MS Goya was a Norwegian refugee ship that carried hundreds of Eastern European refugees to New Zealand in 1951. Most notably it carried several men who went on to play a significant role in the development of the New Zealand Muslim Association including Mazhar Krasniqi and Nazmi Mehmeti.
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Launch
The vessel as launched by a German company, the Woermann Line, as the Kamerun in May 1938. In May 1945 the Kamerun was ceded to Norway as part of Germany's war reparations. In 1947 it was allocated to A / S J Ludwig Mowinckels Rederi and renamed the Goya. In 1949 Mowinckels secured an IRO contract to transport displaced persons and in 1950 the ship made trips between Italy and Australia. In 1951, it transported emigrants from Germany to Canada.
New Zealand
The ship departed Piraeus, Greece, and arrived in Wellington on 1 May 1951. Initially all the refugees were interned for three months at the former Prisoner of War camp in the small rural settlement of Pahiatua to learn English, New Zealand law and customs.
There were over 900 refugees on board, mostly ethnic Greeks from Romania but also Estonians, Yugoslavs and other eastern Europeans. Approximately 50 were Muslim men including Petrit Alliu, Fadil Katseli, Selahattin Kefali, Ramzi Kosovich, Akif Keskin, Mazhar Krasniqi, Nazmi Mehmeti, Bajram Murati, Omar Alim Pepich, Shaqir Seferi and Samso Yusovich.