Exodus 1947
See also: Exodus
Exodus 1947 was a boat transporting of the Juifs emigrating clandestinely of Europe towards the Palestine under British mandate in 1947. The boat left the port of Sète (beside Montpellier) in France, the July 11th 1947.
Many of these emigrants were surviving refugees of the Shoah. They did not have a legal certificate of immigration for the Palestine the more so as the British limited the Jewish immigration in Palestine.
The royal marine British seized the ship, and returned all its passengers in the zone under British control in Germany.
Many passengers start an hunger strike. The hardness of English repression will have a great influence on the future recognition of the State of Israel.
History
The July 11th 1947, a building beating Panamanian house, the President-Warfield , left the port of Sète (France) bound for the Colombia. The 4500 emigrating passengers that the cargo liner transported, were all regulates some with passports concerned.
After 5 days of navigation, and out of French territorial water, the President-Warfield becomes the Exodus 47 , the flag of Israel replaces the Panamanian house and the evening even of the reconnaissance aircraft fly over the ship which approaches British territorial water. The American commander of the Exodus 47 lance a message coded for the Haganah with Tel-Aviv and carries on his road.
The July 18th in the morning at the entry of territorial water of the Palestine, a cruiser and five destroyers appear, but the ship Exodus 47 refuses to stop and of obtempérer at the request of the authorities, it will be hailed with only 27 kilometers of the coasts. The commander tries to flee to fail itself on Rafah, and in spite of the penetration resistance, of the British sailors, this one will communicate in the morning of July 18th: the British navy intercepted early this morning the President-Warfield with 4500 illegal immigrants on board, the ship is awaited 1 p.m. .
With the business of the Exodus 47 and the problem of clandestine immigration, the business takes another turning and, instead of interning the prisoners with Cyprus, the Great Britain decides to return them to their starting point. Captive passengers embarked on three British ships, the Vigor Ocean, rival Empire, and Runnymede Park , genuine boat-cages where the unhappy ones were locked up, except two passengers killed at the time of the boarding and the imprisoned captain.
The July 29th, the boats stop in front of Port-de-Bouc, but in front of the refusal of the prisoners to unload and the talks Franco-British which lasted for ever, those remain inert until the August 23rd. The French government communicates: the French government informs the immigrants of Exodus 47 qu ' with their assent, it to them will be given asylum on the French soil where they will enjoy all their freedoms .
75 exhausted passengers accept the French proposal, the others refuse categorically and retort: We wish to go to Palestine, one will unload us here that dead . Convinced the government of its majesty gives the order to the three ships to rejoin Hamburg via Gibraltar. The flotilla installs the August 23rd and sees the estuary of Elba the September 6th, the unloading will begin the September 8th with the first ship the Océan Vigor . All is envisaged on the quay n°29 to accommodate the prisoners, military forces and police, fire hoses, teargas grenades and ambulances of the Red Cross, this operation will be baptized Oasis .
The September 8th in the morning, the loudspeakers diffuse a summation, the unloaded patients, the soldiers penetrate in the holds for expulsion manu militari and the loading in special trains. The following day, the unloading of the rival Empire proceeds almost without difficulty, but a bomb with delayed-action envisaged at the general headquarter of the Royal Navy had been placed in the ship to burst after midday. With the unloading of the third ship, the Runnymede Park , it is the drama, the immigrants refuse to go down, and the plan Oasis is applied, the soldiers charge under projectiles with all kinds, the fire hoses are in action and the prisoners organize themselves in the refusal and the combat. The passengers are unloaded all the same, but the assessment showed 27 wounded including three British and 50 arrests. The crammed trains of immigrants move towards the camps of Poppendorf and Amstau, close to Lubeck, but the immigrant prisoners resist, some escape, others try to start again the exodus. The press of the whole world and in particular British breaks out in violent one terms, by making it parallel with the camps German S. the Manchester Gardian writes the September 10th: One did not expect such a control on behalf of a British government even less than one worker government .
The business Exodus 47 upsets the world opinion and much of emigrants had gained the promised land, as they had sworn… what will weigh in the division of Palestine towards the end of the year 1948.