SHABTAI LUZINSKY ex SUSANNA

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aukepalmhof
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SHABTAI LUZINSKY ex SUSANNA

Post by aukepalmhof » Thu Sep 06, 2018 8:36 pm

Israel issued two stamps in 2018 on Pioneer Women, of which one stamp the 2.50 Sh has a maritime theme, it shows us the illegal emigrant vessel SHABTAI LUZINSKY ex SUSANNA on the tap. Of the stamp is given by the Israeli Post:

About Pioneering Women

Recha Freier and Ada Sereni were pioneering women whose names are seldom recognized today. But they have much in common: both were born in the Diaspora and made Aliyah to Eretz Israel; both led long lives – Sereni died at age 92 and Freier lived to age 91; both were awarded the Israel Prize for their special contributions to society and to the State of Israel; and the main similarity – each woman was responsible for bringing thousands of immigrants to Israel – Freier through the Youth Aliyah organization and Sereni through the clandestine immigration from Italy to Eretz Israel during the British Mandate.

Ada Sereni
1905, Italy – 1997, Jerusalem
Sereni was born in Rome and married Zionist activist Enzo Sereni. The couple made Aliyah to Eretz Israel in 1927. They were among the founders of Kibbutz Givat Brenner and had three children. Ada and Enzo were dispatched abroad on numerous occasions. In 1944, Enzo parachuted behind enemy lines in Germany and Italy and all trace of him was lost. Ada returned to Italy to join the efforts to find him.
She was active in the Aliyah Bet clandestine immigration movement in Italy during the years before the establishment of the State of Israel and from 1947 served as head of the association. She was responsible for dispatching tens of thousands of immigrants on dozens of ships. Her fluent Italian and special relations with the heads of the Italian government and the national police opened many doors. She was called "the woman in black" and solved every problem related to clandestine immigration, purchasing for the Haganah and the IDF, as well as various sensitive issues.
In 1995, Ada Sereni was awarded the Israel Prize for her special contribution to society and the State of Israel.
https://www.wopa-plus.com/en/stamps/product/&pgid=47962

Of the SUSANNA I could not find were she was built and who owned her, but Mossad Le’Alyah Bet is the owner in 1946. They were mostly buying older ships for the illegal emigrant trade and that she was built in 1946 I doubt.
Her tonnage given as 298 grt in 1946.
She was renamed in SHABTAI LUZINSKY after she was refitted in an emigrant vessel.
She sailed under the Italian flag..

The SUSANNA was a cargo ship that became known as the immigrant ship SHABTAI LUZINSKY during the illegal immigration of European Jews to Palestine in 1947.

Immigrant ship
The SUSANNA was rebuilt in February 1947 by Palyam members in Porto Venere for the transport of immigrants. She then sailed to Metapont and took 650 immigrants on board. On March 4, the ship ran out together with the ALBERTINA towards Palestine. For this trip, the SUSANNA received the Hagana codenamed Shabtay Luzinsky , in memory of a Mossad member who was killed in a car accident on January 18, 1947 in Rome while working as an envoy of the Jewish Agency .
After a five-day journey, the SUSANNA took over as planned, the immigrants and part of the Jewish team of the ALBERTINA. The ALBERTINA, however, took over non-Jewish crew members from the SUSANNA , as well as several Palmachniks and returned to Italy. The ALBERTINA thus fulfilled the function of an escort ship .
With now 823 immigrants aboard the SUSANNA continued the trip to Israel. About 130 of these immigrants were trained and trained in the camps in Europe, according to a plan by David Ben Gurion, to reinforce the Hagana immediately upon their arrival in Israel.

At noon on 12 March, the SUSANNA reached the coast near Nizanim near Tel Aviv , where she was expected by the Palyam. Because of the storm and the high waves, the immigrants could not be landed as planned with the ship's rowing boats . To reduce the distance to the shore, the captain steered the ship closer until the SUSANNA ran aground about 120 meters from the shore. From the ship, a rope was stretched to the shore, and Palyamniks pulled themselves along the rope from the shore to the ship, taking over immigrants and pulling back on the rope to shore. To speed up the trip - the SUSANNA was still not discovered by the British despite daylight and the proximity to Tel Aviv - the healthy and stronger immigrants were instructed to jump into the water with life vests and swim to the shore. On the banks, the immigrants were immediately distributed to the surrounding Jewish settlements and hidden there.
After about three hours, such a convoy , which transported the SUSANNA passengers to a settlement, was accidentally stopped by a British patrol. They immediately alerted reinforcements, locked off the stretch of beach and kept the immigrants present there, from the sea side a British destroyer secured the area. At this time around 250 immigrants were successfully hiding in the hinterland. From the destroyer a boat was launched with sailors who should take over the command on the SUSANNA. But the boat capsized in the rough sea, with three British drowned.
When it became known in the Jewish settlements that the SUSANNA was discovered, numerous Jewish civilians came to the beach and mingleit isd with the immigrants. This should hamper and confuse the British in their actions. However, the British arrested all Jews present and took them to the military base in Ashkelon for identification. Since the Jews had destroyed all documents and answered all questions only with "I am a Jew from Israel", the British were also largely unsuccessful in Ashkelon. That's why more than 900 Jews were transported by truck to Haifa .
After the in-depth review in Haifa, about 240 Jews were released, and around 700 were taken to the Xylotumbou detention center in Cyprus with the two deportation ship EMPIRE RIVAL and EMPIRE SHELTER as part of Operation Igloo . In two waves of release on 15 and 28 March, a total of 325 Jews were sent back to Israel. However, a final sorting out of immigrants the British never succeeded, and it is known at least that there were 255 successful deceptions. Thus, there were both immigrants who already passed through in Ashkelon or Haifa as "locals", or were sent back from Cyprus in March, as well as locals who remained in various cases until 15 May 1948 in the camps in Cyprus.
The abandoned wreck was later burned by the Arabs.

Trivia
The solidarity between the locals and the immigrants of the SUSANNA was sung by the well-known Israeli singer Haim Hefer in the song Shoshana, Shoshana.
The SUSANNA was the only ship discovered by the British during the removal of the immigrants. This event was picked up in the movie " Milk and Honey " and mixed with the events of other immigrant ships

http://paulsilverstone.com/ship/shabtai-luzinsky/
Israel 2018 2.50Sh sg?, scott? (The British destroyer in the background is not identified.)


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Attachments
shabtai luzinsky.png
2018 ADA SERENI (2).jpg

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