Werner Meissner Part III: At Sea

The ship was to hold the 300 individuals from Prague, a large group from Vienna, and another from Danzig. Together, they were 1500 people; those from Prague would not receive a warm reception. The transport from Danzig became very wary of their new shipmates as the ship was obviously too small to hold the newly inflated number of people. The ship, with a swastika flag, navigated down to the Danube until it reached Tuzeha. This trip took approximately one week and by the end of the first leg, the group was much better organized and the Danzigers started coming around.

Werner's kvuzah (group) belonged to the Haganah (shipguards/police) and all were responsible for keeping order. Werner remembers; "with good words, a lot of tact, and demonstrating a good example, we succeeded.....and acquired the trust of these people."

Upon their arrival in Tuzeha, the group was transferred to a freight ship. Upon entering the ship, Werner was "horrified" by the conditions. The ship's hold (where all were supposed to sleep) was without ventilation and the sanitary conditions were even worse.

Werner writes, "At the end of the ship, a row of toilets were built which were outside the realm of the ship, above the sea. The number was totally insufficient; the place was unhygenic and often the scene of quarrels since one had to stand in row often for almost one hour until it was your turn. Places to wash were provisional. There were barrels with sea water and everybody washed himself as well as he could."

They would be on this ship for two months.

The group was near Istanbul on erev Yom Kippur and people prayed in different sections of the ship. The Jewish community in Istanbul sent a big ration of bread and other food for the holidays.

"This gesture of solidarity heightened the mood of everybody."

The ship would then move through the Greek Islands, anchoring in Lesbos, Samos, Dios, and Heraklion (Crete). Unfortunately, the Danzig and Viennese groups were not vaccinated against typhus before the departure and in spite of many precautions, the disease broke out. Many fell victim and were buried at sea. Werner caught a high fever at one point and lay in the sick section for days. Since the ship was in port at that time, the dead could not be thrown into the water. Therefore, a coffin was placed in front of the cabin where Werner was trying to recuperate.

"Not an encouraging view," he would later remember.

The ship left Crete on Werners' birthday, November 8th, 1940 with a healthy supply of food and coal. In the meantime, the group received word that the Italian-Greek war had started. No one thought it would interfere with the journey but they were in for a surprise. The captain, a Greek, and his mainly Greek crew panicked when alerted about the war. From one moment to the next, the captain explained that he could not move on since there was no coal. But they had only left Crete the day before? Turns out, this captain had spent most of the previous evening burning the ship's supply of coal, in essence sabotaging the journey. The Haganah jumped into action and first locked the captain in his cabin, guarding it day and night. Next, the transport's management met in order to discuss next steps and those within the group included a few engineers, navigators, and others who could assist. Soon, this volunteer group was directing the ship themselves with the goal of reaching Cyprus.

The next four days would be the most dangerous and exhilirating days of the journey. Soon, they would find out that the cauldron which lacked coal did not produce sufficient steam pressure. For two or three hours, the ship drove slowly and calmly into the sea without steam pressure but soon the waves began throwing the ship around like a beachball. Somehow they managed for two days.

One major problem--they finished the rest of their coal.

From there, Werner joined the others and pulled off the masts, wood paneling, and plank beds in order to use them for fuel. Werner writes, "I myself laid in the coal bunker for 24 hours and searched with my fingers for every small piece of coal."

Then on November 12th, they spotted land.