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The Patria disaster was the sinking on 25 November 1940 by the Haganah of a French-built ocean liner, the 11,885-tonSS Patria, in the port of Haifa, killing 267 people and injuring 172.[1]
At the time of the sinking, Patria was carrying about 1,800 Jewish refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe whom the British authorities were deporting from Mandatory Palestine to Mauritius because they lacked entry permits. Zionist organizations opposed the deportation, and the underground paramilitary Haganah group planted a bomb intended to disable the ship to prevent it from leaving Haifa.
The Haganah claims to have miscalculated the effects of the explosion. The bomb blew the steel frame off one full side of the ship and the ship sank in less than 16 minutes, trapping hundreds in the hold. The British allowed the survivors to remain in Palestine on humanitarian grounds. Who was responsible and the true reason why Patria sank remained controversial mysteries until 1957, when Munya Mardor, the person who planted the bomb
published a book about his experiences
Patria disaster - Wikipedia
The Haganah officer in charge of the operation was Yitzhak Sadeh, a Polish Jew who would be a founder of the IDF, authorized by Moshe Sharett, who would become the second Prime Minister of Israel
The Patria disaster was the sinking on 25 November 1940 by the Haganah of a French-built ocean liner, the 11,885-tonSS Patria, in the port of Haifa, killing 267 people and injuring 172.[1]
At the time of the sinking, Patria was carrying about 1,800 Jewish refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe whom the British authorities were deporting from Mandatory Palestine to Mauritius because they lacked entry permits. Zionist organizations opposed the deportation, and the underground paramilitary Haganah group planted a bomb intended to disable the ship to prevent it from leaving Haifa.
The Haganah claims to have miscalculated the effects of the explosion. The bomb blew the steel frame off one full side of the ship and the ship sank in less than 16 minutes, trapping hundreds in the hold. The British allowed the survivors to remain in Palestine on humanitarian grounds. Who was responsible and the true reason why Patria sank remained controversial mysteries until 1957, when Munya Mardor, the person who planted the bomb
published a book about his experiences
Patria disaster - Wikipedia
The Haganah officer in charge of the operation was Yitzhak Sadeh, a Polish Jew who would be a founder of the IDF, authorized by Moshe Sharett, who would become the second Prime Minister of Israel
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