The story of Gizela - Afik Shiraz. Abinun Shmuel

Kefalos

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The Cruise to Israel (December 1948)

Kefalos, the ship that took us to Israel, was used to smuggle surplus American weapons to the country (Israel), as part of a deal that Ben Gurion made for the protection of the Jewish community in Israel. There was a weapon warehouse in the basements of the ship, weapon which turned out to be old-fashioned and in retrospect, also caused many accidents. On the floor above, cows were housed, and on the deck floor was a large hall with three-story beds for us, the immigrants. About 2,000 refugees who were concentrated in Zagreb and transported to Copper Harbor by train and taken aboard – one side was introduced from Bosnia and Croatia, and the other side - the group from Macedonia and Serbia. When we board the ship, we all shared food. Some of us brought food with us for the sailing, however, the captain of the ship instructed us to throw it into the sea for Kosher reasons and so we did. That was going to turn out to be a mistake, as the cruise, which was supposed to last four days, extended and continued about thirteen days because of a technical malfunction. Because the sea was turbulent, the other ships could not approach and resume ours supply, so we left without enough food for the rest of the voyage. We had to pick up crumbs from what was left so that Samuel was two and a half years will not starve. It was a difficult and tense voyage. Under the danger of drowning over us the children were concentrated near the sailors that were ready for rescue, but once we repaired the ship, the voyage continued as planned and did not last long. We arrived on the Israeli coast on the morning of Saturday, December 25, and as it was impossible to get off the ship on Saturday or leave during the night, we stayed another day. On Sunday we went down from the ship in Haifa port, where they signed us up and gave us IDs then we were loaded onto trucks that took us to the immigrant camp in Beer Yaakov. It was a hard ride because there were no places to sit and so we had to travel when we huddled like sardines. By one hand I held on to what I could find, and the other I held the 2-year-old Samuel. Leon held a suitcase in each hand, so he couldn't exchange with me during the trip.

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