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The ''Struma'' disaster was the sinking on 24 February 1942 of a ship, , that had been trying to take several hundred Jewish refugees from Axis-allied Romania to Mandatory Palestine. She was a small iron-hulled ship of only that had been built in 1867 as a steam-powered schooner but had recently been re-engined with an unreliable second-hand diesel engine. ''Struma'' was only long, had a beam of only and a draught of only 〔 but an estimated 781 refugees were crammed into her. ''Struma''s diesel engine failed several times between her departure from Constanţa on the Black Sea on 12 December 1941 and her arrival in Istanbul on 15 December. She had to be towed by a tug both to leave Constanţa and to enter Istanbul. On 23 February 1942, with her engine still inoperable and her refugee passengers aboard, Turkish authorities towed ''Struma'' from Istanbul through the Bosphorus out to the coast of Şile in North Istanbul. Within hours, in the morning of 24 February, the torpedoed her, killing an estimated 781 refugees plus 10 crew, making it the Black Sea's largest exclusively civilian naval disaster of World War II. Until recently the number of victims had been estimated at 768, but the current figure is the result of a recent study of six different passenger lists.〔 Only one person aboard, 19-year-old David Stoliar, survived (he died in 2014). The ''Struma'' disaster joined the sinking of SS ''Patria'' laden with Jewish refugees 15 months earlier as rallying points for the Irgun and Lehi revisionist Zionist clandestine movements, encouraging their violent revolt against the British presence in Palestine.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Palestine: World War II )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Israel: World War II )〕 ==Voyage and detention== ''Struma'' had been built as a luxury yacht〔 but was 74 years old and in the 1930s had been relegated to carrying cattle on the River Danube under the Panamanian flag of convenience. The Mossad LeAliyah Bet intended to use her as a refugee ship, but shelved the plan after the German entry into Bulgaria.〔 Her Greek owner Jean D. Pandelis instead contacted Revisionist Zionists in Romania.〔 The New Zionist Organization and Betar Zionist youth movement began to make arrangements but an argument over the choice of passengers left the planning in the hands of Betar.〔 Apart from the crew and 60 Betar youth, there were over 700 passengers who had paid large fees to board the ship.〔 The exact number is not certain, but a collation of six separate lists produced a total of 781 passengers and 10 crew.〔 Passengers were told they would be sailing on a renovated boat with a short stop in Istanbul to collect their Palestinian immigration visas. Ion Antonescu's Romanian government approved of the voyage.〔 Each refugee was allowed to take of luggage. Romanian customs officers took many of the refugees' valuables and other possessions, along with food that they had brought with them. The passengers were not permitted to see the vessel before the day of the voyage. They found that she was a wreck with only two lifeboats. Below decks, ''Struma'' had dormitories with bunks for 40 to 120 people in each. The berths were bunks on which passengers were to sleep four abreast, with width for each person. On the day of her sailing ''Struma''s engine failed so a tug towed her out of the port of Constanţa. The waters off Constanţa were mined, so a Romanian vessel escorted her clear of the minefield. She then drifted overnight while her crew tried vainly to start her engine.〔 She transmitted distress signals and on 13 December the Romanian tug returned.〔 The tug's crew said they would not repair ''Struma''s engine unless they were paid.〔 The refugees had no money after buying their tickets and leaving Romania, so they gave all their wedding rings to the tugboatmen, who then repaired the engine.〔 ''Struma'' then got under way but by 15 December her engine had failed again so she was towed into Istanbul in Turkey.〔 There she remained at anchor while British diplomats and Turkish officials negotiated over the fate of the passengers. Because of Arab and Zionist unrest in Palestine, Britain was determined to apply the terms of the White Paper of 1939 to minimise Jewish immigration to Palestine. British diplomats urged the Turkish government of Refik Saydam to prevent ''Struma'' from continuing her voyage. Turkey refused to allow the passengers to disembark. While detained in Istanbul, ''Struma'' ran short of food. Soup was cooked twice a week and supper was typically an orange and some peanuts for each person. At night each child was issued a serving of milk. After weeks of negotiation, the British agreed to honour the expired Palestinian visas possessed by a few passengers, who were allowed to continue to Palestine overland. With the help of influential friends (Vehbi Koc), a few others also managed to escape. One woman was admitted to an Istanbul hospital after miscarrying.〔 On 12 February British officials agreed that children aged 11 to 16 on the ship would be given Palestinian visas, but a dispute occurred over their transportation to Palestine. The United Kingdom declined to send a ship, while Turkey refused to allow them to travel overland. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Struma disaster」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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