Πεντέλη Pendelis Pandelis, Zannis Yanaki Jean D. 'Fat One' 'Shamen'

Birth Name Πεντέλη Pendelis Pandelis, Zannis Yanaki Jean D. 'Fat One' 'Shamen' [1a] [2a] [3] [4]
Birth Name Πεντέλη, Γιάννης
Also Known As שמן
Call Name 'Shamen'
Call Name Γιάννης
Call Name שמן
Gender male

Events

Event Date Place Description Notes Sources
Birth      

 
Boat   טייגר הייל SS Thrace Thraki Θράκη Eustratios Ευστράτιος Kypros Zeinikos Tiger Hill Jean D. Pendelis helped Mossad leAliyah Bet transport 1,400 passengers from Bulgaria, Czachoslovakia, Poland and Romania to Palestine.

 
Boat   הילדה Hilda אוריון Orion Jean D. Pendelis helped Mossad le'Aliyah Bet arrange for sailing.

 
Boat   דאריאן Sofia S Pole Star Darien Jean D. Pendelis helped Mossad le'Aliyah Bet arrange for sailing.

 
Boat   סטרומה Kafireus Καφηρεύς Espiros Есперос Macedonia Makedoniya Македония Strymon Струма Struma Jean D. Pendelis contacted the Revisionists, and proposed carrying refugees aboard Struma

Event Note

Douglas Frantz cites a year before her fatal voyage, Jean D. Pandelis had tried to interest Mossad le Aiyah Bet agents in Struma סטרומה as a candidate for a Haapalah voyage, but the vessel was so old, and in such terrible condition, they declined.

Event Note

A month after Romania surrendered to the Allies on August 23, 1944, relatives of a group of passengers hired lawyers, and filed suite against Jean Pendelis Πεντέλη.
Judge Consantin Calea impounded the shipowner's passport, and before the end of the year, the judge was prepared to charge Jean Pendelis Πεντέλη with criminal negligence.
Jean Pendelis Πεντέλη was never charged, and at the end of the wat, he was rich from the money he had earned in the refugee trade.

 

Narrative

Zannis (Jean D.) Pendelis Γιάννης Πεντέλη, nicknamed Fat שמן by Mossad leAliyah Bet operatives, was a Greek-Romanian shipowner, residing in Bucaresti, who operated ORAT (Societatea Official Roman Anonima de Transporturi).
Yehuda Bauer cites he has a "virtual monopoly of emigration from Romania."
He was a a shipping agent of last resort for the illegal immigration movement, with offices in Bucaresti and Constanta, and contacts from the Balkans to Greece.
He cajoled, bribed and lied to scrounge ships for refugees.

Narrative

Gelina Harlaftis cites: Pandelis was one of the important Greek shipowners, who started in Propontis and Asia Minor, and were active from 1908 to the 1960s.

Source References

  1. From Catastrophe to Power: Holocaust Survivors and the Emergence of Israel
    1. Page: 99
  2. American Jewry and the Holocaust: the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 1939-1945
    1. Page: 354
  3. Death on the Black Sea: The Untold Story of the ‘Struma’ and World War II’s Holocaust at Sea
  4. A history of Greek-owned Shipping: the making of an international tramp fleet, 1830 to the present day

Pedigree

    1. Πεντέλη Pendelis Pandelis, Zannis Yanaki Jean D. 'Fat One' 'Shamen'