Dalia Ofer.pdf - WNLibrary

358 NOTES
registration), it was christened Esperos and registered in Bulgaria. David Ben-Yaakov
Stoliar, the sole survivor of its sinking, testified that the boat was owned by Pandelis.
This corroborates other information about the course of events as described by Ze'ev
Shind (see below).
12. CZA S6/42969, report dated 11 January 1942; HA 14/712, report by one of
the Struma immigrants who disembarked in Istanbul on 1/20/42; FO 371/32665 W8572/
657/68, testimony of David Ben Yaakov Stoliar, survivor of the sinking on 5/3/42;
testimony of Perah Gani, J. A. Groups of Betar members from the provinces reached
Bucharest and demanded to be included among the passengers.
13. CZA S6/42969 dated 1/11 and 1/21/42 and HA 14/712, testimony of Stoliar.
14. Ibid.
15. Ma'ariv, 5/14/65, Israel Dinari in "Interview of the Week," interviewed by
Rafael Bashan.
16. FO 371/32665 W9936, statement by Ben-Yaakov Stoliar.
17. My account of the ship's departure and the course of the voyage to Istanbul
is based on a number of letters and statements by passengers who disembarked
in January 1942. These date from the 8, 9, 11, 13, 21, and 30 January and are in
CZA S6/42969 and HA 14/712. There are also recollections of those involved recorded
in subsequent years, such as Dinari's statement about Stoliar (see notes 13
and 15).
18. CZA S6/42969, letters from the Struma dated 8, 9, and 13 January 1942.
19. HA 14/288, anonymous statement on the Struma by an immigrant arriving in
Palestine on 2/10/42.
20. Letters from the Struma (see note 17).
21. We have two accounts of this event. One is in David Stoliar's statement to
the British police; the second is the statement of a Palestine resident who was in
Constantinople and received the information from a Turkish eyewitness (see HA 14/
288).
22. J. Rohwer, Die Versenkung der Judischen Fluchtlingstrans porte Struma and
Mefkura irn Schwarzen Meer, February 1942-August 1944 (Frankfurt/Main: 1964)
(henceforth Rohwer 1964.) The results of the study arc summarized on pp. 96-99.
This is a meticulous and reliable work that sets out to prove that it was not German
hands that sank the Struma. At the same time, a Turkish merchant vessel was also
sunk, as noted in Soviet records. In February 1942, no German warships or submarines
were yet active in the vicinity of the Bosporus.
23. CZA, Minutes, 35 I, statement by Shapira.
24. CZA S25/2616, Shertok to Luria, 1/13/42, and appeals sent to Shertok from
Turkey, London, and the rabbinate in Palestine. Cf. S25/4296, correspondence with
Luria, 1/13/42; S25/2515, cables dated 21 and 23 January 1942.
25. Ibid., Minutes, 35 I, 1/25/42: Shertok reports on his meeting of 1/19/42 and
reveals his basic approach. He was still optimistic, pointing out that one of the passengers
had been granted a tourist visa for Palestine, which might be used to set a
precedent in further talks with McPherson. Cf. S6/2496 on 1/30/42.
26. CZA, Minutes, 35 I.
27. Ibid., especially the statements of Rabbi Fishman, Ben-Zvi and Dobkin.
28. Ibid., S25/2616, Shertok to McPherson, 2/13/42, and S6/42969a on 2/12/42,
both reports of delegations.
29. It should be noted that the activities of the Agency representatives in London
were not entirely without influence. That week, there was a growth of feeling in the
Foreign Office in favor of greater flexibility and the suggestion was made to bring the