(haipo) – After almost 78 years of uncertainty, a historic and exciting circle has been closed: The IDF and the Ministry of Defense announced that the burial place of the late Shlomo Haimson, a martyr of the Israeli military and an illegal immigrant from Cyprus, who was shot by guards at the Kraulos camp during an escape attempt in 1948, has been located. The complex investigation, which lasted for many months and included archival work, testimonies, photo interpretation and archaeological surveys, led to the determination that the remains of the late Haimson were buried in grave number 11, row 2, in the illegal immigrant section of the Haifa cemetery.
The journey that began in Cyprus – and lasted for decades
The late Shlomo Haimson was born in Romania in 1930. After World War II, in which he lost his father, he boarded the illegal immigrant ship. Pan York – Kibbutz Galuyot, along with his mother Ita and his friend Perla. The ship was captured by the British and its passengers were deported to internment camps in Cyprus.
In the Kraulos camp, he enlisted in the ranks of the defenders operating under the Haganah organization, and trained himself to be a fighter in the IDF upon his immigration to Israel. After he learned that his daughter Miriam had been born, he decided to escape the camp and try to reach Israel.
On the night of Elul 26, 1948, September 29–30, 1948, he joined eight of his friends in an escape attempt. They were discovered by the guards, who opened fire on them. Shlomo fell on the spot, and his friends were captured and returned to the camp. The next day he was buried in the Jewish cemetery in the town of Margo in Cyprus, without a tombstone bearing his name.
Operation Margo and burial in Israel – but without identity
In 1970, the State of Israel exhumed the 163 bodies from Margo, most of them unknown, and buried them in a special plot in Kfar Samir in Haifa. For decades, it was unknown where the late Shlomo Haimson was buried.
New investigation – and a historic discovery
In 2023, a special investigation team was established in the IDF in the Eitan branch. The team carried out extensive research work:
- Locating documents in archives in Israel and around the world
- Collecting evidence
- Restoration of photos from the Ma'apilim period
- Archaeological surveys in the burial plot
The findings unequivocally indicated that the late Shlomo Haimson was one of the buried people brought to Israel during Operation Margo, and that his burial is in grave number 11, row 2, in the Cyprus Immigrants' Section in Haifa.
The head of the Human Resources Department approved the conclusions, and the Military Rabbinate will erect a monument bearing his name.
The family in Brazil – and the exciting news
The family members of the late Shlomo, his daughter Miriam, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who currently live in Rio de Janeiro, received the news in the presence of the IDF attaché in Brazil. In their statement, they said that the news of finding his resting place brings them "indescribable peace."
A state ceremony – and a closing of the circle
The family members will soon arrive in Israel, and a military-state ceremony will be held at the illegal immigrant section in Haifa, where a monument will be erected in the name of Shlomo Haimson, a fallen soldier in the Israeli military who waited almost eight decades for his identity and honor to be restored.
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Sad – a man who risked his life to reach Israel – and his entire family lives in Brazil?!
Amazing. Well done.
Thank God he was identified and will be honored with a hitman with his family around him.
Note:
No one was lost in the terrible Holocaust, but was murdered!!
Please don't write that he lost his father...
A moving and painful memory that took so long to identify his burial place. In my opinion, the British
was to assist in the operation. They are responsible for his unnecessary death.
So many have been harmed by them, and there is no one to raise a voice on behalf of the victims and the unknowns buried in this sad part of Haifa.