Haapalah / Aliyah Bet

Кладово-Šabac
Kladovo-Sabac
Kladovo-Shavetz

On October 3, 1939, the steamship, S/S Uranus, sailed from Wien, carrying a group of Maapilim down the Danube River, until she was stopped at the Romanian border and forced to disembark.

S/S Uranus was forced to return to Bratislava, after she had passed Budapest, towards Yugoslavia, because the Yugoslavian authorities refused to let her pass flying the Nazi flag.
Yehuda Bauer cites the Captain of S/S Uranus refused to sail after reaching the Iron Gates Ђердапска клисура Vaskapu rapids on the Hungarian-Yugoslav border, forcing transfer of passengers to Yugoslav boats.

In March, 1940, Moshe Agami from Mossad leAliyah Bet, on his way from Genève to Palestine, visited the passengers stranded at Kladovo Кладово.

On October 16, 1940, the passengers, stranded in Kladovo, were moved to the neighboring town of Šabac Shavetz.

Mossad leAliyah Bet representatives, with help from Max Spitzer, President of the Jewish congregations of Yugoslavia, hired three Yugoslavian river boats, which waited for the passengers at the border.
S/S Uranus sailed again, and at the Yugoslavian border, the refugees transferred to the three boats, Tsar Dusha, Tsar Nicholai, and Tsarina Marina.
The three Yugoslavian river boats sailed down the Danube River, and reached Kladovo Кладово, near the Romanian border, where they had to stop.
The Yugoslavian boat company refused to continue unless given guarantees that a ship would be waiting for them on the Black Sea, because the boats would not be able to return before the Danube River froze.

In May, 1940, the Yugoslavian boat company demanded the boats back.
The passengers went ashore at Kladovo Кладово, where huts were built for them.
Some of the passengers lived with Gypsy families in the village, while about 350 were lodged in a coal barge where sleeping bunks were installed.
While the ships were in Kladovo Кладово, 200 Yugoslavian youths joined the group.

On December 4, 1940, immediate debarkation and return to Sabac Шабац was orderd, because of bad weather on the Danube River, particularly at Sulina.

On December 17, 1940, an unsuccessful attempt was made to transport the passengers by train.

On December 30, 1940, the passengers disembarked at Kladovo Кладово, a small village with a winter boat anchorage.
The passengers were kept on the boats, as the Danube River froze.
Yehuda Bauer cites the Yugoslavian government had a choice: get the refugees out as quickly as possible, or prevent their departure on the grounds that they were were illegals.
They spent the winter on the boats, exposed to the snow and winds, without hot food or proper sanitation.

In May, 1941, the stranded passengers, whose numbers at Sabac Шабац had grown to 1,200, were still in Yugoslavia.
The fourth group didn’t manage to leave before the German invasion to Yugoslavia, on April 6, 1941.
915 passengers were caught, by the Nazis.
Yehuda Bauer cites the Sabac Шабац passengers were included in the first German anti-partisan measures of the summer of 1941.

In October, 1941, Adolf Eichmann recommended all Jewish refugees be shot.
All the paseengers were imprisoned in a nearby concentration camp.
On October 4, 1941, all the men of the Kladovo-Sabac Кладово-Шабац group, by order of the military commander, General Franz Boehme, were taken to a field and shot.
The remaining women, and a few children, were transported to a camp near Belgrade Београд.

In March, 1941, 200 certificates for youngsters were received, and they were able to leave in groups of 50 each time.
Three groups leftm including the 2 Yugoslavian boys from the David family, and a few adult escorts, including Ehud Nahir and Dan Lener.

In April-May, 1941, the remaining women and children of the Kladovo-Šabac Кладово-Шабац group, who had been interned in to a camp near Belgrade Београд, were put into gas trucks that went through the streets of Belgrade Београд.
There were no known survivors from the passengers who remained in Šabac Шабац, except one couple that left just before the Germans came to Croatia Hrvatska, and survived in Italy.