Displaced Persons
(DPs)
(from: Displaced Persons; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, vol. 6)
<Displaced Persons
(DPs), term used to describe people who had been
driven out of their homes as a result of Nazi decrees and World War II.
[[and after World War II by pogroms of anti-Semitic fascist Poles]]. It
was applied primarily to those who had been imprisoned in concentration
and in forced labor camps.
At the end of World War II there were (col. 75)
approximately 8,000,000 DPs [[of all religions]] in Germany and the
Nazi occupied
territories. The victorious Allied Powers gave high priority to the
rapid repatriation of the DPs so that close to 5,000,000 were returned
to their home countries by August 1945 and a further 1,000,000 by the
end of the year. The remainder, persons who could not or would not be
repatriated for political reasons [[2 mio.]], were put into special
camps
under the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
(UNRRA).
[1944: Jews returning back see
they are
not wanted any more or they are alone - drive to the DP camps for
special refugee category]
The general DP problem was being solved rapidly by repatriation. The
Jewish DPs, however, presented a problem of an entirely different
nature. At the war's end an estimated 50,000 Jews were liberated from
concentration camps in Germany and Austria. Some of these joined the
main stream of persons returning to their countries of origin; others
managed in various ways to reach Italy in the hope of continuing from
there to Palestine. Most of the Jewish survivors soon came to realize
that they had no place to return to, as their communities had been
destroyed and their families were no longer live. A reverse trend set
in, wherein Jewish survivors began making their way to the DP camps in
Germany; these were Jews who had been in hiding, had joined the
partisan units, or had succeeded in posing as "Aryans". They joined
into a concentrated mass of Jewish DPs in the hope of being recognized
by the Allies as a separate category of refugees. Their purpose was to
be rehabilitated in a new homeland rather than to be included in the
groups of refugees treated by country of origin.
<Perhaps a million Jewish refugees were alive
in camps in Europe in May 1945.>
(from: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: Zionism, vol. 16, col. 1058)
<The end of the war in Europe in May 1945 [...] was necessary to aid
in
the rehabilitation of hundreds of
thousands of survivors of Nazi camps.>
(from: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: Zionism; vol. 16, col. 1087)
[1945: Harrison's investigation:
The question of the recognition as a nationality of "Jew" - emigration]
On June 22, 1945, President Truman commissioned Earl G. Harrison, dean
of the Faculty of Law of the University of Pennsylvania, "to inquire
into the conditions and needs of displaced persons in Germany, who may
be stateless or non-repatriable, particularly Jews." Harrison's report,
submitted to the President on August 1, 1945, described the harsh
conditions prevailing in the camps and stressed the special character
of the Jewish problem: "The first and plainest need of these people is
a recognition of their status as Jews. Refusal to recognize the Jews as
such has the effect of closing one's eyes to their former persecution."
He also pointed out the Jewish refugees' desire to settle in Palestine
and the *Jewish Agency's demand for the issue of 100,000 immigration
certificates for Jewish refugees in Europe. "For reasons that are
obvious most Jews want to leave Germany and Austria. The life which
they have led has made them impatient of delay. They want to be
evacuated to Palestine now ...
In conclusion ... the only real solution of the problem lies in the
evacuation of all non-repatriable Jews in Germany and Austria, who wish
it, to Palestine ..."
[[And the Arabs and the Palestinians are not asked...]]
[since 1945: DP Camps set up -
immigration
certificates for Palestine - special Jewish camps]
President Truman transmitted the report to General Eisenhower, Supreme
Commander of the U.S. Forces in Europe, for action. In consequence, the
American authorities recognized Jews as a special category of refugees,
who had been persecuted for being Jewish. Conditions in the existing
camps were improved, new camps were set up to reduce the overcrowding,
and a considerable number of Jewish refugees were settled in "DP
Assembly Centers" in the towns instead of in outlying camps. Food
rations were increased and UNRRA was instructed to appoint Jewish
refugees to posts in the administration of their camps. The Jews
achieved autonomous internal administration as well.
President Truman also recommended to the British Government to
issue 100,000 immigration certificates to Palestine. The British Zone
authorities did not officially adopt the policy of defining the Jewish
refugees as a separate category, but they did in fact place them in
separate camps.
[Postulations for rights of
recognition - Zionist organizations in the camps - claim for a Jewish
state in Palestine]
At the same time, the refugees formulated and expressed their central
demands: recognition of the Jewish people, establishment of a Jewish
state and aliyah of the She'erit (col. 76)
ha-Peletah (meaning both "the surviving remnant" and "the saving
remnant") as they called themselves. Camp committees were elected,
newspapers published, and branches of the Zionist Organization set up.
At the end of July 1945, 94 delegates, representatives of liberated
Jews in the American, British, and French Zones of Germany and Austria,
held a conference at the St. Ottilien camp near Munich. They called for
immediate establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, for recognition
of the Jewish people as an equal member of the Allied nations, and
Jewish participation in the peace negotiations. A central committee of
the liberated Jews in Bavaria was also elected.
[Parliamentary organization of the
DP-Jews]
In September 1945 liberated Jews in the British Zone of Germany held a
conference at Bergen-Belsen; in October, a unified Zionist Organization
held the founding convention at Landsberg; and in January 1946, the
She'erit ha-Peletah in the American Zone of Germany held its first
congress in Munich, which elected its executive bodies.
