John Stanley Grauel
Encyclopedia
John Stanley Grauel was a Methodist Minister and American Christian Zionist leader. He was a crew member of the famed refugee ship the "SS Exodus"-1947, secret "Haganah
"- operative, credited with being the key individual who persuaded the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine to recommend for the Partition Resolution of November 1947, creating the State of Israel. "Golda Meir
"--in a speech to the Jewish Agency, referred to his testimony as the first appeal by a “priest, a perfectly worthy gentile, a priori, no Jewish witness was to be believed,” and because of this, his graphic account became a turning point in the attitudes of the U.N. representatives.
" deliberately placed him onboard as a secret operative, under the cover of a foreign correspondent for the Episcopal journal, "The Churchman." Grauel's mission was to get the story of the Exodus '47 out to the world.
In Europe he organized and transferred refugees from the DP Camps to the ship acting in multiple capacities as an administrative executive, quartermaster, cook and liaison for the crew and the refugees. The Exodus, heavily overburdened with 4554 refugees, was intercepted and captured by British destroyers off the coast of Haifa, Palestine in a brief violent assault that left two refugees and one crew member dead. Grauel was arrested by the British. He escaped, with help from the Haganah, and gave direct testimony before the "United Nations Special Committee on Palestine
". His first hand testimony was extremely effective in eliciting sympathy and understanding for the cause of unrestricted Jewish refugee immigration to Palestine. Golda Meir
, a later Prime Minister of Israel, observed that Reverend Grauel's testimony and advocacy for the creation of the Jewish State fundamentally and positively changed the United Nations' to support the creation of Israel.
Grauel said that his testimony before the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine was given more credence because he was a Christian, rather than a Jewish, crew member.
Throughout his life he maintained close associations with Jewish concerns. In the 1950s and 1960s he led investigations into the terrible conditions of Jews living in Morocco and Algeria.
In 1975 he led one of the first Jewish youth tours of the Nazi Concentration camps in Europe. Reverend Grauel was drawn to numerous humanitarian efforts including the American Civil Rights and Native American struggles.
The State of Israel recognized Rev. Grauel through the Humanity Medal, the Fighter for Israel Medal and the Medal of Jerusalem.
He died at his home in Roosevelt, New Jersey
and was buried in Jerusalem, Israel at services attended by an Israeli Naval Honor Guard, B'nai Brith, members of the Aliyah Bet and fellow crew members of the Exodus. No member of the Government of Israel attended.
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
"- operative, credited with being the key individual who persuaded the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine to recommend for the Partition Resolution of November 1947, creating the State of Israel. "Golda Meir
Golda Meir
Golda Meir ; May 3, 1898 – December 8, 1978) was a teacher, kibbutznik and politician who became the fourth Prime Minister of the State of Israel....
"--in a speech to the Jewish Agency, referred to his testimony as the first appeal by a “priest, a perfectly worthy gentile, a priori, no Jewish witness was to be believed,” and because of this, his graphic account became a turning point in the attitudes of the U.N. representatives.
Biography
He completed his education in 1941 graduating from the Bangor, Maine, Theological Seminary as a Methodist Minister. Grauel became very aware of the European Holocaust and the Zionist movement in 1942 through his close friendship with Judge Joseph Goldberg of Worcester. He joined the "America Palestine Committee" in 1942. The Committee was dedicated to the establishment of a Jewish state. In 1943 he gave up the local ministry to assume a position as a director of the Committee's Philadelphia office. In 1944, attending his first Zionist meeting he met David Ben Gurion, the Zionist leader and future prime minister of Israel. Grauel learned of the Jewish underground army in Palestine, the Haganah, and the longtime humanitarian efforts of the Haganah to save Jewish lives from the Holocaust by smuggling Jews into Palestine. Reverend Grauel enlisted in the effort immediately, leading a double life working for the "America Palestine Committee" and the Jewish underground. March 23, 1947, he sailed aboard the famed illegal refugee running ship the Exodus. The "HaganahHaganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
" deliberately placed him onboard as a secret operative, under the cover of a foreign correspondent for the Episcopal journal, "The Churchman." Grauel's mission was to get the story of the Exodus '47 out to the world.
