Celebrating 80 years ...

In a rare use of color, the headline of the March 20, 1942, issue of the Jewish Western Bulletin – “External Welfare Campaign 1942-43 Quota $12,000” – was printed in red ink. At the top of the page, also in red, was the question: “Do You Care – Will You Share?” under which was a plea for donations. “They Also Serve – Who Give” was in red at the bottom of the page.

Among the stories of refugees trying to leave Europe, matza and medicines being delivered to Polish refugees in the Soviet Union, local Jewish war efforts and a horrifically prescient article entitled “German paper warns Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe of annihilation before Nazis lose,” were two stories about the sinking of the SS Struma, as well as three cables protesting the Palestine administration and British Colonial Office in London for refusing to permit the ship’s passengers to enter Palestine. Forced to return to Romania with the 769 refugees who were fleeing the Holocaust, the Struma struck a mine in the Black Sea and exploded.

The article “Work Stops, Amusement Places Close to Mark Yishuv’s Mourning of ‘Strume’ [sic] Refugees,” described the reaction to the tragedy in Palestine. “All entertainment and amusement places in the all-Jewish city of Tel Aviv were closed and Jewish institutions throughout Palestine lowered the Jewish national flag to half-mast as the Palestine Jewish community mourned the tragic deaths of the 750 [sic] Rumanian [sic] Jewish refugees who drowned in the icy waters of the Black Sea when the freighter ‘Strume’ exploded and sank,” it began.

“The feeling of grief evoked here by the disaster was accompanied by bitter indignation against the Palestine government, which had refused the ‘Strume’ refugees permission to enter Palestine under the current immigration schedule,” it continued.

The article indicated that there was “a work stoppage in all industries save those concerned with the country’s war program. The closing of entertainment places spread from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and Haifa.” There were also protests and demonstrations, which “were orderly with no disturbances reported. The Hebrew Press published black borders on its front pages.” And there were demands not only from the Jewish Agency, but “delivered in person by the Chief Rabbinate of Palestine,” for “a change in the administration’s policy regarding the admission of stateless Jewish refugees in order to prevent similar tragedies in the future.”

The article concluded, “The ‘Strume’ disaster, occurring a little more than a year after the S.S. Patria exploded and capsized in Haifa Harbor with the loss of more than 200 Jewish refugees, gave impetus to the demand here for the return of the Jewish refugees who were last year deported for the duration of war from Palestine to the island of Mauritius. A resolution adopted by a mass meeting demanded the return of the refugees ‘before they are menaced by Japanese aggression against Mauritius.’ ”

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