MV Struma

Animation picture of goiter (appearance of 1942)

  • Cornelia ( 1880 )
  • Makedonia (1913-1925)
  • Ioannina (1925-1934? )
  • Espero (1935-1940)

The Struma ( Bulgarian Струма ) was built in 1880, last Bulgarian 469 GRT coaster which was sunk in February 1942. The ship should have brought more than 760 Jewish refugees in the standing at that time under British administration of Palestine territory. It was built by the Soviet submarine Schtsch -213 ( Щ -213 ), which was used against neutral shipping in the Black Sea, sunk on February 24, 1942 by a torpedo. Almost all passengers died.

Prehistory

The Struma was already in 1880 at the shipyard of Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Co. Ltd.. built in Newcastle upon Tyne yacht that had run under the name Cornelia from the stack. Built of steel ship was 57.1 meters long, 7.7 meters wide and measured with 469 GRT. The drive served a two-cylinder expansion steam engine and three masts ( state after completion and later a mast was removed completely and the other two shortened). Between 1880 and 1911 the yacht various wealthy individuals in England belonged.

In 1911 the ship to Austria - Hungary was sold and was registered to 1913 in Split at the company Papaic & Novak. During this time the ship was still under the original name Cornelia. 1913, the yacht was sold to a Greek company and renamed Makedonia. Under this name the ship was probably used until the mid-1920s before it. Around 1925 based on the company in Piraeus SA Ionienne de Navigation & Vap Ioanulato was taken over and renamed in Ioannina. In 1930 the yacht was taken over by the also seated in Piraeus Hellenic Coast Lines and used by this, also under the name of Ioannina until 1934 on coastal routes. In the same year was finally the resale of the ship to Bulgaria. From this time (1934 ) the whereabouts of the yacht is not precisely known. Presumably, it is identical to that described as similar yacht ship Espero, which had lain in the mid- 1930s in Bulgarian Varna. When the possible renaming of Ioannina is done in Espero, is not backed up exactly, but probably this was done around 1934 / 35th Parts of the ship, including one of the masts and pieces of the interior, were from this time given from board to make better use of the ship for cargo transport can. 1939 finally the verge of collapse engine was developed.

Between 1939 and 1940, the Espero was consequently unmotivated in Varna and only served as a Light for freight transport. In December 1940, the run-down ship of the Bulgarian Struma AG was acquired, which renamed the former yacht in goiter and as part of a major overhaul could also install a new engine. At this time, the resident of Varna and working for various Zionist organizations Jewish ophthalmologist Baruch Konfino who had the exits of the small and decrepit refugee ships Rudnitchar and Bopha ( with a total of 368 people on board ) co-initiated to Palestine in 1939, aware of the goiter. Konfino acquired the ship on 15 December 1940 by the Struma AG, retained its name in and let it get ready for the transport of a large number of refugees. So multi-storey wooden bunks were built and installed inside the fuselage water tanks and latrines in the holds. The conversion took place over several months. In addition, Bulgaria had joined the Tripartite Pact on March 1, 1941 what a day later led to concerted engagement of German troops in Bulgaria. Against this background, had Konfino and involved in the transport Zionist groups can (among other things Betar ) great caution. The still insufficiently equipped ship was moved from Varna to the Romanian Constanta.

Due to the delays, the Struma Constanta could rely only on 12 December 1941. On board the ship, which was under the command of the Bulgarian captain GT Gorbatenko and sailed under the Panamanian flag, located 768 Jewish refugees, most of whom came from Bukovina and Bessarabia were. There were no large inventories on board, as you had planned for the trip to Istanbul, within 14 hours. Even life-saving equipment were not available.

Crossing and location in Istanbul

Shortly after departing from Constanţa the engine of goiter was made up again and again, which is why Istanbul was only after four days, on 16 December 1941 reached. Shortly before the arrival of the machine completely failed the service, so the ship had to be towed by a tugboat in the harbor.

The British and the Turkish government resulted in the following ten weeks in secret negotiations with the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem about the fate of the passengers who did not enter the British government because of the lack of visas in Palestine and in turn did not want to leave on land, the Turkish government to to prevent a stay in Turkey. Meanwhile worsened the supply situation and the hygienic conditions in the already crowded ship. Already on December 24, 1941 Captain Gorbatenko had informed the Turkish port authorities on the appalling conditions on board and also noted that he could not take responsibility in the event of onward journey of the ship due to be classified as poor seaworthiness. On January 10, 1942 Gorbatenko was re- representations to the Turkish port authorities, pointing in turn points to the inhumane conditions on board; meanwhile there had been on the Struma, the first cases of dysentery.

Only for five passengers in 1942, derogations were reached in January and February, so in mid-February 1942, still 763 Jewish refugees on board. Even as negotiations on the onward journey of at least 11 - to 16 - year-old children were to Palestine in progress, the Turkish authorities were finally drag out to the open sea (Black Sea ) the ship on February 23, 1942; outside the Turkish territorial waters turned the tractor off then.

Sinking

The driving incompetent goiter was in the early hours of the next day, February 24, 1942 about 14 nautical miles north-northeast of the Bosphorus, spotted by the Soviet submarine Schtsch -213 ( under the command of Lieutenant DM Deneschko ) and from a distance of approximately 1,200 m sunk by a torpedo. The hit brought the 60 -year-old ship within a few minutes to sink. In the fall of 762 Jewish refugees, as well as a not sure elicited number of crew members died ( six? ), Mostly however, the number of 768 dead is called. Probably four survived the sinking of people, including three crew members and - what is well established - a Jewish passenger David Stoliar. The stapled to a piece of wreckage 19 -year-old was the only survivor of a group of about 100 people in the water and was found by the next day arriving rescue teams. He lives in the USA.

Schtsch -213

The submarine Schtsch -213, which had fired the fatal torpedo, was sunk just eight months later, either on 14 October, 1942 Tulcea (Romania ) by depth charges of German submarine hunter UJ 116 or by mines before Constanta on 17 October 1942. From the 43 -strong crew were no survivors.

Effect

In a book published in 1987 by Götz Aly the story of the sinking of the Struma is presented differently. There it is, the ship had been sunk by a German speedboat on 25 February 1942.

In July 2004 a Turkish team of divers at about the point where the Struma was sunk, a ship wreck. However, the identity of the ship could not be clarified. On 3 September 2004, members of the Struma passengers, representatives of the Turkish Jewish community, delegates from the UK and the U.S. and the Israeli ambassador gathered for a memorial service at the scene.

The Turkish writer Doğan Akhanlı processed in his novel The Last Dream of the Virgin ( Madonna'nın Hayali Son, 2005), the events surrounding the Struma. The book was reckoned by Turkish critics and writers of the ten best novels of the year 2005.

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