Brettschneider, Louis Lewis 'Lew'

Birth Name Brettschneider, Louis Lewis 'Lew' [1a] [2]
Call Name 'Lew'
Gender male

Events

Event Date Place Description Notes Sources
Birth     Louis Brettschneider came from New York

 
Military Service   מח"ל מתנדבי חוץ לארץ ‎Machal Volunteers from Abroad  

 
Boat December 27, 1946 בן הכט SS Abril INS Maoz (K-24) Argosy USS Cytherea Citra SS Ben Hecht SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט sailed from Brooklyn to Port-de-Bouc, via Ponta Delgada

Place Note

On December 27, 1946, after refitting in Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal, USS Cythera (PK-31), renamed SS Abril, sailed from New York City for Southern France and Port-de-Bouc., with a 21-man crew, mostly American volunteers, seven of whom were from Brooklyn.
On the eve of the departure from New York, FBI agents raided SS Abril, expecting to find arms bound for Palestine. but, instead, they found hundreds of lifebelts.
Jeno Berkovitz cites SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט sailed for France on December 26, 1947.
She sailed under Honduran flag, operated by the American Sea and Air Volunteers for Hebrew Repatriation, an offshoot of the American League for Free Palestine and the Hebrew Committee for National Liberation.

Event Note

Jeno Berkovitz served as Messman aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.
Jeno Berkovitz cites: “'We had a crew member who was Irish Catholic and hated the British. We had a Jewish crewman who was religious and put on tefillin every day, and there were others, like me, who weren't so religious but just wanted to help the Jewish cause."
They interviewed me in their office in Manhattan and soon afterwards called to tell me I was accepted to join the crew. Officially I was listed as a Messman, someone who serves food, but in practice almost everyone in the crew had to do all kinds of things.”

Event Note

Louis Binder served as a Seaman aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.
David Kaplan cites: "The trip across the Atlantic was a stormy one, experienced hands had bouts of seasickness as Abril heeled past safety levels. Louis Binder, our 16 year old whocame aboard with false papers, had to be lashed to the wheel with a bucket alongside, to stand his watch."

Event Note

Louis Brettschneider, age 24 years, served as 3rd Engineer aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.

Event Note

Walter Cushenberry, age 33 years, served as Steward aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.
Captain H. Robert Levitan cited: Walter Cushenberry was "one of the gentlest men you could ever meet, and he just liked helping out the underdog."
David Kaplan cites: "Our cook, Walter Cushenberry, a black man who did miracles with salami, managed to feed us under severe conditions."

Event Note

Walter 'Heavy' Greaves served as Bosun aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.
When Robert 'Bob' Levitan assumed the post of Captain aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט, Walter 'Heavy' Greaves became 3rd Mate.
Having visited to a DP camp in Germany while on shore leave at the end of the war, he was inspired when, having returned to New York, he "read in the papers that the Jews wanted a state of their own."

Event Note

Gershom Hakim, a young ITzL activist, served as captain aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.
He was blamed for misjudgments that brought SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט into rough seas which delayed arrival in France by nearly a week.

Event Note

James Heggie, age 33 years, served as Bosun A.B. aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.
When Robert 'Bob' Levitan assumed the post of Captain aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט, James Heggie became Bosun.

Event Note

Harry Herschkowitz, age 30 years, served as a Seaman aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.

Event Note

Albert Hirschkoff, a member of the Press, sailed aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.

Event Note

Hyman Robert 'Bob' Levitan, age 27 years, served as 2nd Mate aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.
Bob replaced Gershom Hakim, as Captain aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט. after they reached France.

Event Note

Haakom Lilliby and Erling Sorensen, two young Norwegians, served aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.
Haakom Lilliby served as Chief Engineer.
Erling Sorensen served as 1st Engineer.
Jeno Berkovitz cites: “They didn’t speak much English and nobody knew quite why they were there, but when the engines broke down, they worked 24 hours straight to get us going again.”

Event Note

Wallace Litwin, age 32 years, served as Photographer Wiper aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.

Event Note

Norman Edward Luce, age 44 years, served as a Cook aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.

Event Note

Louis Markowitz, age 52, years, served as 2nd Mate aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.
When Robert 'Bob' Levitan assumed the post of Captain aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט, Louis Markowitz became 2nd Mate.

Event Note

Shepard Rifkin, age 28 years, served as AB aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.

Event Note

Elliott Roosevelt, an experienced yachtsman, initially offered to captain aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט., but withdrew after objections from his mother, former First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt.

Event Note

Harry Nathan Schatz, age 48, years, served as Oiler aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.

Event Note

Edward R. Styrak, age 23 years, served as Crew, Sparks 2, aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.

Event Note

Jack Winkler, age 20 years, served as Seaman aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.

Place Note

SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט stopped at Ponta Delgada on her way to Port-de-Bouc.
David Kaplan cites Captain Levitan brought the Abril into Ponta Delgada in the Azores by dead reckoning.'

Place Note

On January 10, 1947, SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט arrived at Port-de-Bouc, where she was refitted to accommodate her passengers.

[1]
Boat   גאולה SS Paducah Geula SS Paducah Geulah גאולה sailed from New York, via Horta, in the Azores, to Bayonne

Event Note

Louis Brettschneider served as Fireman and 2nd Engineer aboard SS Paducah.

Event Note

Arnold Kite served as Seaman and Wiper, aboard SS Paducah Geulah גאולה.
Arnold Kite cites: "I made contact with the Mosad for Aliya Bet and was on my way to Miami, Florida in just a few weeks. From Miami we left the States on a ship built in the 1920’s and bought from the US by the Mosad for Aliya Bet. The ship was the “SS Paducah”, later renamed the “Geula”."
Ben Hagai Steuerman cites: Arnold Kite "...served on the Paduca ferrying DP's to Palestine on the fateful voyage in which the ship was boarded by the British Naval forces and the crew and passengers detained in Cyprus. He remained in Israel working on a kibbutz for some years after the war. He returned to live out his remaining years in Buffalo Grove."

[1a] [2]

Addresses

Date Street City County State/ Province Country Postal Code Phone Sources
  52nd Street Brooklyn, Kings County   New York United States of America      

Source References

  1. The Jews' Secret Fleet: The Untold Story of North American Volunteers Who Smashed the British Blockade
    1. Page: 175
  2. Running the Palestine Blockade: The Last Voyage of the Paducah

Pedigree

    1. Brettschneider, Louis Lewis 'Lew'