In Europe he organized and transferred refugees from the DP Camps to the ship acting in multiple capacities as an administrative executive, quartermaster, cook and liaison for the crew and the refugees. The Exodus, heavily overburdened with 4554 refugees, was intercepted and captured by British destroyers off the coast of Haifa, Palestine in a brief violent assault that left two refugees and one crew member dead. Grauel was arrested by the British. He escaped, with help from the Haganah, and gave direct testimony before the "United Nations Special Committee on Palestine
United Nations Special Committee on Palestine
The United Nations Special Committee on Palestine was formed in May 1947 in response to a United Kingdom government request that the General Assembly "make recommendations under article 10 of the Charter, concerning the future government of Palestine"...
". His first hand testimony was extremely effective in eliciting sympathy and understanding for the cause of unrestricted Jewish refugee immigration to Palestine. Golda Meir
Golda Meir
Golda Meir ; May 3, 1898 – December 8, 1978) was a teacher, kibbutznik and politician who became the fourth Prime Minister of the State of Israel....
, a later Prime Minister of Israel, observed that Reverend Grauel's testimony and advocacy for the creation of the Jewish State fundamentally and positively changed the United Nations' to support the creation of Israel.
Throughout his life he maintained close associations with Jewish concerns. In the 1950s and 1960s he led investigations into the terrible conditions of Jews living in Morocco and Algeria.
In 1975 he led one of the first Jewish youth tours of the Nazi Concentration camps in Europe. Reverend Grauel was drawn to numerous humanitarian efforts including the American Civil Rights and Native American struggles.
The State of Israel recognized Rev. Grauel through the Humanity Medal, the Fighter for Israel Medal and the Medal of Jerusalem.
He died at his home in Roosevelt, New Jersey
Roosevelt, New Jersey
Roosevelt was originally called Jersey Homesteads, and was created during the Great Depression as part of President Roosevelt's New Deal. The town was home to a cooperative farming and manufacturing project...
and was buried in Jerusalem, Israel at services attended by an Israeli Naval Honor Guard, B'nai Brith, members of the Aliyah Bet and fellow crew members of the Exodus. No member of the Government of Israel attended.
Books
- Elfenbein, Eleanor, 1982. Grauel: an Autobiography as Told to Eleanor Elfenbein. Ivory House
- Uris, Leon 1958, Exodus Doubleday Press, Chapter 27 specific to the Exodus true story.
- Gruber, Ruth, 1999. Exodus 1947: the ship that launched a nation. New York: Times Books. ISBN 0-8129-3154-8. OCLC 4095423
- Hochstein, Joseph M.; Murray Greenfield. The Jews' Secret Fleet. Jerusalem: Gefen. ISBN 965-229-023-8. OCLC 19030133
- Holly, David C. 1969. Exodus 1947, Little Brown and Co., Boston
- Schwarz, Leo, 1953. The Redeemers, a saga of the years 1945-1952. New York : Farrar Straus and Young
Exhibit
- Fahlbusch, Jan Henrik; et al. (1999) (in German). Pöppendorf statt Palästina: Zwangsaufenthalt der Passagiere der "Exodus 1947" in Lübeck : Dokumentation einer Ausstellung. Hamburg: Dölling und Galitz. ISBN 3-933374-29-4. OCLC 50638651
External links
- Exodus1947.com PBS Documentary Film focusing on the secret American involvement, narrated by Morley Safer
- Interview with Ruth Gruber from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
- exodus1947.org Hebrew website dedicated to the ship. Includes images and recordings.
- Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia - Exodus 1947
- PresidentWarfield.com English-language website dedicated to the President Warfield/Exodus
- http://channels.isp.netscape.com/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-1103&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20080504%2F1905460943.htm&sc=1103 Documents show UK post-WWII dilemma over Jewish refugees AP News
- http://www.insideout.org/documentaries/exodus47/ Public radio documentary website
- http://palyam.org Hebrew-English website dedicated to the history of the Palyam and the Aliyah Bet
- http://palyam.org/Hahapala/Teur_haflagot/John_the_Priest.pdf Hebrew-English website of the Palyam Aliyah Bet Org. story of Rev. John Stanley Grauel, secret Haganah operative on the Exodus