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Report on Illegal Immigration Activities

We met in Paris to solve the problems of rescue work, and the Mossad [for illegal immigration] people wanted to take the opportunity to deal with the specific problems related to the “trip”,* its organization and the rest of its institutions... We have also elected the Mossad's secretariat in Europe, and secretariats for the transit countries, but these activities of the Mossad are worthless if there is no proper contact between the secretariats themselves and between them and the local stations; there has to be close contact with them.

For instance: The “trip” was being organized for large numbers. Thousands and thousands of people were going through without any guidance. We organized the “trips” that could go with the stream. We helped people to get to Italy when the way there was open. When the route to Bavaria and Austria opened up we tried to organize the route out there...

So far our work has gone well and has been successful thanks to the general disorganization reigning in Europe after the end of the war. Our irregularity has not disturbed the countries in their work. However, the more life has returned to normal, the more closed have the borders become. Repatriation finished long ago, but in spite of that, we have to go on working. It is clear that we will have to adapt our work to conditions around us in order to carry on working to get thousands of Jews out of Poland, especially those who are now returning from Russia. We can only overcome all these problems by constantly improved organization.

From: a document from the Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem, File 56/5557 (Hebrew).

*Note: “Trip” was a code word for the Bericha.

Source: Yad Vashem