Af-Al-Pi-Chen
 The ship in the museum
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Af-Al-Pi-Chen is the name of a refugee ship that brought illegal Jewish immigrants to Palestine in 1947.
prehistory
The ship was built in 1941 as a landing ship for the Canadian Navy and registered under the number TLC 147 . In 1942 the ship was used for the Allied landing in North Africa . After the war, the ship was sold in 1946 to the Mossad le Alija Bet , who registered it under the name Farida . The ship was intended to be used for the illegal entry of Jews into Palestine, which is why the ship was given the underground name HaPoleshet ("The Intruder").
Refugee ship
On September 17, 1947, under the command of Yitschak Landauer , the Farida left Formia on the Italian west coast with 434 Jewish refugees as passengers , most of whom came from Poland . The Farida was given the name Af-Al-Pi-Chen ( Hebrew אף על פי כן"Nevertheless"), because she was the first refugee ship with the destination Palestine after the Exodus was attacked by the British Navy and its passengers were brought to Germany as part of Operation Oasis .
On September 26, Af-Al-Pi-Chen was sighted by a British destroyer about 15 miles off the coast of southern Palestine . The following day the ship was seized by the British Navy, which resulted in a collision between the Af Al Pi Chen and a British destroyer. The British opened fire on Af-Al-Pi-Chen with light machine guns and tear gas grenades , killing one refugee and injuring nine others.
The immigrants were deported to Cyprus on the British ship Empire Rest , the confiscated Af-Al-Pi-Chen was anchored in the port of Haifa with the other refugee ships that had already been confiscated .
Israeli Navy
After the last British had left the port of Haifa in July 1948 which reached Af-Al-Pi-Chen together with the other seized ships of the so-called shadow fleet The Jewish State , Wedgewood , Haganah , Ben Hecht , Ha Tikva and Prato in owned by the new Israeli Navy and has been completely overhauled. The ship was in service with the Navy until 1959 when it was retired.
Museum ship
After the decommissioning, the ship was brought ashore and erected. The Af-Al-Pi-Chen is a centerpiece of the "Museum of Illegal Immigration", which opened in September 1969 in Haifa . In the hull of the ship, part of the facility was reproduced as it was used for the transport of refugees. In addition, the hull serves as a projection room for a slide show showing the struggle against secret immigration. Exhibits from the British camps in Cyprus are on display under the hull .
Using a refugee ship as a museum was aimed at with the Exodus at the beginning of the 1950s . However, in a fire during the restoration work, the Exodus was destroyed in 1952 and its burnt-out hull was later sunk near Haifa.
Web links
- Entry. Historic Naval Ships Association
- Items. (PDF) palyam.org (English)
- Single Ship Report for “6111975” at Miramar Ship Index (English, access subject to registration)