The Contribution of Deryneia to the escape of Jewish detainees from Cyprus in the years 1946 to 1949.

https://youtu.be/RqeKt1xm9Bc?si=iG2RqQxfCid-0kmP 

This speech was given at a ceremony organized by the Embassy of Israel in Cyprus, in collaboration with the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus to commemorate the closure of the Jewish Detention Camps in Cyprus on February 11, 1949.

Your Excellencies, Minister of Defense and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Your Excellency Mr Ambassador of Israel, Bishop of Mesaoria, Chief of the National Guard, Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen!

It is a great honor for me to be with you here today to speak about the escape of the Jews from Cyprus and the help provided by the locals in the years 1946 to 1949. My speech is based on my research that I started in February 2018 a few days after I attended the conference "Historical perspectives of Jewish presence in Cyprus" which was organized by the Embassy of Israel and the University of Cyprus. During that conference professor Yossi Ben Artzi referred to some Jewish documents which caught my attention and gave me the impetus to carry out a research on "The contribution of Deryneia to the escape of Jews from Cyprus" It is a research that sheds light on unknown or even forgotten aspects of our history.

Here is how the story goes:

On August 13, 1946, the British Government made public its decision to ban Jewish refugees from entering Palestine when their number exceeded the coda of 1,500 persons per month and authorized the British commander to send them to Cyprus. At the same time, British warships and planes would intercept any ships carrying Jewish refugees and take them to the port of Famagusta. That operation it was known as "Operation Igloo"

On August 14, 1946, the ship "Yagar" entered the port of Famagusta loaded with 754 Jewish refugees whom the British placed in tents at the Karaolos Detention Camp. The tents and the rest of the facilities were erected by German prisoners of war held by the British in the "Golden Sands" Concentration Camp on the site where the Golden Sands Hotel is today on the Turkish occupied beach of Ayios Memnon in Varosha.

From that day on, 2 to 3 ships a week arrived at the port of Famagusta, loaded with Jewish refugees from Europe.

Cypriot organizations, social, religious and political groups of that time reacted immediately and publicized their opposition to the British decision. The reaction was universal but the philosophies of each organization were different. So depending on one's ideology, Jewish refugees were called as "Smuggled Immigrants" or "Illegal Immigrants" by the right wing Cypriots and "Refugees" and sometimes as "Prisoners" by the left. A good source of information for this matter is the book «Camps for Jewish Refugees in Cyprus 1946–1949» written by Vasiliki Seliotis.

Through those publications and also from the rumors circulating within the Cypriot society, the small Jewish community of Cyprus was aware of the opinion and beliefs of the Cypriots regarding that issue.

President of the small Jewish community of Cyprus at that time was Ida Pertzin, a dynamic woman and active member of Famagusta’s society, who had a 100 acres orange grove in the agricultural area of Deryneia and had excellent cooperation with the Farmers' Union of PEO.

Secretary of the Jewish community was Gabriel Berdy whose family had their farm in Kouklia of Mesaoria.

Both of them were people who had constant contact with the Cypriots and their organizations and they knew very well the opinion and believes of the locals.

When the Jewish Organizations operating in Palestine and abroad looked for ways to help the young Jews to escape from the Detention Camps in order to reach Palestine to participate in their struggle for liberation, the Jewish community brought them into contact with Prodromos Papavasileiou, a leading figure of PEO and active member of AKEL.

After finding common ground they formalized their collaboration at a meeting held in Larnaca and attended by representatives of Jewish Organizations and members of the Vigilance Department of AKEL. Details of that meeting can be found in professor’s Danny Goldman essay «Famagusta's historic detention and refugee camps»

The decision was forwarded to the AKEL Vigilance Office of Famagusta which undertook the formation of an action group that would be made up of trusted party members with Prodromos Papavasileiou playing a very important and leading role in the coordination of the group and in the communication with the leaders of the Jewish organizations.

That collaboration is recorded in Jewish documents of the time as well as in various Academic Writings of today.

The action group consisted of residents of Varosha and people from Deryneia. We could say that the action group consisted of two subgroups, that of Varosha and the group of Deryneia.

It is important to mention at this point that another group of AKEL members from Xylotympou village was acting in that area helping Jewish detainee’s escape from the Detention Camps of Xylotympou and Dekelia. More information about the activity of that group can be found in professor’s Eliana Hadjisavvas writings.

The action group in Varosha was responsible for the secret and safe transportation of the Jewish escapees and their safe hiding in secret places south of Famagusta. It was also responsible for the reception and safe transport of Haganah officials who arrived secretly in Cyprus, with the intention of entering the Karaolos Detention Camp for military training of the young Jews held there.

The team of Deryneia consisted of some war veterans like Costas Hadjianastasis who was the coordinator, Georgios Katsantonis a truck driver, Georgios Karagiorgis and Paes Tooulias who were guides and companions of the Jewish escapees.

