by Donald Hunt
The journey would take them along the coast of France to the coast of Spain and Portugal, then east through the Strait of Gibraltar, gateway to the Mediterranean from the Atlantic. The Strait is only eight miles wide at its narrowest point, separating Spain and Gibraltar on the European continent from Morocco on the African continent. Gibraltar was a British territory ceded by Spain to Britain in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht. Since that time, Great Britain had maintained sovereignty over the territory. The ship would sail east past the northern tip of Tunisia and the southern tip of Sicily, then continue east south-east to Tel Aviv.
The trip was uneventful. Only a handful of the passengers had ever been on the open sea, and the weather was nice, the seas calm. To a person, the excitement was palpable. Anna stood on the bow as they passed Gibraltar. She could just make out the Union Jack flying above the rock fortress that overlooked the Strait. Unlike Gibraltar, Anna was aware of the laconic British influence over Palestine, whose history dated back well over 3,000 years. After the Hebrew exodus from Egypt, Joshua led the people into the land that had been promised to Abraham by the Lord hundreds of years earlier.
In the ensuing millennia, time and again, foreign powers invaded the Jewish homeland. The Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans all conquered it. Until 70 AD, it had always reverted back to a Jewish land known in Hebrew as Evetz Yisrael. But after 70 AD, most Jewish occupants were driven from their land. The Byzantine Romans controlled the land for 600 years, then they were driven out by Muslims, the last being the Ottoman Turks. At the end of WWII control was shifted to the Allies and the British assumed command over Palestine. Now the British were leaving.
Even with all of the violence and blood-shed over the centuries, the Jews had always had a presence in Palestine. The longing for a homeland was constant. For generations, Jewish men, including those who had no chance or even the desire to return to Palestine, would pledge to each other at the end of their Passover Feast – “Next Year in Jerusalem!”
As the H.M.S. Darcy steamed the Jewish immigrants toward Tel Aviv, each of the 748 passengers had a single goal – to join their 600,000 Hebrew brothers and sisters in reclaiming their land. But 1.2 million Arab Palestinians were just as determined to prevent this. Their own ancestors had lived in Palestine for seven centuries, and for the most part, they had lived a peaceful co-existence with their Hebrew neighbors. They knew they were not responsible for the murder of six million Jews in Europe, and had a history of treating the Jews with respect and compassion. But an uneasy peace was now being kept by 100,000 British soldiers. And these soldiers were scheduled to leave on May fifteenth.
Almost five months before, on the night of November 29, 1948, in Flushing Meadows New York, the U.N. General Assembly had voted to partition Palestine with a Jewish sector and an Arab sector. Jerusalem, with its highly charged religious shrines, would be under international control. This solution to the creation of a Jewish homeland was not satisfactory to either the Jews or the Arabs. The vote by the U.N. had been highly charged, but it wasn’t close. The U.S. had levied diplomatic pressure in favor of partition. But while America was pushing for unlimited Jewish immigration to Palestine, the U.S. Congress had prevented a relief bill for Hebrew immigrants to even come up for a vote, maintaining the Jewish immigration quota into the U.S. at 4,767 annually.
Still, news of the U.N. vote for partition was welcomed in the Jewish sectors of Jerusalem. It resulted in a wild celebration that lasted through the night. The celebration began with the mournful bleating of a shofar, the ram’s horn trumpet. Scripture holds that this same kind of trumpet was used 2,400 years earlier by Joshua and his army to bring down the walls of Jericho. But all was not merriment. As they waited for news of the vote, men of the Haganah, the Jewish paramilitary defense force, listened to their leader, Yitzhak Sadeh. When asked of the vote he stoically said,
“I do not care. If the vote is for us, the Arabs will make war on us. If the vote is against us, then it is we who will make war on them.”
The men in the room grew grimly silent. Either way they would face death.
