Bambous Cemetery: {10591} In November 1940, the steamer
"Atlantic" with approximately 1,700 Jewish refugees arrived in Haifa. Since
the refugees had no the proper immigration certificates, the British
authorities considered them as "illegals". In Haifa Harbor, at the time was
the large passenger liner "Patria" with about 2,000 more "illegals" on board
having arrived earlier on the "Pacific" and the "Milos". The British
government decided to deport them, together with the passengers of the
"Atlantic", on the Patria. However, before most of the passengers of the
Atlantic had been transferred, the Patria capsized after sabotage by the
Jewish underground. Over 200 of the refugees drowned. After this disaster,
the British government allowed the surviving refugees from the Patria to stay
in Palestine, but about 1560 refugees, who were still on the Atlantic, were
deported to Mauritius, where most of them spent the war years in a detainment
camp. There were three groups in the camp; the largest of about 800 people
came from Vienna. The others came from Danzig (Gdansk) and Czechoslovakia.
After the end of the war, the refugees had a choice of settling in Palestine
or returning to their former home countries; the vast majority decided to
settle in Palestine. Aaron Zwergbaum published the most detailed factual
description of this episode in Yad Vashem Studies, Volume 4, under the title
"Exile in Mauritius." A total of 128 detainees died in the Camp of Beau
Bassin, 54 of them during the first year. They were laid to rest in the
"Jewish section of the cemetery of St. Martin," about one-mile distant from
the camp. Before leaving the island, the detainees placed the cemetery under
the protection of their good friend, the Anglican Bishop of Mauritius. The
bishop had the cemetery cleared of weeds. In 1955 the ex-detainees in Israel
learned that the cemetery was in need of repair. They collected money among
themselves and remitted it to Mauritius. The cemetery was thoroughly restored
in 1958 thanks to a subsidy of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies and
to the generosity of a few individuals, among them the French Maurtians
Pierre de Comarmond and J. Demarais, who volunteered professional and other
services. In more recent times, a committee looks after the cemetery. One
member of the committee, Mr. Owen Griffiths, was instrumental in personally
surveying it and supplying the list of burials. This project could not have
been carried out without his assistance and cooperation. Mr. Griffiths can be
reached at BCM Ltd., Senneville, Riviere des Anguilles, Mauritius: olgmas@bow.intnet.mu. Source: Henry
Wellisch Kelwel@iname.com
http://www.maurinet.com/culture.html [January 2001]
In 1999, all the
headstones that had deteriorated were replaced with new ones. This restoration
work was undertaken and funded by the South African Jewish Congress under the
leadership of Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft, its spiritual leader. In the presencee
of 50 former detainees, local and foreign dignitaries the new granite
tombstones in the cemetery were consecrated on April 26, 1999 -10 IYAR 5759.
Most of the information is incorrect at
http://www.maurinet.com/culture.html
Source: Henry Wellisch, Kelwel@iname.com
[February 2001]
UPDATE: 66 Jewish WWII detainee graves were reconsecrated at a special ceremony organized by the South African Jewish community in May 2001. Nearly 1700 Jewish refugees were denied entry to Palestine by the British and went to Mauritius' detention camp for just short of five years. 127 died there during detention. The South African Jewish Board of Deputies has owned the site since 1946. About 40 Jews live on Mauritius, none withe any connection to the original detainees. Jacques Desmarais, a non-Jewish native of Mauritius, cared for the cemetery prior to its 2000 and 2001 restoration of soft, volcanic rock tombstones. See
http://www.shemayisrael.com/chareidi/archives5761/behaaloscha/amaurtus.htm [September 2002]