Susana – Shabtay Luzinsky
"Shabtay Luzinsky" sailed from Metaponto port in Italy on March 4th 1947, with 650 immigrants on board.
The "Shabtay Luzinsky" Haapala ship (named after 'Hamossad for Aliyah Bet' activist who died in a car accident in Rome on January 18th 1947, while on duty as an envoy) prepared to depart for Israel by Avraham Yanai, Avraham Shavit, Bezalel Drori and other Israeli envoys at Proto Venero, Italy. The ship commander (and actual captain) was Palyam member David Maimon. The 'Gidoni' was Arieh Chaikind. Additional escorts were Palyam members Bezalel Drori and Yehosha (Ossi) Ravid.
"Shabtay Luzinsky" sailed from Metaponto port in Italy on March 4th 1947, with 650 immigrants on board. In order to ease the crowdedness on board the ship during part of the voyage, "Shabtay Luzinsky" was followed by "Albertina," headed by Avraham Rickman (Karni), with 173 additional immigrants. The 'Gidoni' was Ovad Sadeh. Five days later, all its immigrants were transferred onto "Shabtay Luzinsky," which now carried 823 immigrants. "Albertina" returned to Italy with Ovad Sadeh the 'Gidoni.' Among the "Shabtay Luzinsky" immigrants were also about 130 Hagana members, who were trained in Europe according to the "Aliyah C" plan by Head of the Jewish Agency, David Ben-Gurion: to bring an armed force of immigrants to the country's shores with the help of Hagana forces in Israel. They boarded the ship a day after they took the Palmach oath in a festive ceremony held in the presence of the Brigade Commander, Yigal Alon, who was visiting Europe at that time.
The immigrants' disembarkation point was set at Nizanim shore. The ship arrived a few hundred meters from the shore at daylight on March 12th, without being spotted by the British.
Awaiting the ship at the disembarkation point was 'Hamossad for Aliyah Bet' representative, David Nameri, and a team from the 4th Palmach Battalion headed by Battalion Commander, Uri Yaffe.
The stormy sea and the high waves thwarted the attempt to send the immigrants ashore on boats that were on board the ship. "Shabtay Luzinaky" neared the shore but ran aground 120 meters from it. It was already daylight by then. A long rope was stretched across from the ship to the shore, and boats headed by Palyam members began sailing along it, while the immigrants sat in the boats and used the rope to pull themselves towards the shore. To goad the unloading process, the immigrants were instructed to jump into the water wearing their life vests and swim to the shore, overseen by a special force in charge of saving those who were swept by the current. The unloading took about three hours, until a British blockade randomly stopped a convoy of immigrants that were led from the shore to the neighboring settlements. At that point, about 250 immigrants had gotten to a safe area. Additional British forces were summoned to the area and blocked the arrival area, where work was still undertow. A British destroyer neared the area and downloaded a boat, but the storm turned it over and three British marines drowned.
Simultaneously, the Hagana summoned hundreds of people from neighboring settlements to interfere with the capturing of immigrants on shore. The army arrested hundreds of Jews and transferred them to a nearby military base in Ashqelon.
To make it hard on the British to tell locals from immigrants, all detainees were asked to destroy their identification cards and uniformly reply to the secret police's questions: "I'm a Jew from Israel." Once the British gave up on their attempts, they transferred over 900 people by trucks to Haifa port, where they made another identification attempt, and about 240 Israelis were left in Israel.
They kept about 700 people, among them 170 Israelis. After a passive resistance, they were loaded onto the "Empire Rival" and "Empire Shelter" deportation ships, and were transferred to Caraolos and Ksilotombo detention camps. As they arrived in Cyprus, the immigrants greeted the soldiers with as shower of cans and scarps, and would not disembark until the British used teargas. A few immigrants were injured in this confrontation. On March 15th, 250 people were sent back to Israel, and 75 more were sent on March 28th. Among the returnees were also the 85 immigrants who managed to fool the British into thinking they were locals. The "Shabtay Luzinsky" escorts were instructed to intermingle with the immigrants and slip away. Ossi Ravid jumped into the water and swam ashore.
