The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit announced Wednesday morning that nearly 78 years after he fell during a daring escape attempt from the Caraolos internment camp in Cyprus, the burial site of the late Shlomo Haimson, a Cyprus deportee, has been officially identified. Following an extensive investigation by the IDF’s Missing Persons Branch, in collaboration with the Military Rabbinate, the Ministry of Defense, and the Cyprus Pioneering Ascendents Association, it was determined that Haimson is buried in grave 11, row 2, within the Pioneering Ascendents section at the Haifa cemetery.
Haimson was born in Romania in 1930. After World War II, in which he lost his father, he decided to immigrate to Israel with his mother Ita and his girlfriend Perla aboard the immigrant ship “Pan York – Kibbutz Galuyot.” The ship was captured by the British and its passengers were deported to Cyprus. In the camp, Haimson joined the Haganah’s “Defender Ranks,” where he trained to serve as a fighter in the Land of Israel. In September 1948, news reached him that his daughter, Miriam, had been born. Haimson determined to escape the internment camp and make his way to Israel. On the night of September 29–30, 1948, he and eight companions breached the camp fences in an escape attempt. British guards spotted the group and opened fire. Haimson was hit and killed, while his companions were captured and returned to the camp.
The next day he was buried in the Jewish cemetery in the town of Margoa, Cyprus. No name was recorded on his grave because camp officials did not know his identity. In 1970, as part of “Operation Margoa,” 163 bodies were brought to Israel from the Cyprus cemetery, including about 120 whose identities were unknown. They were buried in a special section at the Kfar Samir cemetery in Haifa, and many were buried anonymously. Efforts to identify the buried individuals continued over the decades. In 2010, Amir Rogel, co-founder of the Cyprus Clandestine Pioneering Ascendents Association, launched an initiative to uncover the identities of the deceased and engrave their names on the headstones. During the project, it emerged that Haimson was officially recognized as a fallen soldier of Israel’s security forces, prompting a joint investigation between the Department for Families and Commemoration and the IDF Missing Persons Branch.
In 2023, a specialized investigation team was established within the IDF, conducting exhaustive research that included retrieving and analyzing archival documents worldwide, collecting testimonies, deciphering historical photographs, and conducting archaeological surveys. The findings conclusively proved that Haimson was buried in Margo and that his remains were reinterred in Israel in 1970 at grave 11, row 2, in the Haifa Pioneering Ascendents plot. Haimson’s family—including his daughter Miriam, as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil—were informed of the investigation’s conclusion on Tuesday evening. The news was delivered at the family home in the presence of Israel’s Defense Attaché to Brazil, Col. Uri Ron, alongside senior officials from the IDF Casualty Department and the Ministry of Defense.
In the near future, the family will travel to Israel for an official state military ceremony, where a personalized headstone bearing the name of the late Shlomo Haimson will be dedicated. Almost eight decades after his fall, the circle will close, restoring the name and memory of a fallen soldier buried for decades as an unknown. Responding to the emotional news, the family of the late Shlomo Haimson stated: “We are deeply moved, fulfilled, and eternally grateful for the unwavering dedication, meticulous efforts, and sensitivity demonstrated by every professional and researcher involved in this noble mission. Witnessing the moral commitment of the Israel Defense Forces and the State of Israel to honor the memory and dignity of our beloved father and grandfather fills us with immense pride and touches the depths of our souls. Knowing that his story of bravery, his love for the Land of Israel, and his devotion coinciding with the birth of his daughter, Miriam, now culminates in a final resting place identified with his name brings indescribable peace to our family here in Rio de Janeiro.”