Drivers of trucks transporting Jews were also Yiannis Mavros and Nikolas Aspris.

Co-drivers or Companions in the trucks were Panayiotis Violaris, Anastasis Giorkallos, Georgios Karagiorgis, Paes Tooulias and Panayiotis Mohikas.

A role worth mentioning was played by Fotini Pavlou who daily offered food to the Jews who found refuge in Ayios Constantinos Aqueduct in Deryneia and in several caves nearby.

Shelter for the Jewish escapees was offered by Dimitris Asprou in his farm on the seashore of Deryneia, Andreas Shiaelis in his orchard in Strovilia and Annezou Bey in the stable of her house in Deryneia.

Eyewitnesses to that mission were Giorgos Giorkallos who testifies that he was a small child when his father Anastasis took him with him in a case where he was accompanying Georgios Katsantonis. In that case, they took a group of Jews from a cave north of Deryneia and transported them to the coast east of the village.

A similar testimony is given by Vladimiros Aspris, who remembers that at the age of 6 he happened to accompany his father Nikolas who was transporting Jews in a truck belong to LOEL Wineries.

The transportation of children was done for deception in case they were stopped for inspection by the British.

Ntina Andrea Gavriel testifies that as a child she saw the Jewish escapees wandering around the Aharonis Plantation at Four Miles Point west of Deryneia.

Christalleni Roussou at the age of 8 saw the Jews hiding in her father's orange grove in Strovilia. She recalls the blankets that the Jews put on the ground when they laid down under the trees. The blankets were filled with grass which was difficult to remove.

Christakis Mavros used to say that his father Yiannis happened to take home pieces of tent fabric that the Jews gave him from time to time when he transport them by his truck. His mother used that fabric to sew work trousers for men.

Andreas Marinos was telling me the other day that his parents had their farm opposite Aharonis Plantation and they often saw small groups of ten or twenty Jews wandering about in the neighboring fields. Once a group of twenty Jews went into Marinos farm right at the time when his mother was taking the freshly baked bread out of the oven. When she saw the young Jews she asked them if they were hungry. They didn’t eat at all that day, so she gave them all the loaves of bread to cease their hunger.

Because of the secrecy of the mission, the participants in that effort did not tell anyone anything about their actions, so in one case Dimitris Aspros’s wife spotted a group of young Jews in her farm. Thinking they were thieves, she started shouting. The coast guards heard her shouting and ran for help resulting in the arrest of the Jews. According to eyewitnesses, the British forced the young escapees to return to Varosha on foot.

Another incident worth mentioning is the burning of the British R.S.D. Warehouses.

In that case, people from Deryneia who worked there, helped their Jewish colleagues to smuggle out certain tools and weapons which they secretly took in to Karaolos Detention Camp.

When the British realized that something was missing, they scheduled an inspection. Some of the workers helped the Jews set fire to the warehouses to thwart the inspection. Among those workers were Andreas Zanoupas and Gavriel Roussos from Deryneia.

It is obvious that this collective effort was a well-organized, secretive and unprofitable voluntary mission that often put its participants at risk, offering various forms of help to hundreds of Jewish escapees.

 
Dear friend ambassador of Israel!

My research is the least I could do to thank you for the hospitality and the solidarity your compatriots showed me throughout my four-month stay in Israel a few years ago.

Thank you very much. 

 Victor Karayiannis.

 Sources of information:

1)       Εβραίοι πρόσφυγες στην Κύπρο (1946-1949) Πέτρος Παπαπολυβίου

2)       Vasiliki Selioti, Camps for Jewish Refugees in Cyprus (1946–1949)

3)       The British, the Jewish Detention Camps and the Cyprus Story. By Susan Drucker and Gary Gumpert

4)       Jewish settlers in Cyprus during the British rule, 1880s-1940s by Danny Goldman.

5)       Famagusta's historic detention and refugee camps by Danny Goldman.

6)       Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

7)       Jewish Displaced Persons and the Case of the Cypriot Internment Camps: The Role of the United States 1945-1950 by Eliana Hadjisavvas.

8)       Cyprus, the Neighbouring Island. The Cyprus Issue in the State Archives of Israel by Gabriel Haritos.

9)       Israel’s Entry to Colonial Cyprus by Gabriel Haritos.

10)   The Cyprus Detention Camps: The Essential Research Guide by Yitzhak Teutsch.

11)   A History Of The Jews In Cyprus by Stavros Panteli.

12)   JEWISH SURVIVORS AND DETENTION CAMPS IN CYPRUS AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR by Ulvi Keser.

13)   Yossi Ben Artzi (Συνέδριο στη Λευκωσία, Φεβρουάριος 2018)

14)   Ιστορική Διαδρομή ΑΚΕΛ Αμμοχώστου. Θεορής Ζαμπά.

15)   Προσωπικές συνεντεύξεις από αυτόπτες μάρτυρες.