Struma film screens here

Proceeds will aid the Zionist dream of a blooming desert.

PAT JOHNSON REPORTER

The local branch of Canadian Associates of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) is sponsoring the West Coast première of The Struma, a new documentary on an historic tragedy during the Second World War.

The Struma was a ship carrying 800 Romanian Jews that was torpedoed in the Black Sea. All but one perished. The film is a fund-raising event for Ben-Gurion University.

The university is at the forefront of the world's efforts to understand and ameliorate desertification - the expansion of deserts due to both climate change and the exhaustion of dry-land resources caused by human overuse.

Technology being created at the university will become absolutely essential to the 900 million people in the world facing water shortages because of advancing deserts.

The preservation and creation of potable water has been a primary concern for Israeli researchers for obvious reasons - the Negev desert covers 60 per cent of Israel's land mass. The late prime minister David Ben-Gurion realized that the hope for a prosperous Israel lay in making the desert bloom. The national desert research institute was commissioned by Israel's government in 1974 and since then has massively increased knowledge of the field from its location at BGU, near Beer Sheva in the heart of the desert. The Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research at BGU has grappled with the contradictory demands of maintaining fragile dry-land eco-systems while at the same time turning some of the area into arable land.

Aside from ongoing violence, lack of water remains perhaps the greatest threat to Israel's future. In addition to natural changes, some sources of water are no longer under Israeli control, having been turned over to the Palestinian Authority. Creating new sources for both drinking and agriculture is central to Israel's future. Research is focusing on desalination as a likely source for new potable water.

There are vast resources of water under the Negev desert, but it is unusable at present due to salinity. Other areas of investigation include attempts to use solar energy in the desalination of sea water. Another possibility is recycling waste water for use in agriculture.

Already, salty water is being used to provide irrigation for tomatoes, melons, peppers, potatoes, olives and grapes in the Negev, providing lucrative and previously unthinkable sources of revenue. This work at BGU will be the beneficiary of the fund-raising event next Sunday.

The film itself tells the story of the Romanian Jews who, in 1941, boarded the small, 46-metre boat called the Struma, hoping for a new life in Palestine. Crowded in small quarters, the passengers prepared for an uncomfortable trip across the Black Sea. En route, the engine failed, but the boat managed to reach Istanbul harbor.

Turkey was attempting to maintain neutrality in the war, and was under intense pressure from Britain not to allow the vessel to pass, as the British were harshly limiting Jewish migration to Palestine.

For 71 days, the boat sat off Istanbul waiting for permission to pass, at which point, Great Britain issued visas for 50 children to go to Palestine. By that time, however, Turkey had decided to wash its hands of the whole affair and, without allowing the 50 reprieved children to disembark, towed the boat out of Turkey's territorial waters. With the engine out of service, the boat drifted aimlessly. In a mystery that has remained for decades, a single torpedo sank the ship. A day later, Turkish fisherman found one survivor from the nearly 800 on the ship.

That survivor, David Stoliar, is still alive and he joined Canadian director Simcha Jacobovici in piecing together the story of the ill-fated vessel and its passengers. Jacobovici also joined forces with Greg Buxton, an elite diver whose grandparents perished on the Struma. Buxton led an international expedition to the resting place of the Struma, while Jacobovici's crew filmed on location and interspersed the footage with archival footage.

Sandy Fayerman, executive director of the Vancouver chapter of Canadian Associates of Ben-Gurion University, and Cathy Golden, the group's public relations director, said the film has particular resonance right now as the world struggles to assimilate the disasters of Sept. 11.

"Today, given what's going on, it's important for us to remember who our heroes are," said Golden. "This is about Jewish history."

"We are honoring 779 heroes of Jewish history," added Fayerman. The proceeds from the event will lead to the blossoming of the desert that was the Zionist dream of the Struma's passengers and which remains relevant today, said Fayerman.

The Struma screens at 7 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 25, at the Four Seasons Hotel. A reception with the director follows the screening. Call 604-736-5386 for tickets.

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