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Golda's Stories of the Holocaust Part III - Elevation Section 2 – Immigration to Israel Chapter 3 – The battle against the British
destroyers We see the Holy Land but
cannot arrive at it. We continued to sail onward and I
didn't understand anymore where we are. Suddenly, at a time that was not
expected, we were informed that we are nearby. The Land of Israel is not far
away and we are near Haifa. We got very excited, but were forbidden
to go up to the deck and watch the Carmel Mount with our own eyes. We waited patiently to the moment
when we shall reach the shore. At the time that we were still in
the international sea ways everything was fine and we were not disturbed. But from
the hour that we got closer to the land the sailing was stopped. Few English destroyers, long and
sumptuous, that were spread throughout the sea, surrounded our ship and
approached. They waited for the ship to
arrive at the territorial waters that they controlled legally, in order to stop
us. When we saw the destroyers
approaching, a big group of guys and few girls was organized immediately. I was among them. We had to try to resist, with the
hope that we shall succeed to drive away the English. We prepared quickly eight long
and strong poles. We tied perpendicularly to each
side of the ship four poles, like giant oars. The ship continued in her sail. Thanks to the poles, the
destroyers, which were already very close, were not able to get attached to the
ship. We continued in this way until we
arrived very close to Bat Galim shore, close to Haifa port. The English tried again
and again to get attached to the ship, but did not succeed. We progressed rapidly. suddenly the English shot on
us many tear gas bombs. The gas did not evaporate easily.
It burned our eyes and suffocated us. We started to cough continually. I had a water-bottle with coffee
on my belt. I cleaned from time to time my face with the coffee, and drunk a
little bit. The gas ceased to suffocate, the burning in my eyes decreased and I
continued to fight. We arrived very close to the
beach. The destroyers did not succeed to
crash the poles. Therefore a greater second salvo
of tear gas was shot at us. We got weaker and were forced to
hide under the deck. The ship was finally stopped close
to the shore. The destroyers got attached to
the poles. Few soldiers, wearing gas masks,
started to crawl on the poles. When we saw this, everyone who
could went out to the deck. I too went out, the only girl,
covered for my defense with a pot on the head and a tin plate on the chest. We started to throw bottles,
stones and various objects on the soldiers. It was all that we could do. I cried out aloud: "Fascists"!
"Fascists with white gloves"! They saw that I am a girl, and called
angrily through the speaker: "The girl must go down"! "She should
not be on the deck"! "What happens here is not for her"! I saw suddenly an English soldier
progressing rapidly on the pole to the deck. I was very close to him and pushed
him from the pole to the sea. They threatened furiously that
they will kill me. From the many of us who were at the
beginning on the deck, only a few were left. After the second salvo of tear
gas bombs, it was impossible to stay on it. I was among the few who stayed. More and more soldiers crawled
together on the poles. About twenty of them succeeded to
climb together on the ship. They took controlled over it. Two from them caught me first. They threw me down and beat me. Many
hits, but not strong. In the course of it they said angrily:
"You deserve the most, because you was very bad and threw our friend to
the sea". Then they put something in my
mouth. I became dizzy, started to cough
and became hoarse for many hours. Later my friends explained me
that it was a powder which cause a temporary loss of
senses. When the English took control over
the ship we were in a swimming distance from the beach. So close we were to the Carmel
Mount Head, that we felt almost like bathers who came for the daily swim. The skipper gave a quick advice: "Those
who can, may jump and escape". Very few succeeded to swim to the
beach. Israeli messengers waited for
them. They gathered them and gave them clothes and local documents, as a proof that
they are not illegal immigrants. The English brought a special
jail ship that her deck was fenced with high nets. They ordered: "All of you must
pass to this ship ". Our commander Loba Eliav
explained that we failed and we don't have any choice. We are sent to Cyprus. We cried, we shouted, but
everything was in vein. We were expelled to Cyprus, a
sailing distance of few hours. One of the commanders of
"Haim Arlozorov" was a young man from America named Benjamin. Before leaving
the ship, my commander requested that I will help him. The English were able to
identify the commanders and arrest them. Benjamin requested that I will do
an effort to cover on him when we shall go down, in order that he will not be discovered.
He gave me a small package, that later I understood that there was a pistol in
it. He requested also that when we shall go down, we shall hold arms as if he is
my husband. The idea succeeded and we passed all the checks. The ship "Haim Arlozorov"
remained stuck on the shore's sands for many days after the battle. Local
residents sailed to her in small boats and looted the entire luggage that was
in her. It is known today that the
Israeli leaders knew in advance that the English can detect the immigration
ships by radar and the chances of the refugees to reach safely the shore are
minimal. The immigration of the refugees from
the concentration camps was planned in order to create a pressure on the world
public opinion and to bring the English in this way to improve their attitude
toward the Jewish population in Israel. |