Aliyah Bet

Aliyah Bet (, "Aliyah 'B'" – bet being the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet) was the code name given to illegal immigration by Jews, most of whom were refugees escaping from Nazi Germany, and later Holocaust survivors, to Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and 1948, in violation of the restrictions laid out in the British White Paper of 1939, which dramatically increased between 1939 and 1948.
With the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948, Jewish displaced persons and refugees from Europe began streaming into the new sovereign state.
In modern-day Israel it has also been called by the Hebrew term Ha'apala (, "Ascension"). The "Aliyah Bet" is distinguished from the "Aliyah Aleph" ("Aliyah 'A'", Aleph being the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet) which refers to the limited Jewish immigration permitted by British authorities during the same period. The name "Aliya B" is also shortened name for "Aliya Bilty Legalit" (, "illegal immigration").
Organization.
During "Ha'apala", several emissaries from the Yishuv, Jewish partisans, the Jewish Brigade of the British Army, Zionist youth movements and organizations worked together to facilitate the immigration of Jews escaping from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine beyond the established "White Paper" quotas. As the persecution of Jews dramatically intensified in German-occupied Europe during the Nazi era, the urgency driving the immigration also became more acute.
"Ha'apala" occurred in two phases. The first one, from 1934 to 1942, was an effort to enable European Jews to escape Nazi persecution and genocide. The second one, from 1945 to 1948, in a stage known as "Bricha" ("flight" or "escape"), was an effort to find homes for Jewish survivors of the Nazi crimes ("Sh'erit ha-Pletah", "Surviving Remnant") who were among the millions of displaced persons ("DPs") languishing in refugee camps scattered across post-war Europe, primarily located in Allied-occupied Germany and Austria, and Italy.
During the first phase, several Zionist organizations (including Revisionists) led the effort; after World War II, the Mossad LeAliyah Bet ("the Institute for Aliyah B"), an arm of the Haganah, took charge. The Palyam, a maritime branch of the Palmach, was given responsibility for commanding and sailing ships from Europe to Mandatory Palestine.
Routes.
Post-World War II, "Ha'apala" journeys typically started in the DP camps and moved through one of two collection points in the American occupation sector, Bad Reichenhall and Leipheim. From there, the refugees travelled in disguised trucks, on foot, or by train to ports on the Mediterranean Sea, where ships brought them to Palestine. Most of the ships had names such as "Lo Tafchidunu" ("You can't frighten us") and "La-Nitzahon" ("To the victory") designed to inspire and rally the Jews of Palestine. Some were named after prominent figures in the Zionist movement, and people who had been killed while supporting Aliyah Bet. More than 70,000 Jews arrived in Palestine on more than 100 ships.
American sector camps imposed no restrictions on the movements out of the camps, and American, French, and Italian officials often turned a blind eye to the movements. Several UNRRA officials (in particular Elizabeth Robertson in Leipheim) acted as facilitators of the emigration. The British government vehemently opposed the movement, and restricted movement in and out of their camps. The British set up armed naval patrols to prevent immigrants from landing in Palestine.
History.
Over 100,000 people attempted to illegally enter Mandatory Palestine. There were 142 voyages by 120 ships. Over half were stopped by the British patrols. The Royal Navy had eight ships on station in Palestine, and additional ships were tasked with tracking suspicious vessels heading for Palestine. Most of the intercepted immigrants were sent to internment camps in Cyprus: (Karaolos near Famagusta, Nicosia, Dhekelia, and Xylotymbou. Some were sent to the Atlit detention camp in Palestine, and some to Mauritius. The British held as many as 50,000 people in these camps (see Jews in British camps on Cyprus). Over 1,600 drowned at sea. Only a few thousand actually entered Palestine.
The pivotal event in the "Ha'apala" program was the incident of the "SS Exodus" in 1947. The "Exodus" was intercepted and boarded by a British patrol. Despite significant resistance from its passengers, "Exodus" was forcibly returned to Europe. Its passengers were eventually sent back to Germany. This was publicized, to the great embarrassment of the British government.
One account of Aliyah Bet is given by journalist I. F. Stone in his 1946 book "Underground to Palestine," a first-person account of traveling from Europe with displaced persons attempting to reach the Jewish homeland.
Some 250 American veterans, including Murray Greenfield (of the ship "Hatikva"), from World War II volunteered to sail ten ships ("The Jews' Secret Fleet") from the United States to Europe to load 35,000 survivors of the Holocaust (half of the illegal immigrants to Palestine), only to be deported to detention camps on Cyprus.
Conclusion.
The success of "Aliyah Bet" was modest when measured in terms of the numbers who succeeded in entering Palestine. But it proved to be a unifying force both for the Jewish community in Palestine (the Yishuv) and for the Holocaust-survivor refugees in Europe (Sh'erit ha-Pletah).
The immigrants who drowned in the sea and whose bodies were found were buried in the National Cemetery in Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.