Merchant Seaman Captain Rudolph Patzert Discusses "Running the Palestine Blockade."
Merchant Seaman Captain Rudolph Patzert. In 1947 he captained a ship that was part of a clandestine effort by the Jewish underground to smuggle Holocaust survivors into Palestine. Palestine at that time was under British rule, and a British air and sea blockade prevented immigration to the country. Patzert's ship, the Paducah, was a 45 year-old rundown converted gunboat, his crew inexperienced; and they were thwarted every step of the way: British intelligence hounded them, preventing them from refueling and re-watering. Patzert and his crew performed "midnight requisition." Eventually Patzert, his crew and almost 1400 passengers were captured and sent to prison camps on Cyprus. Patzert has written an account of their odyssey, "Running the Palestine Blockade: The last Voyage of the Paducah." (Naval Institute).
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