HMS ''Rowena''. The ''Shivat Zion'', carrying 411 North African Jews, was intercepted without resistance by the minesweeper. {{HMS|Providence|J325|6}}.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 27 September 1947, the ''Af Al Pi Chen'' (434 passengers), was intercepted by HMS ''Talybont'' and taken after violent resistance. One person was killed and ten were injured.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 2 October 1947, the ''Medinat HaYehudim'' (2,664 passengers) was intercepted by the Royal Navy. The same day, the ''Geulah'', with 1,385 passengers, was intercepted by HMS ''Chaplet''.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 15 November 1947, the ''Peter'', renamed the ''Aliyah'' and carrying 182 passengers, ran the British blockade and beached near Netanya. The passengers, all specially-picked youths, quickly disembarked and escaped.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 16 November 1947, the ''Kadima'', a larger ship carrying 794 immigrants, was intercepted by the Royal Navy and brought to Haifa, where its passengers were transferred to the British transport ship HMT ''Runnymede Park'' and taken to Cyprus.

===After the UN Partition Resolution=== thumb|250px|Film about Ha'apala after World War II

* On 4 December 1947, the ''HaPortzim'' ran the blockade and landed its 167 passengers at the mouth of the Yarkon River.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 22 December 1947, the ''Lo Tafchidunu'' (884 passengers) was intercepted by {{HMS|Verulam|R28|6}} and taken in tow by the sloop {{HMS|Mermaid|U30|6}}.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 28 December 1947, the ''29 BeNovember'' (680 passengers) was intercepted by HMS ''Chevron''.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 1 January 1948, the ''HaUmot HaMeuhadot'' (537 passengers) ran the blockade and beached herself at Nahariya. 131 passengers were caught, the rest evaded arrest. The same day, the ''Atzma'ut'' (7,612 passengers) and the ''Kibbutz Galuyot'' (7,557 passengers) were intercepted by the cruisers {{HMS|Mauritius|80|6}} and {{HMS|Phoebe|43|6}} and taken to Cyprus.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 31 January 1948, the ''35 Giborei Kfar Etzion'' (280 passengers) was intercepted by HMS ''Childers''.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 12 February 1948, the ''Yerushalayim Hanezura'' (679 passengers) was intercepted by HMS ''Cheviot''.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 20 February 1948, the ''Lekommemiyut'' (696 passengers) was intercepted by HMS ''Childers''.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 28 February 1948, the ''Bonim v'Lochamim'' formerly the ''Enzo Sereni'', (982 passengers) was intercepted off Cape Carmel by HMS ''Venus'' .<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 29 March 1948, the ''Yehiam'' (771 passengers) was intercepted by the destroyer HMS ''Verulam''.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 12 April 1948, the ''Tirat Zvi'' (817 passengers) was intercepted by HMS ''Virago''.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 24 April 1948, the ''Mishmar HaEmek'' (782 passengers) was intercepted by HMS ''Chevron'' off Haifa.<ref name="silverstone"/> * On 26 April 1948, the ''Nakhson'' (553 passengers) was intercepted off Haifa by the sloop {{HMS|Pelican|L86|6}} after fierce resistance which left a number of people injured.<ref name="silverstone"/>

==Conclusion== thumb|Graves of some of the victims of the SS Patria sinking [[File:PikiWiki Israel 12118 monument to the victims on immigrants ship salvado.jpg|thumb|right|Graves of the 223 Jewish passengers of ''Salvador'' who drowned during a storm at sea in 1940, Mount Herzl, Jerusalem.<ref name="Hazan"/>]] The success of ''Aliyah Bet'' was modest when measured in terms of the numbers who succeeded in entering Palestine. However, it proved to be a unifying force both for the Jewish community in Palestine (the Yishuv) and for the Holocaust-survivor refugees in Europe (Sh'erit ha-Pletah).

The immigrants who drowned in the sea and whose bodies were found were buried in the National Cemetery in Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.<ref name="Hazan">{{cite book|title=Serendipity in Anthropological Research|first=Haim|last=Hazan|publisher=Routledge|year=2016|isbn=978-1-317-05707-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=trEFDAAAQBAJ&q=Salvador+1940+Rumania|page=296}}</ref>

==See also== * Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries * Jewish Agency for Israel * Yom HaAliyah * Charles Thau

==References==

{{reflist}}

==Further reading== *{{cite book|last1=Greenfield|first1=Murray S.|author-link1=Murray Greenfield|last2=Hochstein|first2=Joseph M.|title=The Jews' Secret Fleet: The Untold Story of North American Volunteers Who Smashed the British Blockade of Palestine|year=1987|location=Jerusalem and New York|publisher=Gefen Publishing House|isbn=978-965-229-517-0}} *{{cite book|last1=Stewart|first1=Ninian|title=The Royal Navy and the Palestine Patrol|year=2002|location=London and Portland OR|publisher=Frank Cass Publishing|isbn=978-0-7146-5210-8}} *{{cite book|last1=Teutsch|first1=Yitzhak|title=The Cyprus Detention Camps: The Essential Research Guide|year=2019|location=Newcastle upon Tyne|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=978-1-5275-3500-8}}

==External links== {{commons category-inline}} * [http://www.israelvets.com/ Aliyah Bet and Machal Virtual Museum]

* United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - [http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005776 Aliyah Bet]

* [http://www.paulsilverstone.com/immigration/Primary/index.html Aliyah Bet Voyages Aliyah Bet Project] Aliyah Bet Voyages includes pictures and details of the boats of Aliyah Bet, ports of origin, dates of sailing, dates of arrival in Palestine and the number of immigrants on board.

*[http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/educational_materials/shapira_survivors.asp?WT.mc_id=wiki The background to Aliyah Bet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222205102/http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/educational_materials/shapira_survivors.asp?WT.mc_id=wiki |date=2014-02-22 }}

Category:Aliyah Bet Category:Jewish Agency for Israel Category:Yishuv during World War II Category:Blockades of World War II Category:Jews from Mandatory Palestine Category:Articles containing video clips Category:Mandatory Palestine in World War II Category:Aid for Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany