Issue: April 1997 Artist: David Ben-Hador Size: 25.7 mm x 40 mm Plate Number: 315 Printers: E. Lewin-Epstein Ltd Printing Method: offset

About 22,000 clandestine immigrants arrived in the period from 1934 until the outbreak of WWII. During the war, about 16,000 arrived; seven ships, carrrying a total of 2,300 immigrants, sank on the way. One particularly horrifying episode was the sinking of the Struma by a Soviet submarine in the Black Sea in February, 1942.

After the war, clandestine immigration increased as part of the effort to open up the Land of Israel to Holocaust survivors. Operations were supported by Jews in Israel and by Zionists around the world, with financial support coming mainly from American Jewry. 85,000 immigrants entered the country during this period. About 5,500 entered by land, stealing in from the north in operations supported by Yishuv volunteers serving in the British army. In 1947, about 150 individuals arrived on flights from Iraq and Italy.

In November 1940, while still at port in Haifa, the Hagana sabotaged the Patria, scheduled to deport about 5,000 immigrants to the island of Mauritius. Despite the incident, 1,600 clandestine immigrants were deported to the island a few weeks later.

From August 1946 until the establishment of the State of Israel, 52,000 clandestine immigrants were deported to detention camps in Cyprus. The last of the deportees in these camps were released as late as Feburary 1949.

Undoubtedly, the most famous of the clandestine immigrant ships was the Exodus 1947, or in Hebrew, Yetsiat Europa Tashaz. Originally the President Warfield, this passenger ship transported soldiers to and from England and France from 1942 to 1945 before being returned to the United States in very poor condition. With aid from the Baltimore Jewish community, she was repaired and readied to serve in clandestine immigration operations. She was one of ten ships purchased by the North American Jewish community. All carried North American volunteer crews.

After the ship was made seaworthy, she was transferred to the French port of Sete, where 4,530 Holocaust survivors boarded. On July 11, 1947, the Exodus set sail.

Two British destroyers tailed the ship to the shores of Israel, and together with four other destroyers, attacked the Exodus and her passengers. A difficult battle ensued, with the attackers using tear gas and firearms while the survivors used tin cans, potatoes, bottles, etc. The battle ended with three fatalities (two immigrants and one American volunteer) and two hundred wounded. On July 18th, British forces dragged the ship into the Haifa port, where the passengers were forcefully transported over the "Dock of Tears" to three deportation ships, which then made their way to France.

After spending 24 days in inhuman conditions at Port De Buc, the immigrants were deported to Hamburg, Germany -- where they again set sail for Israel in a variety of smaller ships. Some of these were captured, the passengers deported to Cyprus.

However, the deportation to Germany so soon after the Holocaust brought the issue of Jewish immigration to the forefront of the international agenda. On November 29, 1947, the United Nations resolved to create an independent state for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel.