The 10,000 ton passenger-cargo ship, the Zion, slid down the ways here today after being launched by Mrs. Hermann Maas, wife of Dean Maas, one of the staunchest friends the Jews have had in Germany for the past few decades. The Zion and her sister ship Israel, launched last March, are the largest vessels to fly the Israel flag. Both were built in West Germany as reparations payments to Israel under the terms of the Luxembourg Agreement.
The Zion has accommodations for 312 passengers in first class and tourist accommodations and can carry at the same time some 5,000 tons of freight. The 500-foot long vessel also has a synagogue with seating capacity for 50 persons, a cinema, a swimming pool and a variety of other recreational facilities. The vessel will be placed on Haifa-New York and Haifa-Halifax runs.
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.
