View source for MV Mefküre

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{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image= Monument to STRUMA and MEFKURE in Ashdod.jpg
|Ship image size=300px
|Ship caption= Monument to the vessels ''[[Struma disaster|Struma]]'' and ''Mefküre'' in [[Ashdod|Ashdod, Israel]]
}} 
{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship flag= 
|Ship name= MV ''Mefküre''
|Ship namesake= 
|Ship owner= 
|Ship operator= Jean D Pandelis<ref name=Wertheimer>{{cite web |url= http://www.wertheimer.info/family/GRAMPS/Haapalah/plc/2/7/bea98dbf1dc6d1a1772.html |title=מפקורה SS Mefküre Mafkura Mefkura |website=Haapalah Aliyah Bet Database|date=27 September 2011 |access-date=26 March 2013}}</ref>
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|Ship laid down= 
|Ship launched= 1929<ref name=WreckSite>{{cite web |url= http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?188063 |title=SV Mefkure (+1944) |last=Lettens |first=Jan |date=24 December 2012 |work=The Wreck Site |access-date=26 March 2013}}</ref>
|Ship completed= 
|Ship acquired= 
|Ship in service= 
|Ship out of service= 5 August 1944<ref name=WreckSite/>
|Ship registry= {{flagicon|Turkey|civil}} Istanbul or [[Şile]]<ref name=Warsailors>{{cite web |url= http://warsailors.com/forum/read.php?1,51090,51093 |last=Lawson |first=Siri Holm |work=Norwegian Merchant Fleet WW II |title=Re: Identity of MEFKURE sunk 1944. |publisher=Warsailors |access-date=26 March 2013}}</ref>
|Ship identification= 
|Ship fate= Sunk by Soviet submarine {{ship|Soviet submarine|Shch-215||2}}, 5 August 1944<ref name=WreckSite/>
|Ship notes= 
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Header caption=
|Ship type= motor [[schooner]]<ref name=WreckSite/>
|Ship tonnage= {{GRT|52}}<ref name=Wertheimer/> or {{GRT|120}};<ref name=Warsailors/> {{NRT|40}}<ref name=Warsailors/>
|Ship displacement= 
|Ship length= {{convert|35|m|abbr=on}}<ref name=Wertheimer/>
|Ship beam= {{convert|8|m|abbr=on}}<ref name=Wertheimer/>
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|Ship power= 
|Ship propulsion=*diesel engine of about 75 [[Horsepower#Brake horsepower|BHP]];<ref name=Warsailors/>
*single screw
|Ship speed=*maximum {{convert|11.5|kn}};<ref name=Wertheimer/>
*cruising speed {{convert|9|kn}}<ref name=Wertheimer/>
|Ship capacity= 
|Ship crew= 7<ref name=Wertheimer/>
|Ship notes= 
}}
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[[File:Memorial plaque to Mefkure victims in Tel Aviv.jpg|thumb|299px|Tel Aviv memorial plaque to Mefkure victims]]

'''MV ''Mefküre''''' (often referred to as '''''Mefkura''''') was a Turkish wooden-hulled<ref name=Wertheimer/> motor [[schooner]] chartered to carry [[Jew]]ish [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]] refugees from [[Romania]] to [[Istanbul]], sailing under the [[Turkey|Turkish]]<ref name=WreckSite/> and [[Red Cross]] flags. On 5 August 1944 a [[Shchuka-class submarine|Soviet submarine]] sank her in the [[Black Sea]] by [[Autocannon|cannon]] and machine gun fire, killing more than 300 refugees.

==Final voyage and sinking==
On 3 August 1944 three small old merchant ships, overcrowded with about 1,000 Jewish refugees, left the Romanian port of [[Constanța]] at about 20:30 hrs. Sailing instructions from the German naval authorities were for ''Morina'' with 308 passengers to sail first, followed by ''Bulbul'' with 390 people, and lastly by ''Mefküre'' with 320 refugees (the exact number may be slightly different) on board. The vessels were ordered to sail from position 43°43'N 29°08'E strictly southward, which would lead them directly into the Bosphorus.<ref>{{harvnb|Finkelstein|1991|loc=Document 17}}</ref> Armed ships of the [[Romanian Naval Forces#World War II and postwar|Romanian Navy]] escorted the convoy and provided signal flags to aid their passage from the harbour and through the mined area of the approaches.

