Commemorative pin granted to the members of the Etzel (Irgun) and Lehi underground movements who were exiled to Africa, upon their release and return to Israel. [ca. 1948].
Brass inlaid with blue enamel. The recto is illustrated with an image of a guard tower behind a barbed-wire fence, surrounded by the Hebrew inscription "The Africa Exiles / 44-48".The verso is embossed with a Star of David and the number 215 (all the pins were individually numbered).
In 1944, the British Mandate authorities in Palestine deported several hundred members of the Etzel and Lehi underground movements to detention camps in Africa. At first, they were interned at a detention camp at Sembel, Eritrea, after which they were transferred to a camp in Carthago, Sudan, then back to Sembel, until finally reaching the detention camp in Gilgil in Kenya, where they were held until their release and return to the nascent State of Israel in July 1948.
Ca. 24X18 mm. Good-fair condition. Fractures and cracks to enamel. Old soldering repairs to clasp.
Included are two books by Yosef Vinitzky (Y. Netz), one of the exiles, reviewing the period of his exile in Africa: · “Two Hundred and Fifty-One (251), From the Diary of an Exile of Zion at the British Detention Camps in Africa.” . Tel Aviv: Yedidim, 1950. Hebrew. With a short dedication in the author's handwriting. · "From Imprisonment to Return (251 part 2: The Exile in Eritrea-Kenya), From the Diary of an Exile of Zion at the British Detention Camps in Africa." Tel Aviv: Yedidim, 1952. Hebrew.