The British government had decided on 21st August that the destination of the Exodus passengers was to be Hamburg, in the British Zone in Germany. Force was to be used if necessary. Army units, having previously served in the Middle East, were assembled, and completely cordoned off the port area. The approximately 1,000 soldiers were given the order not to use their weapons in any way that could endanger life, even when this would prevent flight.
Almost 200 journalists from newspapers worldwide had arrived in Hamburg to report on the termination
of the cynically named Operation Oasis. Meanwhile, preparations for arrival were being made on board
the prison ships. The people on board were extremely distressed that they had been returned to Germany.
A statement given to the Lübeck news precisely reflected this feeling:
We do not want to enter this damned Germany which has cost us 6 million lives, France neither;
we wish to go to Palestine to live as a free people, in a free country.
As any fight to prevent disembarkation was hopeless from the outset, and because of the strain of the previous one and a half months journey, evidenced by the weak and weary people, the Haganah command on board resolved on a passive resistance.
At the same time, 4,000 Jewish people, in the Belsen-Hohne DP camp in the British Zone, in the Lüneburg Heath, demonstrated against the planned forced disembarkation of the Exodus passengers in Hamburg. They had not relinquished the hope of finding a humanitarian solution to the Exodus affair.
