Stranded in Boğaz, Cyprus: The affair of the Pan Ships

Öz

This article sheds some new light on the affair of the Pan Crescent and the Pan York, the largest ships to carry ‘illegal’ Jewish immigrants to Palestine from Bulgaria in 1947 / 1948. These ageing vessels were apprehended by the British authorities off the Dardanelles and escorted to an enforced detention near Famagusta, Cyprus. The ships remained anchored near Boğaz for five months while their human cargos were sent to camps just outside the walls of the historic city. As the clock counted down on the British Mandate in Palestine throughout early 1948, the fate of the vessels, and the thousands of immigrants who depended upon them, hung in the balance. Now, through a recently instigated cataloguing project for Cypriot newspapers instigated at the National Archive in Kyrenia, and the simultaneous uncovering of some relevant documents at the Public Records Office in London, a fuller understanding and appreciation of the events in this critical post war period can be attempted. This article is one of a series published in the Journal of Cyprus Studies that draws historical links between Cyprus and the Jewish people

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Cyprus,Famagusta,Jewish Immigration,Palestine,Pan York

Stranded in Boğaz, Cyprus: The affair of the Pan Ships

Öz

Bu Bulgaristan’dan yola çıkıp Kıbrıs üzerinde Filistine götüren Pan Crescent ve Pan York gemilerine ilişkin tarihteki karanlığa yeni bir ışık yakmaktadır. Bu yolculuğun başında bu tarihi gemiler İngiliz yetkililer tarafından Çanakkale boğazında yakalanmış ve Magosa’ya kadar nezaret edilerek insan olan yükleri tarihi şehrin duvarının hemen dışında karaya çıkarılarak burada göçmenler tutuklama kampında tutulmuşlardı. Bu gemiler daha sonra aynı yıl kış ve baharı geçirecekleri Boğaza demirlemişlerdi. 1948 yılının başlarına doğru Filistindeki ingiliz mandası gücünü yitirirken bu gemilerin ve binlerce göçmenlerin kaderi belirsiz kalmıştı. Şimdi Girne’deki Ulusal Arşivde bulunan Kıbrıs Türk Gazeteleri, Lefkoşedeki yunan kıbrıs dilindeki basın ve Danışnışma Ofisi kaynakları ile Londra’daki İngiliz Ulusal Arşivlerinde yeni bulunan resmi belgeler kullanılarak savaş sonrası söz konusu kaotic döneminin tüm yönleri ve değerleri anlaşılmaya çalışılabilir. Bu makale

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Kıbrıs,Magosa,Yahudi Göçü,Filistin,Pan York,Pan Crescent

Kaynakça

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4. Ben-Zur, Yehuda. Interview by D. Goldman, 23.3.2008.
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6. Documents, private collection, courtesy of Gad Hilb.
7. Dorril, S. MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty’s Secret Intelligence Service, New York : The Free Press, 2000.
8. Gabriel (?), (1948). Report on My Visit to Cyprus on 14.4.1948, a written statement (typed), Haganah Archive, file 14 / Zim / 17 [Hebrew].

9. Hadari (Venia) Zeev and Zeev Tsahor, Ships or a State, the Story of Pan York and Pan Crescent, Israel: Hakibbutz Hameuchad and BenGurion University of the Negev, 1981 [Hebrew].
10. Hadari (Venia) Zeev and Zeev Tsahor, Voyage to Freedom, an Episode in the Illegal Immigration to Palestine, London and Totowa, New Jersey: Valentine, Mitchell and Co., 1985.
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12. Military Branch, Admiralty, Illegal Immigration into Palestine by Sea 1945-1948, National Archives document ADM 1/21106, 3.3.1949.
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16. Naphkha, Biba (no date). In Cyprus, a testimony (typed), Haganah Archive, file 171-25 [Hebrew].
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