Planning the Prison Break – Scene from Exodus (1960)

In this scene (2:18) from classic MGM film Exodus (1960), we see members of the pre-State underground movements planning a massive, clandestine operation to free Jewish prisoners held in the Acre prison. This is a dramatization of the true story of  the Acre prison break carried out mainly by the Irgun (Etzel), whose members had set up their headquarters in the nearby ancient Shuni fortress. Members of the Etzel dynamited the walls of Acre’s citadel-turned-prison in 1947, freeing 41 Jewish and 214 Arab prisoners. The operation was met with mixed reactions, even in the international Jewish community. Some lauded the attack as an act of heroism and courage, others as an irresponsible and ineffective act of terror. Those who lost their lives in the prison break are memorialized today with a monument along the Acre promenade.