Seven of the 1,303 internees from Mauritius who arrived here yesterday aboard the S.S. Franconia were resting today in Hadassah Hospital, while 160 who do not plan to settle in Palestine are in an UNRRA camp here, where they will remain until they can emigrate overseas. Homes and jobs for the others are being arranged for by the Jewish Agency.
On the journey from Mauritius, which marked the last lap of a five-year edyssey which took the refugees from Europe to Asia, to Africa and back to Asia, two persons, Abraham Folkman, 57, of Vienna and Martha Levi, 76, of Danzig, died and an infant, Franconia Mathilda Hadassah Silberg, was born.
Spectators who witnessed the disembarkation were moved to tears as families which had been separated for five years were reunited, and elderly men and women, who could hardly walk, were helped down the gang-plank. The vessel was met by representatives of all the leading Jewish institutions of Palestine, who revealed that 126 internees had died at Mauritius, fifty children had been born and over 250 had enlisted in the Allied forces, including 58 in the Jewish Brigade.
The refugees’ exile on Mauritius began early in 1941 when they were apprehended attempting to land illegally in Palestine. Despite vigerous protests by the Jewish community they were sent to Mauritius, since it was impossible to send them back to their countries of origin, which were Nazi-controlled.
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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.
