The
Atlit detainee camp was a detention center for Jewish immigrants seeking refuge in
PalestinePalestine is a conventional name used, among others, to describe a geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands.As a geographical term, Palestine can also refer to 'ancient Palestine,' an area...
during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine.
AtlitAtlit is a coastal town located south of Haifa, Israel. Originally an outpost of the Crusaders, it fell in 1291. The modern village was founded in 1903 under the auspices of Baron Edmond de Rothschild. The population today is 4,500.-History:...
is located on the Mediterranean coast of
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
, 20 km south of
HaifaHaifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 264,900. Haifa has a mixed population of Jews and Arabs giving an example for peaceful co-existence. The Arab population used to be predominantly Christian, while some of the Jewish...
.
The Atlit camp, which operated in the 1930s and 40s, was surrounded by barbed wire and watchtowers. Many of the detainees were Holocaust survivors who had escaped Nazi Europe.
The
Atlit detainee camp was a detention center for Jewish immigrants seeking refuge in
PalestinePalestine is a conventional name used, among others, to describe a geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands.As a geographical term, Palestine can also refer to 'ancient Palestine,' an area...
during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine.
AtlitAtlit is a coastal town located south of Haifa, Israel. Originally an outpost of the Crusaders, it fell in 1291. The modern village was founded in 1903 under the auspices of Baron Edmond de Rothschild. The population today is 4,500.-History:...
is located on the Mediterranean coast of
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
, 20 km south of
HaifaHaifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 264,900. Haifa has a mixed population of Jews and Arabs giving an example for peaceful co-existence. The Arab population used to be predominantly Christian, while some of the Jewish...
.
History
The Atlit camp, which operated in the 1930s and 40s, was surrounded by barbed wire and watchtowers. Many of the detainees were Holocaust survivors who had escaped Nazi Europe. The British authorities, acceding to Arab demands to limit Jewish immigration, refused to allow these Jews to enter the country.
At Atlit camp, the men were sent to one side, women to the other. They were sprayed with DDT, then told to undress and enter the showers. In 1939-1948, tens of thousands of Jewish immigrants were interned here, men and women separated by barbed wire. Some interns stayed as long as 23 months.
In November 1940, the British authorities decided to send 5000 "illegals" to detention camps on
MauritiusMauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation off the coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar. In addition to the island of Mauritius, the Republic includes the islands of Cargados Carajos, Rodrigues and the Agalega Islands...
. One of these deporting ships was the
PatriaThe Patria disaster occurred on 25 November 1940 when the Patria, a French-built ocean liner, sank in Haifa harbour after a bomb carried covertly on board exploded, killing 260 people, and injuring another 172...
. To stop the deportation, the
HaganahHaganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
, the Jewish underground militia in Palestine, exploded a bomb in the ship's hold on November 25. The size of the explosive charge had been seriously miscalculated, and the ship sank quickly. On board were 1800 refugees; 216 drowned in the disaster. The survivors from the
Patria were detained in Atlit and not deported to Mauritius. They were released after a few months.
The
Darien IIDarien II was the last ship to bring Aliya Bet refugees to Haifa , on March 19 1941, during World War II.Originally named the Pole Star, it was built in Glasgow, Scotland in 1892 for the Northern Lighthouse Board. After changing names and ownership several times it became the Sophia S in 1939...
arrived with 800 refugees in March 1941. They were detained at the Atlit camp until September 1942, when the camp was shut down.
The Atlit camp was reopened in 1945 following
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, as more and more "illegals" arrived in Palestine. Most of them were Holocaust survivors from
DP campsA Displaced Persons camp is in principle any temporary facility for Displaced Persons. In recent times Displaced Persons Camps have existed in many parts of the world for many kinds of people, including for people in the Darfur region of the Sudan, for Palestinians in Lebanon and Jordan, and for...
in Europe who made the journey through the
BerihahBerihah, or "Brichah" was the organized effort that helped Jews escape post-Holocaust Europe to Palestine.The movement of Jewish refugees from the DP camps in which they were held to Palestine was illegal on both sides, as Jews were not officially allowed to leave the countries of Central and...
and
Ha'apala ("Aliya Beth")Aliyah Bet , meaning "Aliyah 'B'" was the code name given to illegal immigration by Jews to the Palestine in violation of British restrictions, in the years 1934-1948...
clandestine immigration network.
On October 10 1945, the
PalmachThe Palmach was the regular fighting force of the Haganah, the unofficial army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palmach was established on May 15, 1941...
(special forces unit of the Haganah) broke into the camp and released 200 detainees, who escaped.
Yitzhak Rabin' was an Israeli politician and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995. In 1994, Rabin won the Nobel Peace Prize together with Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat...
, then a young officer, planned the raid and Nachum Sarig commanded it.
Following this event, the British deported illegals to be interned in
Cyprus internment campsCyprus internment camps were operated by the British for internment of Jewish immigrants who attempted to immigrate to the Mandatory Palestine during the 1940s in violation of immigration quotas set for Jews...
. These camps operated from 1946 through the establishment of the
State of IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
.