As synagogues opened for all night celebrations and thousands of Jewish young people danced arm-in-arm in the streets, one curious observer watched from the third-floor balcony of his hotel room in Tel Aviv. Captain Abdul-Aziz Kerine, of the Syrian Army, would be boarding a plane later that day at Lydda Airport. His mission was to travel to Prague where he planned to buy 10,000 rifles and 1,000 machine guns for the planned Arab answer to the celebrations.
The morning of April seventeenth found Anna in her favorite place on the Darcy. She enjoyed standing on the ship’s bow letting the wind sweep her hair back off of her forehead. This was the only place where a passenger could observe the dolphins darting in and out of the sea in front of the ship. They danced through the water as if in a race. Anna watched them, cognizant that today was the fifth day of the voyage, the day she had anticipated for the past 18 months.
She squinted her eyes against the wind and the bright sunlight reflecting off of the water’s surface. Then as the clock moved to mid-morning, she saw it. The Mediterranean coast of Palestine began to appear on the horizon. Within a half-hour, the port city of Tel Aviv was in view. Anna and her fellow passengers were going home.
Tel Aviv had grown up out of the ancient port city of Jaffa. Its name was taken from the Old Testament book of Ezekiel. A ‘tel’ is an archaeological site or mound where layers of ancient civilizations are found. Aviv is the Hebrew word for ‘spring’ or ‘grain’. So the literal meaning is ‘hill of spring’, symbolic of renewal.
Anna could feel the flood of emotion sweeping over her. Since 1933, her people had been placed at greater and greater risk. They were all considered ‘untermenschen’ (subhuman) and treated as such. Now there was a significant chance they would have a homeland. She whispered to herself the Yiddish phrase ‘mazel tov’ which means good fortune. After so much heartache, so much suffering and death, ‘mazel tov’.
The docking of an ocean-going vessel is time consuming. The tugs met the ship about two nautical miles from the dock and slowly guided her in. The entire process took almost three hours. The first immigrant set foot on Palestinian soil at 4:47 p.m. that day, and thus began a rather arduous customs process. Tight security was imperative despite the fact that all of the immigrants had been carefully pre-screened. Sabotage was always a possibility, even with a British presence.
Each of the immigrants had indicated a desire to remain in Palestine indefinitely. Like Anna, most were displaced from their country of origin for many different reasons. Virtually everyone had made the decision not to return in favor of a new life in Palestine.
The hostel set to house the group was a series of dormitory-like buildings, four in all, on a campus three miles from the dock. Single women and men occupied individual buildings. The other two were for families or orphaned children. Each building had a mess hall and meeting rooms. Orientation lectures were given each morning of the week. But afternoons were free time.
Anna found Tel Aviv was a bustling place. It was rapidly becoming the economic center of Jewish Palestine. The climate in this portion of the ‘fertile crescent’ was arid, even hot compared to the wet, cooler temperatures in England. Here, the constant easterly ocean breezes kept the coastal city pleasant and the low humidity made life comfortable. No one really minded the heat. Tel Aviv was dotted with gardens that held a wide variety of plants and trees. Anna’s favorites were the palms and bougainvilleas. The skies were crystal blue. Without the haze that comes with humidity, the colors seemed more vivid to her. On occasion an early morning fog rolled in, but always, it burned away by mid-morning.
Many factors bound the ménage of Israel together, but none more than their language. Anna had studied Hebrew as a youngster but had never had the need to speak it. Thanks to a 19- year old lawyer’s son form Poland, Jewish Palestinians spoke Hebrew. David Green immigrated to
Palestine in 1906, left to study law in Turkey, moved to New York City, got married and returned to Palestine in 1920. He changed his name because there was nothing ‘Hebrew’ about Green. He adopted a Hebrew name that meant ‘son of a lion cub’. The man, David Ben-Gurion, then became the editor of a Zionist trade paper and was committed to the Hebrew spoken word. He also became Israel’s first Prime Minister.
Over the next three weeks Anna plunged into the history of Jewish Palestine, its customs, strengths and weaknesses. She became convinced that ‘the Holy One of Israel’ had brought her to this land. When Anna needed or wanted a deeper understanding or a reminder of her blessing, she would look inside her left forearm. The tattoo read B-76083.