On 5 August 1944, about 40 minutes after midnight ''Mefküre'' was about {{convert|25|mi}} northeast of [[İğneada]] in Turkey when flares from an unknown vessel illuminated her.<ref name=Wertheimer/> ''Mefküre'' failed to respond and carried on.<ref name=Wertheimer/> In the same night, at 02:00 hrs, the German [[radio direction-finding station]] at Cape [[Pomorie]] in the Gulf of Burgas intercepted a radio signal of the Soviet {{sclass2|Shchuka|submarine}}, {{ship|Soviet submarine|Shch-215||2}}, with a bearing of 116 degrees. "This bearing crossed the course of ''Mefkure'' and the two Turkish vessels almost exactly at the area where ''Mefkure'' was sunk during that night."<ref>{{harvnb|Finkelstein|1991|p=5}}</ref> The German historian Jürgen Rohwer claimed ''Shch-215'' as the vessel which then attacked.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/5046.html |title=Shch-215 |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2013 |work=uboat.net |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |access-date=26 March 2013}}</ref> ''Shch-215'' fired 90 rounds from her 45-mm guns and 650 rounds from her 7.62&nbsp;mm machine guns.<ref name=Deepstorm>{{cite web |url= http://www.deepstorm.ru/DeepStorm.files/17-45/sh%20X/Sh-215/Sh-215.htm |last=Nikolaev |first=Aleksandr S |title=Щ-215, С-215 туп "Щ" X серии |work=Энциклопедия отечественного подводного флота |language=ru |access-date=27 March 2013}}</ref><ref name=fleet>{{cite web |url= http://flot.sevastopol.info/ship/podlodki/shya215.htm |script-title=ru:Подводная лодка "Щ-215" |work=Черноморский Флот информационный ресурс |language=ru |date=2000–2013 |access-date=27 March 2013}}</ref><ref name=Hurley>{{cite web |url= http://hurley.narod.ru/BOATS/sh215.htm |script-title=ru:Щ-215 |work=СОВЕТСКИЕ ПОДВОДНЫЕ ЛОДКИ |language=ru |date=23 April 2008 |access-date=27 March 2013}}</ref> ''Mefküre'' caught fire and sank. Her captain, Kazım Turan, and six of his crew escaped in the only available lifeboat, but only five of the refugees survived.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.karalahana.com/makaleler/tarih/karadenizde-batirilan-mefkure.htm |title=UNUTULMUŞ BİR TRAJEDİ: KARADENİZ'DE BATIRILAN MEFKÛRE-II |last=Danacioglu |first=Dr Esra |year=2012 |language=tr |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915084546/http://karalahana.com/makaleler/tarih/karadenizde-batirilan-mefkure.htm |archive-date=2012-09-15 }}</ref> The number of refugees killed is unknown, but one estimate suggests it includes 37 children.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.histarmar.com.ar/Hund2GMA/1944b.htm |title=Desastres Maritimos de la 2ª Guerra Mundial 1944 (Esta seccion sera traducida en breve) |work=Historia y Arqueologia Marítima Indice desastres... |publisher=Fundacion Histarmar |language=es |access-date=26 March 2013}}</ref>

On 30 July 1944 submarine ''Shch-215'', under command of [[Lieutenant commander|Captain 3rd Rank]] AI Strizhak, had departed from [[Batum]], operating at the approaches off [[Burgas]]. This submarine, on the night of 5 August, claimed the sinking of a big [[schooner]] with about 200 armed men aboard,<ref name=Deepstorm/><ref name=Hurley/> answering the attack with rifles and light machine guns, and in addition one [[Pinnace (ship's boat)|"barkass"]], possibly a life boat. ''Shch-215'' made the attack in position 42.00'N 28°42'E, at a distance of {{convert|19|nmi|lk=in}} westward from the ordered course of ''Mefküre''.

