The IDF announced Wednesday that it has identified the kever of fallen soldier Shlomo Chaimson Hy”d, nearly 78 years after he was killed while attempting to escape a British detention camp in Cyprus and decades after his remains were brought to Israel and buried as an unidentified person.
Following an extensive investigation by the IDF’s Missing Persons Branch, Military Rabbinate, Defense Ministry and the Cyprus Detainees Association, investigators determined that Chaimson is buried in kever No. 11, row 2, in the Cyprus detainees section of the cemetery in Haifa.
Chaimson was born in Romania in 1930. After World War II, during which he lost his father, he attempted to immigrate to Eretz Yisrael together with his mother, Ita, and his wife, Perla, aboard the Pan York, also known as Kibbutz Galuyot.
The ship was intercepted by British forces and its passengers were deported to Cyprus. While in the detention camp, Chaimson joined the Shurot HaMeginim, a Haganah-backed organization that trained detainees in preparation for joining the IDF after reaching Israel.
Following the establishment of the State of Israel, Chaimson’s mother and wife were released and immigrated to Israel as part of a group designated to establish Kibbutz Magen in the western Negev.
In September 1948, Chaimson learned that his daughter, Miriam, had been born and decided to escape the camp in an effort to reach his family in Israel.
On the night of September 29-30, 1948, Chaimson and eight others broke through the fence of the Karaolos detention camp. Guards spotted the group and opened fire, killing Chaimson. The others were captured and returned to the camp.
Chaimson was buried the following day in the Jewish cemetery in Margo, Cyprus. His kever was left without an inscription because those handling the burial did not know his identity.
In 1970, following requests from former detainees, Israel launched “Operation Margo” to bring those buried in Cyprus to Israel. A total of 163 remains were transferred, approximately 120 of which were unidentified. Most were reburied as unknown individuals in a special section at the Kfar Samir cemetery in Haifa.
Efforts to identify the kevarim began years later. In 2010, Amir Rogel, one of the founders of the Cyprus Detainees Association, launched a project to identify those buried in the section and place their names on their matzeivos. Researchers subsequently discovered that Chaimson was officially recognized as a fallen member of Israel’s security forces.
In 2023, the IDF established a special investigative team to determine Chaimson’s burial location. Investigators examined documents from archives around the world, collected testimony, reconstructed and analyzed historical photographs, and conducted archaeological surveys.
The accumulated evidence led investigators and the Military Rabbinate to conclude that Chaimson had originally been buried in Margo and that his remains were among those transferred to Israel in 1970. They ultimately identified his burial location as kever No. 11 in row 2 of the Cyprus detainees section in Haifa.
The head of the IDF Personnel Directorate accepted the investigative team’s findings and approved the placement of a marker bearing Chaimson’s name.
Chaimson’s family — including his daughter Miriam, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who currently live in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — were informed of the discovery Tuesday. The notification was delivered in the presence of Israel’s military attaché in Brazil and senior IDF and Defense Ministry officials.
The family is expected to travel to Israel in the coming period for a military-state ceremony at the cemetery, where a matzeivah bearing Chaimson’s name will finally be placed at his kever.
“We are deeply moved, fulfilled and eternally grateful for the unwavering dedication, meticulous efforts and sensitivity demonstrated by every professional and investigator involved in this noble mission,” Chaimson’s family said.
The family said the commitment of the IDF and the State of Israel to honoring Chaimson’s memory filled them with “immense pride,” adding that finally knowing where he rests has brought them “indescribable peace.”
The IDF said its efforts to locate fallen soldiers whose burial places remain unknown are continuing, describing the work as a moral commitment to bereaved families and to the memory of Israel’s fallen.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
