Francois Collaveri, police prefect of the Ain Department, sailed today from Marseilles for Israel where he will be an official guest of the Israel Government for two weeks. The invitation was extended to M. Collaveri in gratitude for his services to visaless Jewish immigrants in the port of Marseilles before the formation of the State of Israel and for activities during the war in behalf of Jews, which earned him the enmity of the Gestapo.
When the “hell ship” Exodus was in Marseilles harbor during the postwar period, loaded to the gunwales with visaless Jews whom the British were attempting to keep out of Palestine, M. Collaveri organized supply and other services for the 4,500 Jews on the vessel. With the assistance of the Joint Distribution Committee, this supply system fed the immigrants during their entire stay in the harbor.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
