​(Communicated by the President’s Spokesperson)

 

As part of his state visit to Cyprus, President Reuven Rivlin today (‏Tuesday, 12 February 2019), was guest of honor at a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the closure of the Cyprus detention camps​. The ceremony was held at the monument to the Jewish immigrants at the British Military Hospital in Nicosia. President of the Cypriot parliament Demetris Syllouris and Presidential Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs and Overseas Cypriots Photis Photiou also participated in the ceremony. 

The detention camps on Cyprus were established by the British during the Mandate period and over 53,000 Jews were held in them, most of them Holocaust survivors who wanted to immigrate to the Land of Israel after the Second World War. During that time, some 2,200 babies were born, a third of them at the British Military Hospital where the ceremony was held.

 

At the beginning of his remarks, the president said: “The story of the immigrants is a story of heroism. Even more than heroism, it is a story of hope. It was hope that helped them create, dream and love despite the barbed wire fences. It was hope that kept their hearts beating. The hope of getting to the Land of Israel to establish a state, a family, a home. It was hope that gave strength and gave life. This was indeed a place of life, of birth.”

 

The president referred to Col. Amnon Sharon and Miriam Milo who accompanied him on his visit. Sharon was born in the hospital where the ceremony was held. His parents were immigrants and he made his way with them to Israel. During the Yom Kippur War, he was taken prisoner and was held by the Syrians for eight months. Milo came to the camps as a three-year-old with her parents, who were Holocaust survivors. “My friends, today – with the State of Israel – you are closing a circle after 70 years,” said the president. “Hope became a reality. The People of Israel live! We will never forget the 163 people who died in the camps, including 113 babies. May their memories be a blessing.”

 

At the end of the ceremony, the president placed a plaque at the side of the monument to mark 70 years since the detention camps were closed and in honor of the friendship between the peoples and afterwards returned to Israel.