Aliyah Bet
Aliyah Bet, or Immigration Wave B, was comprised of illegal immigrants from Nazi Europe, shipped to Palestine, with the aid of American Jews and the Haganah. The last of the "White Papers", British mandates restricting Jewish immigration to Palestine, was published on May 17, 1939, when Nazi oppression reached its zenith. The mandate allowed immigration of 15,000 Jews per year for the following five years and then a total halt of Jewish immigration for the rest of the British rule. By that time, the trickle of legal Jewish immigrants to Palestine was supplemented by as many illegal boatloads as the Jewish community and the Haganah could organize. In 1939, more than thirty ships carrying a total of approximately 17,000 refugees made their way from ports on the Black Sea in Romania and Bulgaria, to the Mediterranean Sea and the ports of Greece and onwards towards Palestine. An 'Underground Railroad' was organized so that Jews could reach the boats and sail for the Land of I!srael as easily and safely as possible. Few ships succeeded in reaching Palestine, and landing there. Many were intercepted by the British and sent back to Europe.One such ship, the SS Exodus of July 1947, gained worldwide attention for its plight. Ear
------------------------------------------------------------------------**Bibliography**. After twenty minutes of shouting, planes whizzing overhead, and ships spraying us with water, we managed to capture two British officers, the same officers who questioned us befor!e we left the port, and the spy. We all became suspicious as we discussed what we should do with the spy once he was caught. It was our job, as a ship, to decide whether to fight violently, or passively. My experiences during the simulation of the Exodus conflicted with the actual happenings. We may have lived under sanitary conditions, been well fed, happy and constantly entertained, however we experienced a type of camaraderie that only comes about when fighting for such a noble cause as our freedom to enter our homeland. However, the refugees of the real Exodus were gassed and shot at by the British, and finally rammed until the Jews surrendered. We stayed in comfortable rooms with a bathroom, four beds and a desk with a mirror. We had many discussions like these over the course of the three days on the ship. Twelve miles outside of Palestine territorial waters, the British armada closed in on the Exodus for boarding. ly in the month of July 1947, an American Chesapeake Bay ferry renamed the Exodus, packed with 4,500 displaced persons set out from the French port of Sete. We were given fake passports and were told what to say to anyone who questioned us. Passengers on the Exodus went on a hunger strike, and for days ate nothing at all. They "escorted" the refugee ship across the Mediterranean. A violent battle ensued, the refugees fighting off the British for several hours.
Common topics in this essay:
Poppendorf AmStau,
Eretz Israel,
Captain Leor,
Papers British,
Passengers Exodus,
Mediterranean Sea,
Eventually British,
Mediterranean Twelve,
Displaced Person,
Chesapeake Bay,
real exodus,
july 1947,
exodus '47,
jewish immigration,
real exodus '47,
|
Acceptance Essays