In the evening, Anna often took a bus 12 blocks to the central market across from the ocean. It was a food bazaar of fresh vegetables, fish, flowers, baked goods, baskets, clothing and much more. She was falling deeply in love with this land and her people and felt herself basking in the joy of freedom and the security of sovereignty. She always looked forward to the bus ride. It gave her the opportunity to study the people and their faces. She saw in them, a reflection of what she herself felt.
One evening Anna caught the bus about dusk. She had discovered that she enjoyed the market most when the cool ocean breezes of the late afternoon caressed the shoppers. The bus was two blocks from the market when her eye caught a figure that looked strangely familiar. She peered intently as the bus made its stop. When it began to roll again she jumped from her seat and ran to the front.
“Stop the bus, please. I must get off!”
Anna bolted from the door, running, her eyes searching the crowd. Then she saw him. The large man with the black beard she had seen from the bus was suddenly in front of her. She was sure she knew who he was.
“Beryl!” she called out.
The man turned toward her with a startled look. “Beryl, its Anna. Anna Eichenwald.”
Without speaking he reached out, placing his massive arms around her. “Anna, Anna, you are safe, you are alive. We thought you had been killed.” He stepped back to look at her.
“You look wonderful. Let me look at you.”
Anna’s eyes filled with tears as she looked into his face. She was almost afraid to ask. “Eric? What happened to Eric?”
“Why, Anna. He is standing behind you. He went to get ice cream.”
Anna turned and found herself looking into the eyes of a tall, thin boy with black curly hair and dark eyes. He had a slight smile and looked at Anna as if he should know her.
As she realized this child, the one she had worked so tirelessly to save, was now safely with her in Israel, she whispered, “Ja! Die sonne scheint noch – yes, the sun still shines!”
About the Author
Donald Hunt is a retired vascular surgeon. His academic passion was not centered on chemistry and biology, but in history. After retiring, he traded his scalpel for a pen and began research to produce a historical novel. He saw the five decades from 1900 - 1950 as most critical in shaping both the world of science and the fulfillment of the promise of Genesis 12:7. He and artist wife Delia live in the Texas hill country.
Author Don Hunt
Appendix
Historical figures, their chapter appearance and importance:
Adolph Hitler – Chapter 1
An insignificant Austrian corporal who served in WWI and rose to power in Germany in 1933. His goal was to concur and control all of Europe and rid these lands of all Jews. He predicted a 1000-year reign of the German Third Reich. It lasted 12 years. Rather than face trial for his war crimes, he took his own life and had his remains burned.
Albert Einstein – Chapter 1
The world’s most noted theoretical physicist who published papers detailing his theories of special relativity (1905) and general relativity (1915). He was a German Jew who left just before Hitler came to power He was awarded a Nobel Prize in physics in 1921 for his discovery of the photoelectric effect.
Matthias Erzberger – Chapter 2
A German Catholic politician, murdered by terrorists because he had signed the armistice ending WWI.
Walter Rathenou – Chapter 2
The highest ranking Jewish official in Germany assassinated by those who blamed him for defeat in WWI.
Sir Isaac Newton – Chapter 3
English physicist who described the laws of gravitational forces controlling planetary orbits in our solar system He devised the math to prove his theories we know today as calculus.
Max Plank – Chapter 3
A German theoretical physicist who developed quantum theory (also known as quantum mechanics). This theory describes the nature of the smallest scales of energy levels of atoms & subatomic particles. He was awarded the 1918 Nobel Prize for this work.
Field Marshal Hindenburg – Chapter 4
Commander of German military, second half of WWI. Elected President in 1925 and re-elected 1932. In poor health, he was pressured into appointing Hitler as Chancellor of Germany in 1933.
Karl Marx – Chapter 5
A German born in 1818 and the son of a Jewish lawyer. He lectured at the University of Berlin, but was forced from Germany because of his radical views. In 1848 with Friedrich Engels, published the Communist Manifesto.
