Casting of the helm from the Haganah ship "Medinat Ha’Yehudim"

Painted, epoxy resin casting of the wheel from the Aliyah Bet (clandestine immigration) ship "Medinat Ha’Yehudim" (“The Jewish State”), commissioned by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for installation in the museum’s permanent exhibition. The ship was commissioned by the United States Coast Guard in 1927, as the ice cutter “USCGC Northland (WPG-49)”. Following the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the Northland was refitted for patrol along the coast of Greenland. In September 1941, the Northland achieved the first American naval capture of the war by seizing the German-controlled ship Busko. The Northland was decommissioned in1946, and purchased for $50,000 by the Weston Trading Company (a front for the Haganah, the para-military organization of the Jewish community in Palestine) in 1947. Britain had been given control of Palestine following World War I, and severely restricted the immigration of Jewish refugees, who wanted to establish a new Jewish State. This led many refugees to enter the country via “illegal” or “clandestine” immigration on ships. Under a crew of American volunteers, the Northland sailed to Bayonne, France, for refitting, alongside another former American ship, the Paducah. On August 28, 1947, the Northland followed the Paducah for Burgas, Bulgaria. Overcrowded with 2,664 passengers from Romania, the ship set sail for Palestine on September 26, 1947. As they entered the Mediterranean, the Northland and the Paducah were renamed “Medinat Ha’Yehudim” (“The Jewish State”) and “Geula” (“Redemption”). The Medinat Ha’Yehudim headed for Tel Aviv, but was approached by the British 90 miles from shore. After unsuccessful attempts at evasion, the Medinat Ha’Yehudim collided with one of the British destroyers, which had shadowed both ships during the earlier stages of the voyage, and was boarded by commandos. The British disabled the ship and towed it to Haifa. The passengers were sent to an internment camp on Cyprus. After the state of Israel was founded in 1948, the Medinat Ha’Yehudim was renamed Eilat A16, and served as the flagship of the new Israeli Navy. In 1955, the ship was renamed Matzpen, and functioned as a barracks or depot hulk until May 1962, when it was sold for scrap. The helm was removed and given to the Israeli Ministry of Defense’s "Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum” in Haifa when it opened on September 7, 1969.