You board a rusty, leaking ship in Trieste harbor. The Italian commandant of the port has been paid to allow the group to leave; more important, he has been sympathetic to the Zionist cause. In any event, there is no opposition as the ship steams from the harbor and sets a course for Haifa.
Unfortunately, a British spy observed your departure, and the troops of the British Mandate have been alerted. When you arrive the ship is surrounded, and no one is allowed to embark. After a few days, everyone is transferred to another ship, the S.S. Patria. A British officer informs you that you will be taken to the island of Mauritius for the rest of the war. You and your friends are overcome with despair. Can it be that all your efforts will be rewarded by exile to an island in the Indian Ocean?
During the night, someone attaches a mine to the Patria; the ship explodes and sinks. Unfortunately, a number of Jewish refugees die. However, you manage to get ashore and are taken to the camp at Athlit. In a daring raid, Jewish commandos free you from the camp, and you join their forces. You cannot stand by idly while other Jews are being killed.
You find a place as a member of the Irgun, helping illegal
immigrants enter the country and fighting the British. But you are
captured, imprisoned at Acre, and convicted of terrorism. When you are
taken to the scaffold, you turn to the British soldiers and exclaim:
At least I shall die with pride for what I have done.
END