This grouping contains documentation for individuals who attempted to enter Palestine aboard the S.S. Pacific, S.S. Atlantic, and S.S. Milos in November of 1940 (see note below for more information regarding the ships). These documents consist of Memoranda of Personal Data (Political) (form P.248), Particulars of an Illegal Immigrant (form P.239), Finger-print Identification Slips (form P.270), Applications for an Oder of Deportation (form P.250), Orders of Deportation (form P.254), Police Orders, and identification photos. Additionally, the group contains correspondece regarding the detention and deportation of George Papstraropoulos, captain of the S.S. Milos.

• Government record
• Individual document

Not Applicable

The Palestine Police Force

Between 6 Nov 1940 - 10 Jul 1941

Between 1 Nov 1940 - 3 Nov 1940

Male and Female

English

Jew

• Austrian
• Bulgarian
• Czech
• Czechoslovakian
• German
• Greek
• Hungarian
• Latvian
• Polish
• Romanian
• Slovak
• Spanish
• Stateless
• Turk

1700 - 2000

1690

Moderately Legible Text

Typed and Handwritten

Atlit, Palestine

Berthold Storfer, a Jewish businessman from Vienna, was tasked by the Nazis to assist in the emigration of Jews from Germany. In May of 1940, he developed a plan to extricate approximately 3,500 Jews from Germany aboard three Greek ships S.S. Pacific, S.S. Atlantic, and S.S. Milos. The ships departed the Romanian port Tulcea in September of 1940. Upon arrival in Haifa, the British authorities decided to deport all the refugees to Mauritius. They began transferring the refugees to the S.S. Patria, a French cargo ship previously caught by the British. All the passengers from the S.S. Pacific and S.S. Milos were transferred. During the transfer of passengers from the S.S. Atlantic, Haganah operatives placed explosives on the S.S. Patria in an attempt to prevent deportation. However, the amount of explosives used was too great, and the ship began sinking rapidly. Over 200 refugees drowned. The survivors on the Patria were allowed to stay in Palestine, while those who remained on the Atlantic were deported to Mauritius.

For more information see: "The Rescue of European Jewry and Illegal Immigration to Palestine in 1940. Prospects and Reality: Berthold Storfer and the Mossad le'Aliyah Bet"
Dalia Ofer
Modern Judaism
Vol. 4, No. 2 (May, 1984), pp. 159-181
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1396459?origin=JSTOR-pdf

• Immigration
• Photograph
• Refugee
• Ship
• Correspondence

The names in this collection were made searchable through the World Memory Project