Diary of 'Exodus' immigrant shows hardships of post-Holocaust refugees
The "Operation Diary" project, which Israel Hayom has been following in a series of articles in recent months, reveals new account of Miriam Sternberg Wechsler aboard the famous ship after her family was killed by the Nazis.
A particularly moving diary presented recently describes the life of the immigrants on the ship Exodus. The diary, written by Miriam Sternberg Wechsler, details the agonizing challenges they went through, in a touching way.
"September 1, 1947 – one person died on one of the ships today," she writes. "In the presence of all the ships that stood still for a short while, he was lowered for burial in the Atlantic Ocean. The fourth victim, this time not from an English bullet, but by normal death. Is this normal? At the same time, about ten babies were born on these ships. If we stay on the water for another two weeks, there will be several more births."
"We were like animals?"
Sternberg Wechsler's diary was recently presented to the Israel National Library, as stated above, as part of "Operation Diary" initiated by the library and Israel Hayom, and it contains chilling testimonies about the lives of the 4,500 illegal immigrants who survived the Holocaust and left France in July 1947, heading for the land of Israel.
The ship arrived in Israel, but the British refused to allow them to disembark and settle in the country. After a fight inside the ship, in which three passengers were killed and dozens injured, the illegal immigrants were forcibly transported to deportation ships that sent them back to the shores of France. The event received enormous media coverage all over the world, and the British were condemned, following expressions of shock at their behavior. Nevertheless, the ships continued from the French coast to the displaced persons camps in Germany, and only about one year later the illegal immigrants arrived in Israel.
Miriam was only 19 years old when she boarded the ship alone after her family was murdered in the Holocaust, and her diary gives a glimpse into the daily life and inhumane conditions experienced by those on board the ship which was designed for only 600 passengers, but in fact carried thousands of women, men and children.
In another passage from the diary, she describes the unbearably difficult conditions: "19.8.1947 – These bodies, lying in terrible disarray ... the hall at night looks like after a real pogrom. Legs lying over each other, feet dirty with mud, because almost everyone is walking barefoot all day long; women, men, old people, youngsters, and children. One on top of the other, one against the other, and it often happens that you wake up at night and find your neighbor's dirty feet on your stomach, or on your chest ... and no one even notices it. As if this is how it should be. As if this is such a normal thing."
Women are lying half-naked and are not ashamed ... sometimes they exposed their most intimate parts while sleeping, and they didn't even care ... did they really not care? Were we really like animals? Has our situation reached such a level that it has killed even our most delicate and fine feelings?"
The day before she wrote: "Today there is a hunger strike on the three ships, as a sign of protest against keeping us in Port-de-Bouc. Tomorrow will mark three weeks since we arrived at this port. It is already clear to the whole world that we will not land on the shores of France, and we are demanding that we sail away from this port." The world is probably getting used to our story, and they will possibly forget us very soon. But we – we cannot forget, because every day that passes is taken away from us forever, and there is no end in sight."
Experiences of the 1948 generation
Sternberg Wechsler was born in 1926, the ninth daughter out of ten children born to Asher Zelig and Atla Zipa Sternberg. She grew up in an ultra-Orthodox home, but Jordana, her older sister who was a member of "Hashomer Hatza'ir", enrolled her in the "Yavne" school, where lessons were taught in Hebrew.
She was the only survivor of all her family members who remained in Poland, after Jordana and another sister left in time. Her parents died in the ghetto from starvation, and all the others were sent to concentration camps.
In 1946, Aliyat Hano'ar sent her to the displaced persons camp in Indersdorf, Bavaria, to teach Hebrew to children who survived the war. In July 1947 she boarded the Exodus with a group of her students. She arrived in Israel in April 1948, and after a few months joined Kibbutz Ma'agan Michael. She passed away in 2018.
Sternberg Wechsler's diary was added to about 90 diaries from the early years of the State that were presented to the National Library, as part of the project in honor of the 75th year of the State of Israel, for the purpose of preserving them in the library's collections for future generations.
Director of Archives and Special Collections at the National Library, Matan Barzali: "We are happy to continue receiving personal diaries written in the years before and during the War of Independence [1948], as well as diaries that contain stories and experiences from the first years of the young state. These can be diaries written in Hebrew or in any other language, diaries of people who lived in Israel or in any other country – provided that they have stories about people from that generation.
The Israel National Library highly regards the preservation and documentation of history for the benefit of the future generations."
"It often happens that you wake up at night and find your neighbor's dirty feet on your stomach, or on your chest ... and no one even notices it. As if this is how it should be like. As if this is such a normal thing."
No comments:
Post a Comment