The Voyage of the “Exodus” Through Cartoonists’ Eyes

By: Rafael Medoff

Seventy-five years ago this week, the incredible voyage of the refugee ship Exodus captured the hearts and minds of the international community.

The lively and provocative political cartoonists for the Hebrew-language press in Palestine chronicled the journey with the unique mix of humor, sarcasm and poignancy that is the hallmark of their profession.

Originally used to carry American troops in the Normandy Beach landings in World War II, the ship was purchased by agents of the Haganah, the Jewish underground in Palestine, and repaired in the Baltimore harbor after the war.

In July 1947, the Exodus, manned by a crew that included numerous Ameri­can volunteers, took aboard more than 4,500 Holocaust survivors at a rendezvous point on the coast of France. The British navy, implementing its government’s strict policy of preventing most Jewish immigration to Palestine, trailed the ship as it crossed the Mediter­ranean.

When the Exodus approached the coast of Palestine on July 18, a British destroyer rammed the ship and truncheon-wielding Brit­ish soldiers charged aboard. They brutally beat many of the passengers and crew, including American crewmate Bill Bernstein, who died of his injuries. More than 20,000 New Yorkers filled Madison Square Garden several weeks later for a memorial ceremony in Bernstein’s honor.

International controversy over the Exodus intensified when the Brit­ish shipped them back to France in three ships that were outfitted as floating prisons. But when the ships reached Port de Bouc, all but a handful of the passengers refused to disembark, and the French authorities de­clined to force them to do so. The refugees remained there for more than three weeks, focusing embarrassing attention on Great Britain’s harsh policy toward Jewish immigrants.

On August 22, the British ordered the refugees sent to the British Zone of occupied Germany. Upon arrival at Hamburg, many of the Exodus passengers staged a sit-down strike and had to be dragged ashore by British troops. Others physically resisted disembarking and fought a two-hour pitched battle with the British sol­diers. Media coverage of the struggle further galvanized international criticism of Great Britain’s policies.

The passengers of the Exodus finally reached Eretz Yisrael in late 1948, following the establishment of the State of Israel.

This article originally appeared in the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles.

(Dr. Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and author of more than 20 books about Jewish history and the Holocaust. His latest is America and the Holocaust: A Documentary History, published by the Jewish Publication Society & University of Nebraska Press.)