A fortnight after the sinking a JTA news report alleged that three German surface craft had sunk ''Mefküre''. The same report stated that ''Bulbul'' had been intercepted, too, but was allowed to proceed after identifying herself; at daybreak she rescued ''Mefküre''{{'}}s survivors.<ref name=JTA>{{cite news |url= http://www.jta.org/1944/08/22/archive/war-refugee-board-confirms-report-that-sinking-of-mefkure-by-germans-was-deliberate|title=War Refugee Board Confirms Report That Sinking of "Mefkure" by Germans Was Deliberate |agency=[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]] |date=August 22, 1944 }}</ref> ''Bulbul'' continued to İğneada, whence her 395 refugees and the five surviving ''Mefküre'' refugees continued by road and rail to Istanbul. ''Morina'' also reached Turkey, and refugees from both ships continued overland to [[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Ofer |first=Dalia |title=Escaping the Holocaust: Illegal Immigration to the Land of Israel, 19391–944 |url=https://archive.org/details/escapingholocaus00ofer |url-access=limited |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1990 |isbn=0195063406 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/escapingholocaus00ofer/page/n274 260]–266}}</ref>

==Memorials==
There are memorials to those killed aboard ''Mefküre'' at the [[Giurgiului]] Cemetery in the south of [[Bucharest]] in Romania<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/holocaust/0179_Sinking_of_Mefkure.html |last=Leeson |first=Rosanne |title=The Sinking of the Mefkure |date=20 January 2009 |publisher=[[JewishGen]] |access-date=26 March 2013}}</ref> and at [[Ashdod]] in Israel.

==See also==
*[[Aliyah Bet]]
*[[Patria disaster]]
*[[Struma disaster]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Finkelstein |first=Albert |year=c. 1991 |title=The Mefkure Tragedy: an inquiry into the slayers' identity |edition=3rd revised |publisher=self-published |ref={{sfnref|Finkelstein|1991}}}} includes 19 documents and a list of 302 passengers (victims) of the ''Mefkure''
*{{cite book |last=Finkelstein |first=Albert |year=1993 |title=Tragedia "Mefkure": studiu asupra identităt̜ii asasinilor |publisher=A Finkelstein |isbn=2-9507-6970-5 }}
*{{cite book |last=Finkelstein |first=Albert |year=1997 |title=Etre ou ne pas naître: chronique de l'Holocauste en Roumanie |place=Paris |publisher=Etoile de la Pensée |isbn=2-214-10354-6 }}
*{{cite book |last=Rohwer |first=Jürgen |author-link=Jürgen Rohwer |title=Die Versenkung der jüdischen Flüchtlingstransporter Struma und Mefkure im Schwarzen Meer (Februar 1942, August 1944) |series= Schriften der Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte, Vol.4 |location=Frankfurt am Main |publisher=Bernard & Graefe. Verlag für Wehrwesen |year=1964 |language=de }} 
*{{cite book |last=Rohwer |first=Jürgen |year=1986 |chapter=Jüdische Flüchtlingsschiffe im Schwarzen Meer (1934–1944) |editor-first=Ursula |editor-last=Büttner |title=Das Unrechtsregime |volume=2 |place=Hamburg |publisher=Christians Verlag |pages=1972–48 |isbn=3-7672-0963-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/dasunrechtsregim0000unse |url-access=limited }}

==External links==
*{{cite web |url=http://www.zionism-israel.com/dic/Mefkure.htm |title=Mefkure –Definition |work=Zionism and Israel –Encyclopedic Dictionary}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.turkishjews.com/struma/struma_tragedy.asp |last=Ozer |first=Ayfan |title=The Struma Tragedy |work=Turkish Jews |date=February 1992 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927145223/http://www.turkishjews.com/struma/struma_tragedy.asp |archive-date=2007-09-27 }}

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{{August 1944 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mefkure}}
[[Category:1929 ships]]
[[Category:1944 in Romania]]
[[Category:Aliyah]]
[[Category:History of the Republic of Turkey]]
[[Category:Jewish Romanian history]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in August 1944]]
[[Category:Rescue of Jews during the Holocaust]]
[[Category:Romania in World War II]]
[[Category:World War II ships of Turkey]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by Soviet submarines]]
[[Category:Soviet Union–Turkey relations]]
[[Category:Schooners]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Black Sea]]
[[Category:Jewish immigrant ships]]
[[Category:International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement]]
[[Category:Aid for Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany]]