The British constructed the Atlit detention camp as a military camp on the Mediterranean coast at the end of the 1930’s. It was converted and served as a detention camp for illegal Jewish immigrants between 1939 and 1948. Many of those imprisoned at Atlit had escaped from Nazi persecution in Europe, however, upon arriving on the shores of Israel found themselves incarcerated once again behind barbed wire.
On the night of October 9, 1945, Palmach fighters led by Nachum Sarig broke into the Atlit camp and freed the prisoners in a daring raid. The operation demonstrated valor and resistance by members of the Yishuv in the struggle for the right to immigrate.