Charles Dawes – Chapter 6
An American banker responsible for developing a plan to pull Germany out of a severe inflationary spiral post WWI.
Arthur Schnabel – Chapter 6 b. 1882 in Austria. He was a classical pianist considered a great interpreter of Beethoven & Schubert. He was best known for performing the complete cycle of 32 Beethoven Sonatas.
Charles Lindbergh – Chapter 6
American aviator famous for being the first to cross the Atlantic flying solo non-stop from Long Island, NY to Paris. He gained fame winning the Medal of Honor for his feat. His plane, the Spirit of St. Louis is on display at the National Air and Space Museum.
Joseph Goebbels – Chapter 6
A German Nazi and Propaganda Minister for Hitler. He was an ardent supporter of Hitler, fully advocating the extermination of all Jews in Europe. After the defeat of Germany and death of Hitler, he and his wife, Magda, poisoned their six children with cyanide and committed suicide.
Heinrich Himmler – Chapter 6
As a leading member of the Nazi Party, he was the principle architect for the “Final Solution” to rid Europe of all Jews by extermination. He served as head of the State Secret Police (Gestapo) and a paramilitary organization – Schutzstaffel or SS.
Ernst Rohm – Chapter 6
As an early supporter of Hitler, he headed the Storm Battalion or SA in the 1920’s and early ‘30’s. They were the ‘street thugs’ who battled Socialists and Communists. Under Rohm’s leadership the SA became more powerful and a threat to Hitler. He was executed by Hitler’s order in July, 1934.
Lise Meitner – Chapter 7
Austrian born physicist who was a professor at the K-W Institute in Berlin in ‘30’s. She helped discover the process of nuclear fission (splitting the atomic nucleus). She was dismissed from her teaching position because of the anti-Jewish Nuremberg Laws…. Born to Jewish parents in Vienna in 1878, she became a Christian in 1908 at age 30, and fled Germany to Sweden in 1938.
Otto Hahn – Chapter 7
A German chemist working jointly with Lise Meitner, furthered the work of Italian physicist Enrico Fermi, to bombard Uranium with neutrons seeking to ‘split’ the Uranium nucleus. In 1938 he accomplished this feat, opening up to the world, nuclear energy. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics / chemistry in 1944.
Niels Bohr – Chapter 7
b. 1885 a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to the structure of the atom and subsequently to quantum theory. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1922. He worked tirelessly to support scientists escaping Germany. In 1943
he fled the Nazis to England with his family.
Hermon Goering – Chapter 7
The second most powerful member of the Nazi Reich. He was the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force (Luftwaffe) After the defeat of Germany in 1945, he was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to death by hanging. He committed suicide by ingesting cyanide the day before his scheduled execution.
Leo Szilard – Chapter 7
b. 1898. A Hungarian physicist who conceived the nuclear chain reaction. In 1928 and 1929 he submitted patents for a linear accelerator and a cyclotron. In 1939 he drafted a letter, signed by Einstein, to be presented to President Roosevelt supporting the building of an atomic weapon, what became known as the Manhattan Project.
James Chadwick – Chapter 7
b. 1891. British physicist awarded the 1935 Nobel Prize in physics for his discovery of the neutron (a subatomic particle). In the later stages of WWII he was head of a British team working in New Mexico on the Manhattan Project.
Winston Churchill – Chapter 10 b. 1874, served as British Prime Minister, 1940-1945. In the years before WWII he stressed rearmament to counter the growing threat of Nazi aggression. He replaced Chamberlain as Prime Minister in May 1940 and is widely credited with stabilizing the war effort to defeat Germany. He was also an accomplished writer of history winning the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Benito Mussolini – Chapter 10
b. 1883, Italy. A politician who served as Italian Prime Minister 1922-1943. He developed a one-party Italy to join Germany to concur Europe. Italy joined the war effort in June 1940 after the fall of France; however Italian forces were defeated on every front. He was deposed as Prime Minister in 1943. He attempted to flee to Switzerland in 1945 but was caught and executed.