Exodus 1947

This documentary examines the history and impact of the Exodus 1947, the ship that tried to run the British blockade of Palestine. Crewed by former Jewish-American GIs, the ship took on a cargo of Holocaust survivors in France and headed for Palestine in the summer of 1947. After a battle on the high seas with the British, the illegal immigrants were sent back to DP camps in the British Zone of Germany. The newsreel and print media seized upon the Exodus 1947 as a symbol of the Jewish struggle for statehood. This aborted voyage evoked international support for the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Interviews with scholars and eye-witness testimonies are incorporated with newsreel footage, photographs and information from formerly classified documents to examine the tactical evolution of Ben-Gurion's Haganah and the undisclosed American role in supplying dollars and manpower for illegal immigration to Palestine. Narrated by Canadian actor Morley Safer