After Nearly 78 Years, IDF Identifies Burial Site of Soldier Killed in Cyprus
The Israel Defense Forces announced Wednesday that it has identified the resting place of Shlomo Haimson HY”D, a Jewish soldier who was killed nearly 78 years ago while attempting to escape a British detention camp in Cyprus. His grave was located in Haifa following an extensive investigation by the IDF’s Missing Persons Investigation Department • Read More
The Israel Defense Forces announced Wednesday that it has identified the resting place of Shlomo Haimson HY”D, a Jewish soldier who was killed nearly 78 years ago while attempting to escape a British detention camp in Cyprus. His grave was located in Haifa following an extensive investigation by the IDF’s Missing Persons Investigation Department.
Haimson was born in Romania in 1930. Following World War II, he sought to immigrate to Eretz Yisroel together with his mother, Ita, and his friend, Perla. The three boarded the illegal immigration ship SS Pan York, also known as Kibbutz Galuyot, but were intercepted by the British and taken to a detention camp in Cyprus.
On the night of September 29–30, 1948, Haimson attempted to escape from the Karaolos detention camp. According to the investigation, he was shot and killed by British camp guards. He was just 18 years old.
Haimson was initially buried in the Jewish cemetery in Margo, Cyprus, along with other Jewish detainees who died during their internment. In 1970, the remains of those buried at the cemetery were transferred to Israel and reinterred in Haifa. Haimson’s remains were placed in a grave designated for an unknown person, leaving his family without a known burial site for decades.
The IDF’s investigation, conducted in cooperation with the Defense Ministry and the Cyprus Deportees Association, eventually established that Haimson was buried in grave No. 11, row 2, in the Cyprus immigrants’ section of a Haifa cemetery.
The discovery brings an end to nearly eight decades of uncertainty surrounding Haimson’s fate and burial place.
The British detention camps in Cyprus operated between 1946 and 1949 and held tens of thousands of Jewish refugees and immigrants who attempted to reach Mandatory Palestine in defiance of British restrictions on Jewish immigration. Conditions in the camps were harsh, and approximately 400 Jews died during their internment, with many buried at the Margo cemetery.
The identification of Haimson’s grave reflects the IDF and Israel’s continued efforts to locate and properly identify the remains and burial places of those who fell or disappeared during the country’s early years.
For Haimson’s family, the discovery finally provides a known place to visit and commemorate a young man whose life was cut short as he sought to reach Eretz Yisroel.
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