Prizes will be paid to those who lead to the imprisonment of the "absconded criminals" from Acre Prison in May 1947 ...

Prizes will be paid to those who lead to the imprisonment of the "absconded criminals" from Acre Prison in May 1947 - a trilingual poster with "wanted" pictures of Acre Prison inmates

"Retribution - The Palestinian Police will pay prizes to those who lead to the imprisonment of the "absconded criminals" from Acre Prison on May 4, 1947." A trilingual poster - Hebrew, English and Arabic, which guarantees a monetary reward to those who will lead to the finding of the Jewish prisoners who escaped from the Acre prison. July, 1947.

The pictures and names of the Jewish refugees appear in three languages:

Top row: Dov Ben-Tzruya, Simcha Ozer, Yoav Levy, Yitzhak Wilnzik, Zalman Bergman, Moshe Ben-Haim Armoni, Menachem Asher Schiff, Menachem Binder, Nissim Kashish, Yosef Nachmias.

Middle row from left: Avraham Poodlon, Moshe Tziron, Chaim Ender, Chaim Luster, Yerachmiel Rom, Yaakov Levy, Wolf Rosenberg, Avraham Tzafnia, Yehoshua Zelter, Benjamin Kaplan.

Bottom row, left: Haim Applebaum (appears in the ad as "wanted" but was actually killed during the escape. Applebaum, a member of the underground who took part in Bold promotions, including the attack on British military airports (2.25.1946) and the explosion of the Naaman Bridge near Acre (4.2.1946) in the operation to blow up the British railway workshops in Haifa (6.17.1946) was the deputy commander of the force. The operation itself was successful but the withdrawal failed, 11 fighters were killed and Haim with 18 fighters and 4 more Women warriors were captured and a military tribunal sentenced the young men to death and was later converted to life imprisonment. As stated, Haim was shot and killed in the escape attempt), Nissim Gershon, Avraham Bachar, David Meiri, Yosef Frankfurt, Yehuda Katz, Yehoshua Becker, Aharon Wintel, Yitzhak Ganzweich.

The break-in at Acre Prison was a raid by the Irgun, held on May 4, 1947, during which an Irgun force disguised as a British engineering company broke through the walls of Acre Prison and many inmates escaped. The fugitives included 41 Etzel and Lehi prisoners, six of whom were killed in the retreat and eight more were captured and returned to prison. 27 of them managed to go free, including senior Irgun commanders such as Eitan Livni. The breaking force numbered 34 fighters, three of whom, including Operation Commander Dov Cohen, were killed during the withdrawal. The three IDF fighters - Meir Nackar, Avshalom Habib and Yaakov Weiss, who were arrested by the British were later executed, and the remaining two, Amnon Michalov and Menachem Ostrovitz, were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The heroic action resonated all over the world, and had a strong moral impact on the Jewish community in Eretz Israel and on paving the way in the struggle for the establishment of the state. The operation severely damaged the prestige of the British, and it affected the end of the British Mandate in Israel.

A rare poster. To the best of our knowledge has never appeared at auctions. The copy in the National Library is full of tears and pastes, before us is a perfect copy.

40x30 cm. given in lamination for preservation. Very good condition.