Ralph Cairns

Ralph Cairns (23 October 1907 – 26 August 1939) was a British police officer who was commander of the Jewish Section of the Palestine Police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) until his assassination by Irgun.

Cairns was born in Greenock, Scotland. Enrolling in the Palestine Police in 1931, unusually for the time without any previous police service, he was quickly identified as a high flyer. Passing his advanced Arab language exam from a standing start in two years. Cairns was also the first British Policeman to speak fluent Hebrew.

In April 1938, whilst serving as a sergeant in Haifa, he Investigated the deaths of two Arab women and two British Police officers who were killed in a bomb blast on a train. Using his many Jewish friends and contacts he traced the planning of the attack to Avraham Stern. Stern later would break away from the Irgun and form his own splinter group focusing on the British presence rather than the persecution of Jews by Nazis, Arabs or other groups. This was the first time the name of Stern had come to the attention of the Palestine Police. Following this event Cairns was promoted to the rank of Inspector and transferred to Jerusalem where he became Head of Jewish Section in the CID. His opposite number was Inspector Ronald Barker who held the parallel post in Arab Affairs.

During his service in the Palestine Police, Cairns was accused of using torture against members of Irgun,[1] including Irgun leaders Benjamin Zerony and Mordechai Pacho. This alleged torture of Zerony between 5–8 August 1939 resulted in a Palestine-wide leaflet being distributed by the Irgun announcing he was to be assassinated. Previous attempts to assassinate Cairns had been made earlier by shooting from the pillion of a motor cycle when he was walking with his German fiancé Marianna Laur in a local market. However Cairns, using his service revolver pushed his fiancé aside and shot the pillion rider dead with the driver escaping on foot through the town.

The “torture” of Zerony, though it undoubtedly occurred presents a more difficult question. Zerony had become close to Avraham Stern but became concerned when Stern ordered the death of his own Irgun operative for refusing to explode a device to kill Geoffrey Morton because there were Jewish children playing in the street. Files released by MI5 in 2017 confirm that, at that time, Zerony was complicit with British Police in providing information about Stern. When Zerony was inadvertently arrested by a beat policeman for breaking into a shop to obtain explosives, the CID Dept were faced with a dilemma. Should they release Zerony and leave him to his fate with the Irgun or contrive circumstances that would be plausible enough for him to continue? They chose the latter course and this was used as an excuse to enact the assassinations of both Cairns and Barker. NB: Zerony “escaped” on other occasions from British custody in circumstances that aroused much suspicion (such as being given the freedom to paint the governors house outside a prison compound unsupervised) and this resulted eventually with Zerony being given a death sentence by the Irgun and the Lehi for being an informer.[2] Later Zerony fled to the USA and returned after an armistice was agreed. MI5 files report that the real reason for Cairns assassination was his and his sergeant’s (Tom Wilkin) success in closing the net on Avraham Stern.[3]

Assassination

Cairns and a colleague, Ronald Barker, were assassinated by a remotely-detonated Irgun landmine on 26 August 1939 in Rehavia, Jerusalem,[4] on the orders of then Irgun leader Hanoch Kalai.[5] The Irgun member who detonated the mine was future Israeli politician Haim Corfu. Cairns is buried in the Jerusalem Protestant Cemetery. At the time, the deaths caused outrage in both the Jewish community, where both men had a wide circle of friends and amongst the ex-pat population. Newspaper articles in the Jerusalem Post and the Jewish Chronicle condemned the attacks as an outrage.

Like his nemesis Avraham Stern, Cairns' fiancée was pregnant when he died. Marianna Laur later married an American serviceman and went to live in America. However, Laur arranged with the British Government for Cairns daughter (Ralpha) to carry his name which she did until she herself married in America. Laur died in Poulsbo, Washington in 2001. Laur held a memorial service at her church every year for Cairns on August 26 until her death. Cairns, it has been noted, was an accomplished pianist and poet and was well versed in both the classical and popular areas of music.

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gollark: Where did they get "C evaluates code right to left" from?

References
  1. John, Robert (2006). The Palestine Diary: 1914-1945. BookSurge Publishing. pp. 326fn. ISBN 9781419635694.
  2. Political Assassinations by Jews pp.166-167 IBSN0-7914-1166-4
  3. Golan, Zev (2003). Free Jerusalem: Heroes, Heroines and Rogues Who Created the State of Israel. Devora Publishing Company. p. 144. ISBN 1930143540.
  4. Ben-Yehuda, Nachman (1993). Political Assassinations by Jews: A Rhetorical Device for Justice. SUNY Press. pp. 155–57. ISBN 9780791411650.
  5. Bell, J. Bowyer (1977). Terror Out of Zion: The Fight for Israeli Independence. Transaction Publishers. pp. 48–49. ISBN 9781560008705.
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