Photographs from the Machal/Aliyah Bet Exhibition Opening

American Jewish Historical Society Opens Machal & Aliyah Bet Exhibition to honor North American Volunteers who fought in Israel‘s War of Independence (1947-1949)

More than 250 guests, including 20 veterans, attended the opening of the American Jewish Historical Society‘s (AJHS) new exhibition, Heroes from Abroad: The Machal — Aliyah Bet Legacy, on view at the Center for Jewish History in New York City through December, 2011. The exhibition tells the little-known story of "Machal," Hebrew acronym for the "volunteers from abroad" who fought in Israel‘s War of Independence in 1947-1949 and seamen of Aliyah Bet who transported Displaced Persons toward Palestine from 1946-1948. Nearly 1500 North American men and women, as well as volunteers from other countries, participated in this effort. Forty-one perished.

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L-to-R:
Ralph and Bronia Lowenstein
The Gold Family
Sandra and Norman Liss

L-to-R:
Duke Labaczewski
Deborah Dash Moore, Ralph Lowenstein, Sam Klausner, Derek Penslar

L-to-R:
Ralph Lowenstein with Linda and Norton Rosensweig
Deborah Dash Moore, Sam Klausner, Derek Penslar, Ralph Lowenstein, Si Spiegelman and Jonathan Karp
Rose Hanovice and daughter Tammy

Ido Aharoni