"Mother sat at the window and waited for father to return" • The "Three" ship will be commemorated in Haifa

(haipo) - The "Three" ship is finally commemorated in Haifa • Elisheva Cohen Azoulai: "I did my role in the world, I commemorated my father."

21 perish

Decades after the tragedy in which 21 sailors perished, the Finance Committee decided to approve funding for a monument to the 21 sailors who perished in January 1967 and have not been properly commemorated to this day. Thus came to an end the struggle of the daughter of one of the perished, Elisheva Azoulai Cohen, who was only 6 years old when her father left and never came back. Since then, in all the years that have passed, her mind has not rested on the fact that her father and his friends do not win her victory and that their tragic story is almost unknown.

The bitter news

Azulai Cohen, a social activist from Neve David, remembers in great detail the day she and her family received the bitter news of her father's death, when his ship was wrecked at sea. "In my early years we lived in Eilat," she says, "my parents had a restaurant at the time. My father, Haim Azoulai, decided to bring money from the sea. That's how we ended up in Haifa."

"There is no longer what for..."

"When I was 6 years old, my father went on a voyage and promised to bring me an electric train, that's what I asked for. It was a very hard winter, we lived in Neve David and our house was very close to the sea, which was very stormy at the time. Every day I stood at the window and said "Shema Israel". I was Just after a vacation in Moshav and my grandfather explained to me that he was saying the prayer so that it would protect him.

Farewell letters

For three days I said every day Shema Yisrael. On the fourth day, my mother was angry with me for not saying the prayer, and I told her that there was no reason to say the prayer, because the ship had already sunk, and that's how it was. My mother was very angry with me. The next morning the first floor neighbor heard something on the radio about the ship. He saw 5 envelopes in the box. He brought the mail to my mother and asked her: "Sarah, where is Haim?" My mother still had no idea what had happened to the ship. The letters that the neighbor brought to our house were the first time my father sent each of us a letter from the voyage. In the letters he gives instructions on how to behave and in fact the letters have become farewell letters."

Screaming on the stairs

"My father's family arrived at our building, suddenly screams started to be heard on the stairs, so we realized that a great disaster had happened. Eventually, an official announcement also arrived. The ship belonged to the Ophir cooperative, they arrived and announced that the ship had been wrecked. They could not find anything. We did not sit down, Because there were searches. On the seventh day, Rabbi Goren came to us and informed us that it was impossible to locate the missing."

the ship

The three ships left the port of Haifa in December 1966. On January 22, 1967, the ship left an anchorage on a Greek island for Marseille. On January 23, the ship passed the Straits of Messina and entered the Tyrrhenian Sea. A day later, the ship's distress calls were received and the transmission was interrupted. Despite all the searches, the ship or the crew members were never found. The investigative committee did not reach a clear conclusion about the cause of the drowning.

Mother sat at the window for 40 years and waited for father to return

"The ship belonged to the Ophir cooperative, which went bankrupt when the ship sank. We were left without a monument. We fell between the chairs. My mother sat at the window for 40 years and waited for my father to return. She thought that maybe he was kidnapped and he would return. My parents were married for 12 years and had a child 4 children. They had a huge love, which was made even stronger by longing, because he would go to the sea for long periods and then come back. After my father died, my mother found herself fighting for survival with 4 children and a small survivor's pension. She never thought about the possibility of moving on From a romantic point of view. They were a very beautiful couple, but after the disaster, all my mother's beauty was for nothing and behind it was hidden sorrow and infinite sadness. She died at the age of 71 and is full of sorrow."

50 years

"Five years ago it was 5 years since the sinking of the ship and I made a video when I was walking in the sea and said that I would like everyone to know the story of the ship. The sea pensioners approached me, led by Yehiel Fedida, and offered to make a memorial for the 50th anniversary. Then I said that I will not rest until they have A memorial. They fell between the seats, the Six Day War broke out a few months after the sinking, the submarine Decker 50 sank and all the focus shifted from them to the rest of the perished."

on behalf of the families

I submitted a request on behalf of the families for a memorial. Haifa was the ship's home port and most of the crew were from Haifa, so it makes sense that the memorial would be here. I met with the then city secretary Bracha Sela, we decided what would be written on the monument. We passed all the required approvals and then we had a problem with the development budget. The person in charge of the names committee was council member Nir Shuver. He tried to help through all kinds of committees, he really spared no effort to help us, I understood that there was the finance committee and we already had all the approvals.

In the end, I received a message from Councilwoman Sharit Golan Steinberg that it was approved and there will be an honorable memorial. A little before we got to that, the captain's wife, Yona Harel, passed away. She became the captain of the families after the sinking. It made me more determined. I realized that little by little there are fewer and fewer people who will see the commemoration."

I immortalized my father

"It was agreed that the monument would be on the Dado boardwalk so that those passing by the sea would read about the ship of three. I think that they and we deserve the most to have a monument and it is most appropriate that it be by the sea. We are waiting for them to return from vacation and start moving it. I was a little girl at seven, there was a ceremony in the port of Haifa and they threw Strangers to the sea, and it is my dream that such a ceremony be held again. I feel that I have done my part in the world, that I have immortalized my father."

Attorney Sharit Golan Steinberg told Haifa:
"After a long period of delays in bringing the issue to our approval by the city administration, we were excited to approve the monument in memory of the victims of the three shipwrecks, in the hope that it will be a place for the families to unite with the memory of the fallen and also allow the general public to be exposed to the tragic story of the victims."

Nir Shuver sent a message to Hai Pa:
"I was happy to take part in the process three years ago. I remember that we stood in the pouring rain in January, with Hilik Amsalem, director of the Beaches Division, and City Secretary Bracha Sela, together with the artist Tatiana, who is in charge of designing the Gilead, and we chose a location for the monument. I am especially happy for the bereaved families, led by Elisheva Azulai Cohen, The social activist who turned to me at the time and who grew up without a father. The municipality of Haifa has done historical justice here. This coming winter on Remembrance Day, after we dedicate Gilead, I invite all residents of Haifa to learn about the story of the sailors from the ship of three, who gave their lives for the young country and their burial place is unknown.
may them rest in peace.