Paul Ellinson

Sailor, S.S. Har Zion
Died 31 Aug 1940
Commemorated at Tower Hill Memorial
Age 22


Paul was born in 1918 in Warsaw, Poland before moving to Ramat Gan in Israel with his mother Eugenia where they gained citizenship. Paul’s brother Richard did not accompany them but survived the war and lived and worked in Paris as an electro engineer. Eugenia applied for Richard to visit her in Israel in 1947 and stated on the forms that her husband had died in Warsaw.

Paul was a sailor on the S.S. Har Zion. At 06.15 hours on 31 August 1940, the ship left Liverpool with 1000 cases of spirit and 120 tons of fertiliser to travel to the USA. The Har Zion was attacked by U-boat, U-38 which fired two torpedoes amidships and ship sank north west of Ireland. The master and thirty five crew were killed.

Paul and David. Courtesy National Archives of Israel
Eugenia. Courtesy National Archives of Israel