Chaim Chefer's song, "Shoshana, Shoshana" (The ship's original name was Susana), was inspired by the struggle of the "Shabtay Luzinsky" immigrants and the Israeli forces that aided them.
"Shabtay Luzinsky" sailed from Metaponto port in Italy on March 4th 1947, with 650 immigrants on board. In order to ease the crowdedness on board the ship during part of the voyage, "Shabtay Luzinsky" was followed by "Albertina," headed by Avraham Rickman (Karni), with 173 additional immigrants. The 'Gidoni' was Ovad Sadeh. Five days later, all its immigrants were transferred onto "Shabtay Luzinsky," which now carried 823 immigrants. "Albertina" returned to Italy with Ovad Sadeh the 'Gidoni.' Among the "Shabtay Luzinsky" immigrants were also about 130 Hagana members, who were trained in Europe according to the "Aliyah C" plan by Head of the Jewish Agency, David Ben-Gurion: to bring an armed force of immigrants to the country's shores with the help of Hagana forces in Israel. They boarded the ship a day after they took the Palmach oath in a festive ceremony held in the presence of the Brigade Commander, Yigal Alon, who was visiting Europe at that time.
The immigrants' disembarkation point was set at Nizanim shore. The ship arrived a few hundred meters from the shore at daylight on March 12th, without being spotted by the British.
Awaiting the ship at the disembarkation point was 'Hamossad for Aliyah Bet' representative, David Nameri, and a team from the 4th Palmach Battalion headed by Battalion Commander, Uri Yaffe.
The stormy sea and the high waves thwarted the attempt to send the immigrants ashore on boats that were on board the ship. "Shabtay Luzinaky" neared the shore but ran aground 120 meters from it. It was already daylight by then. A long rope was stretched across from the ship to the shore, and boats headed by Palyam members began sailing along it, while the immigrants sat in the boats and used the rope to pull themselves towards the shore. To goad the unloading process, the immigrants were instructed to jump into the water wearing their life vests and swim to the shore, overseen by a special force in charge of saving those who were swept by the current. The unloading took about three hours, until a British blockade randomly stopped a convoy of immigrants that were led from the shore to the neighboring settlements. At that point, about 250 immigrants had gotten to a safe area. Additional British forces were summoned to the area and blocked the arrival area, where work was still undertow. A British destroyer neared the area and downloaded a boat, but the storm turned it over and three British marines drowned.
Simultaneously, the Hagana summoned hundreds of people from neighboring settlements to interfere with the capturing of immigrants on shore. The army arrested hundreds of Jews and transferred them to a nearby military base in Ashqelon.
To make it hard on the British to tell locals from immigrants, all detainees were asked to destroy their identification cards and uniformly reply to the secret police's questions: "I'm a Jew from Israel." Once the British gave up on their attempts, they transferred over 900 people by trucks to Haifa port, where they made another identification attempt, and about 240 Israelis were left in Israel.
They kept about 700 people, among them 170 Israelis. After a passive resistance, they were loaded onto the "Empire Rival" and "Empire Shelter" deportation ships, and were transferred to Caraolos and Ksilotombo detention camps. As they arrived in Cyprus, the immigrants greeted the soldiers with as shower of cans and scarps, and would not disembark until the British used teargas. A few immigrants were injured in this confrontation. On March 15th, 250 people were sent back to Israel, and 75 more were sent on March 28th. Among the returnees were also the 85 immigrants who managed to fool the British into thinking they were locals. The "Shabtay Luzinsky" escorts were instructed to intermingle with the immigrants and slip away. Ossi Ravid jumped into the water and swam ashore.
Chaim Chefer's song, "Shoshana, Shoshana" (The ship's original name was Susana), was inspired by the struggle of the "Shabtay Luzinsky" immigrants and the Israeli forces that aided them.