Yitzhak "Ike" Aronowicz (August 27, 1923 - December 23, 2009) was the captain of the immigrant ship SS Exodus, which unsuccessfully tried to dock in British-occupied Palestine with Holocaust survivors on July 11, 1947, after the end of World War II. His surname was later spelled as Ahronovitch.[1]
Born in the Free City of Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland), he came to the land later known as Israel at the age of 10. Aged 23, he was the captain of the SS Exodus,[2] on its trip from the port of Sète, France, a fishing town on July 11, 1947 carrying 4,515 passengers which was intercepted by a fleet of British war ships led by the British Royal Navy cruiser Ajax and a convoy of destroyers trailed the ship from very early in its voyage. Two British destroyers rammed the ship. After several hours of hand-to-hand combat between passengers armed with smoke bombs trying to prevent British sailors from boarding the ship, the British opened fire. Two immigrants and a crewman were killed, and many passengers seriously wounded. The ship was towed to Haifa, where it was abandoned. The passengers were deported to France, and then to Lübeck, Germany. In 1953 the SS Exodus was burned to the waterline, and in 1963 its remains were finally dismantled.
He was a highly experienced naval officer and had sailed with many ships. He was highly trained in the officers course in London - for third, then second, and then first officer. [3] Aronowicz later studied for a M.B.A. at Columbia University in the 1960s.
Aronowicz died in Israel on December 23, 2009, aged 86. He was survived by two daughters, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
In a statement after his death Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, said Ahronovitch had "made a unique contribution to the state which will never be forgotten".[4]