Sabon - The Myth of the 'New Israeli' vs. the Truth of the Ma’apilim.

 

Holocaust survivors. Maapilim are on their way from Sweden to Eretz Israel.

The Myth of the 'New Israeli' vs. the Truth of the Ma’apilim*

In Poland, following the anti-Semitic campaign and the 1968 'Exodus,' attempts were made to posthumously discredit the commander of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Mordechai Anielewicz. This was done by weaponizing distortions of Marek Edelman’s accounts, as recorded by Hanna Krall.

Meanwhile, in Israel, the contribution of the Ma’apilim—illegal immigrants who, like the passengers of the famous ship Exodus 1947, fought to reach Eretz Israel despite the British blockade—was silenced for years. Survivors arriving in the homeland were often derisively called 'sabon' (soap).

The term 'soap' refers to the grim myth of the mass production of soap from the human fat of those murdered in Nazi death camps. Although almost all of these newcomers joined the Haganah, and later the IDF, fighting and dying on the front lines, their experiences were met with silence in Israel. Instead, the state promoted only the myth of the 'True Israeli'—the strong Zionist, unburdened by the 'stigma' of the Holocaust and its traumatic survival.

This post is the result of a meeting with Halinka (not Halina) Birenbaum—born in 1929, an Israeli writer and Holocaust Survivor."

Roughly 110,000 people - Ma’apilim, attempted to reach Eretz Israel via Aliyah Bet during the entire pre-state period. However, only a small fraction successfully evaded the British blockade to land directly on the shores of Palestine. Most were intercepted and taken to detention centers—first to Atlit (near Haifa) and later to the detention camps in Cyprus.

Approximately 52,000 to 53,500 Ma’apilim were imprisoned in the Cyprus detention camps between August 1946 and February 1949 [4, 5].
Before May 1948, the British allowed a trickle of detainees from Cyprus to enter Palestine under a monthly quota (usually 750 people per month), prioritizing families and the elderly.

 
The ship, Exodus 1947, exception.:4,515 passengers of the Exodus 1947 were famously forced back to Europe (Germany) rather than being sent to Cyprus, which sparked international outrage.

Byłem członkiem TPPR (Towarzystwo Przyjaźni Polsko-Radzieckiej) już w 1. klasie szkoły podstawowej. Byłem wtedy jeszcze nieuświadomiony.

Ja byłem członkiem TPPR (Towarzystwo Przyjaźni Polsko-Radzieckiej) już w 1. klasie szkoły podstawowej. Byłem wtedy jeszcze nieuświadomiony. Czerwona legitymacja bardzo mi się wtedy podobała i dawała wstęp na filmy wojenne w budynku TPPR na Kredytowej. Zostawcie te indolowe żonkile! Nasza gwiazda jest niebieska na białym tle – tak jak w naszej drużynie harcerskiej w szkole nr. 211 im. Janusza Korczaka w Warszawie. Podobne kolory, chociaż odwrotnie, mieli przedwojenni szomrowcy w Polsce. 

Zostawcie naszą flagę w spokoju!