World War II has always been a comforting war for Americans to reflect upon. After all, the United States stood proudly, along with Britain and the other Allies, against the menace of the Axis Powers. We fought the good fight, and won.
Moreover, Germany's hands were stained red with the blood of millions. We are often reminded of the poignant scenes of American soldiers liberating nearly-dead and starving Jews from the hideous maw of Germany's death camps.
A story that we hear less often is how American bombers were never sent to bomb the Zyklon-B gas tanks and railway shipping stations that kept the death camps running. The risk was minimal and the human need was great — still, the great power of democracy and human rights kept its planes firmly aimed at other, more militarily-interesting targets. When a few bombs were accidentally dropped on Auschwitz, killing 89 SS men, the matter was kept secret, the pilots reprimanded.
We also rarely hear about British warships ramming hulking old freighters crammed with Jewish refugees trying to emmigrate to Palestine, or America's unwillingness to let more than a few Jews (primarily scientists and well-connected members of the intelligentsia) come to America at a time of dark and terrible peril for the Jewish people of Europe.
Another rarely-told tale is the struggle to establish the State of Israel, a battle the Palmach and Haganah fought in equal parts against hostile Arabs and a British Mandate determined to prevent further Jewish settlement.
"Commander of the Exodus," a history book enhanced by the literary gifts of a novelist, tells this handful of rarely-heard tales by exploring the life of Yossi Harel, a young native of Palestine who brought over 20,000 displaced Holocaust survivors to what would soon become Israel, braving rough seas, mines and a vicious British blockade.
Harel, who is molded by Kaniuk into the deeply passionate and level-headed hero of "Commander of the Exodus," is clearly a man of substance. The staggering dangers involved in smuggling thousands of refugees across a hostile Mediterranean are explored thoroughly by the author, who paints a grim picture of the ships that failed to make it, and the refugees who died while trying to find a better life in the desert that would become Israel. Throughout the book, Harel keeps his head and struggles admirably against the many obstacles thrown in his way. These include divisions within his own movement, brutal British sailors, corrupt port officials, and the sheer logistical nightmare of trying to move tens of thousands of people in old, unseaworthy boats meant for far smaller and less delicate cargoes.
But as brave as these exploits undoubtedly were, Kaniuk's passionate narrative doesn't make much of an attempt to approach Palestine from an Arab, or even British, perspective. To the Arabs and British, every half-starved survivor of Auschwitz looked like a soldier or colonist, a hostile force bound to bring still more tension to a region already straining not to explode. And while Kaniuk's exodus narrative is stirring and sometimes devastating in its anger against a "civilized world" that helped to finish a dirty job begun by the Nazis, it's clearly a work of passion. This makes it less reliable as a history, but considerably more human and engaging.
Kaniuk's work is translated, so it's hard to tell how much of the writing's fervent strength and sometimes-awkward structure he bears responsibility for.
This aside, it's clear that the author has wrought a rich historical perspective, charged with fact and drama. "Commander of the Exodus" is an enthralling story, rich with the sadness of history and the strength of human life.
— James Norton (jrnorton@flakmag.com)
Commander of the Exodus