American volunteers in illegal immigration to Palestine, 1946–1948

Abstract

At the end of World War II, Zionist leaders sought to make the post-war fate of the Jewish displaced persons (DPs) a major item on the international agenda, aiming to create a link, in the minds of global policymakers, between solving the problem of European Jewish DPs and the founding of a Jewish State in Palestine (Eretz-Israel). One means at their disposal was organized illegal immigration to Palestine by sea, namely, the Hacapalah, or Aliyah Bet. Initiated in 1934, the Hacapalah gained momentum in the second half of the 1930s, and was adopted by the Zionist leadership as the major tool in the struggle against the White Paper of 1939. Although the Hacapalah was gradually diminished after the outbreak of World War II, and came to a virtual halt during the war, the infrastructure of experienced personnel and shipping connections was not totally lost, thus facilitating the renewal of the Hacapalah shortly after the war.1