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| Go North and bring Israel´s children home! Several emissaries (left photo) came to Sweden just for this purpose. As the legal immigration was restricted by the British Mandate's quota system, the only way to enter Eretz Israel was illegally. The British government created detention camps on Cyprus as part of its effort to stem the rising tide of illegal immigration to Palestine, organized by the Zionist movement’s Ha’apala or Aliya Bet ("illegal" immigration) campaign. In the right photo, an emissary and a youth who were arrested by the British and brought by prison ships to Cyprus camps.. |
S/S Ulua was chosen to bring former concentration camp prisoners from Sweden all the way to Eretz Israel. Seaway was chosen as it was found to be a safer way to reach Israel without crossing any country borders. Likely, organizers did not know until approaching Sweden how big the group of Holocaust survivors was that were prepared to take this dangerous way to reach Israel. Actually, the ship was equipped with 2,500 life jackets when leaving France for its mission. In May 1946, He-Halutz registered 3311 persons who could be future (illegal immigrants) Maapilim.
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| S/S Ulua in the port of Marseille, where structures were added to her after deck to increase carrying capacity. It altered her silhouette, which can be easily seen in the photos after Ulua left Marseille. In place of the flat afterdeck, a kind of poop deck was built. That deck formed the roof of a new cabin built in the rear. Several of the Haganah ships were actually rebuilt in that way. November 1946. |
The start of S/S Ulua's "Jewish story" was the crossing Atlantic from the USA to the Mediterranean in 1946. On October 15, 1946, S/S Ulua sailed from Baltimore to Ponta Delgada in the Azores, where fuel was loaded. This part of the trip took approximately 10 days. Thereafter, she left Ponta Delgada in the Azores, passed Gibraltar, and headed to Marseille to be rebuilt. The second part of the trip probably took one week.
S/S Ulua spent 7 weeks being retrofitted in Marseille and was secretly renamed Haim Arlosoroff חיים ארלוזורוב. The new name, Haim Arlosoroff, was, however, never painted on the ship. Gad Hilb took over as Captain on Haim Arlosoroff/Ulua.
In Marseille, structures were added to her after deck to increase carrying capacity. It altered her silhouette, which can be easily seen in the photos after Ulua left Marseille. In place of the flat afterdeck, a kind of poop deck was built. That deck formed the roof of a new cabin built in the rear. Several of the Haganah ships were actually rebuilt in that way.
In Marseille, extra fuel tanks were added. Inside, almost all interior walls were demolished to expand her interior, and wooden floors and tiers of wooden bunks were added to accommodate a thousand passengers. Bunks were similar to the ones the future passengers were already familiar with from the concentration camps.
From Marseille, S/S Ulua sailed with legal credentials, plus a cargo of four carloads of Canadian lumber, canned water, rations, bedding, 2,500 life jackets, 100 fire pumps, mess kits, and a few obstetrical packs. S/S Ulua sailed first east to the port of La Ciotat in France. It was probably to fool British intelligence that was watching the traffic in numerous Mediterranean harbours. Thus, to stop the transfers of Holocaust survivors from Europe to Eretz Israel.
On December 31, 1946, S/S Ulua (Haim Arlosoroff, חיים ארלוזורוב) sailed from La Ciotat. She passed Gibraltar again and continued up to Sweden by way of the Skagerrak and Kattagat.
S/S Ulua, which flew the Honduras flag, after it left Sweden, it anchored first at Le Havre, France, to stock up on supplies. It then anchored at the Metaponto port in Italy, where another 684 maapilim embarked, bringing the total number of passengers to 1348. On 27 February 1947, the ship reached the shores of Bat-Galim, Haifa, where it ran aground. After a struggle, the British transferred the passengers to 3 deportation ships that brought the maapilim to the British detention camps in Cyprus.
Aliyah Bet was the code name for the clandestine movement that organized the "illegal" immigration of Jewish refugees, including tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors, to Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and 1948, in defiance of British restrictions.
Aliyah Bet aimed to rescue European Jews and provide homes for Holocaust survivors. Legal immigration was restricted by the British Mandate's quota system.
The Ulua operation was managed by Mossad LeAliyah Bet and the Brihah network, which helped survivors reach Mediterranean ports. American volunteers also crewed ships.
Methods: Immigrants traveled on often unsafe, overcrowded ships, risking perilous journeys from various European ports.
British Opposition: The British Navy intercepted over 90% of the ships, detaining about 50,000 refugees in camps, mostly in Cyprus, until Israel's statehood in 1948.
Impact: Over 100,000 Jews participated. The movement increased the Jewish population in Palestine and drew international attention to the survivors' plight, contributing to the UN's partition plan and Israel's establishment.
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| Olga Deutsch from Karcascomor, Hungary, was 9 when WWII started. Olga. Taken to Auschwitz, where her mother and two sisters were murdered, Olga was an object of Dr. Mengele's "selektion" at the ramp and a subject of his medical experiments. From Auschwitz, she was transferred to KL Buchenwald, where she was a slave worker at Krupp in Essen. Liberated from the concentration camp in Bergen-Belsen, Olga was brought to Sweden on UNRRA's White Boat M/S Ingrid that left Lübeck on July 7, 1944. A passenger on Ulua/Haim Arlosoroff, she was captured on the ship in Haifa and was taken to the British detention camp in Cyprus. In 1947, she was brought back to Haifa and transferred to the British detention camp in Atlit, south of the city. Upon her release in August 1947, she was registered, photographed, and received a permanent permit to stay. (Arolsen Archives, SHMA Archives, Israel State Archives). |