[October 1945: David Ben-Gurion in
Germany foresees the block of the Soviet border - suggesting of a
"temporary haven" in the "US" zone]
In October 1945, David *Ben-Gurion, chairman of the Executive of the
Jewish Agency, visited the DP camps in Germany. He was deeply impressed
by the vitality displayed by the She'erit ha-Peletah and by the
instinctive sense of history demonstrated by the survivors, which had
led them to leave Eastern Europe and trek to the camps in Germany. He
was, however, afraid that an end would soon be put to unhindered
passage from Eastern Europe to the West, and this led him to propose to
Generals Eisenhower and Beddel-Smith the establishment of a "temporary
haven" for persecuted Jews from Eastern and Central Europe in the
American Zone.
[British zone is blocked - Morgan
states that a secret organization is working for Jewish flight -
3-500,000 expected]
The American commanders accepted this principle, and on Eisenhower's
recommendation it became the guideline for American policy. The
British, on the contrary, prohibited the further entry of refugees into
their zone on December 5, 1945. in a press conference held on January
2, 1946, the British general Frederic Morgan, who was UNRRA director
for all the zones of occupation, alleged that the flight of Jews from
Eastern Europe was directed by a secret, politically motivated Jewish
organization. Many of these refugees, he stated, had large sums of
money with them, and he warned that unless a halt was put to it,
300,000 to 500,000 Jews would be brought into Germany within a year.
[96.8% of Jewish DPs say they want
to
Palestine - 100,000 immigration certificates]
But in a poll conducted by UNRRA, for the Anglo-American Commission of
Inquiry, 96.8% of the Jews in the DP camps expressed their desire to
settle in Palestine, and as a result, the Anglo-American Committee of
Inquiry recommended in its report of April 20, 1946, that the British
Mandatory government immediately grant 100,000 immigration certificates
for Palestine to Jewish refugees in Europe. (col. 77)
[Repatriation of some 140,000
Polish
Jews from inner "SU" - big influx of Polish Jews after Kielce pogrom]
At first, the westward movement of Jews from Eastern Europe was only a
trickle, due to political difficulties and the harsh winter conditions.
A change took place after February 1946, when the repatriation of
Polish citizens from the Soviet Union began. By mid-1946, some 140,000
Polish Jews were repatriated under this scheme. Most of them could not
find their place in Poland and left for the camps in Germany, at the
rate of over 5,000 a month.
After the *Kielce pogrom on July 4, 1946, their number grew enormously.
Between July and October alone, 90,000 Jews from Poland arrived in the
American Zone - 70,000 in Germany and 20,000 in Austria. This influx
trebled the number of Jewish DPs from less than 80,000 at the beginning
of 1946 (55-60,000 in Germany, 6,000 in Austria and 12,000 in Italy) to
an estimated 247,000 a year later (184,000 in Germany, 44,000 in
Austria, and 19,000 in Italy).
Although this number may have been slightly exaggerated, it is safe to
assume that there were in fact 220-230,000 Jewish DPs at this time; of
these, 150,000 were in the American Zone of Germany (including the
American sector of Berlin) - approximately 100,000 in the camps, 40,000
in the cities, and 10,000 in various youth institutions and "Kibbutzei
Hakhsharah" (agricultural groups training for settlement in Palestine).
The demographic composition of the refugees also underwent a change:
whereas the "original" DPs had been mostly single persons, the new
arrivals comprised complete families, and an educational network had to
be set up for the children.
[1947: Stream of refugees from
Romania - haven closed - and Jews from Hungary and Czechoslovakia]
In the spring of 1947, a new stream of refugees began to arrive, this
time from Romania; However, the American authorities put an end to the
policy of "temporary haven" and on April 12, 1947 prohibited the
further entry of refugees into the camps. Nevertheless, some 20,000
Romanian Jews succeeded in entering the American Zone, about half to
the camps in Germany and the others to Austria. Several thousand Jews
from Hungary and Czechoslovakia also succeeded in infiltrating into the
zone.
[Palestine remains closed -
illegal
immigration for war in Israel]
International pressure to facilitate the resettlement of the Jewish
refugees in Palestine did not succeed in persuading the British
Government to open the gates. Only the British Zone received a monthly
quota of immigration certificates as of March 1947, and in "Operation
Grand National" some 6,000 Jewish refugees from this zone arrived in
Palestine up to the establishment of the state in 1948. In this period,
the other zones received only 1,460 certificates. The refugees
themselves insisted on aliyah and, as no immigration certificates were
forthcoming, they took the road of "illegal" immigration.
Some 30,000 Jews from the camps in Germany, joined by another 10,000
who had not passed through these camps, took part in the Aliyah
Bet movement ("illegal" immigration to Erez Israel). Of their many
heroic ventures, there were two that gained world-wide attention - the
La Spezia episode in the spring of
1946 and
Exodus 1947 in the
summer of that year (see "*Illegal" Immigration). The depth of the
She'erit ha-Peletah feelings for Erez Israel found its most exalted
expression in the large number of volunteers from their ranks that
participated in Israel's War of Independence (7,800 from Germany and
1,600 from Austria).
[The DP camps administration -
schools - cultural programs in the camps]
In the course of their stay in the camps, the Jewish refugees
established their own internal administration which also gained the
recognition of the authorities (the Central Committee in Munich was
recognized by the zone authorities on Sept. 7, 1946, as the competent
representative body of liberated Jews in the American Zone). They were
also given assistance by voluntary Jewish organizations affiliated with
UNRRA, primarily the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and
the Jewish Agency for Palestine.
With their aid, a network of Hebrew schools was (col. 78)
established, which at its height encompassed 10,000 children, with
another 2,000 attending kindergartens. A highly diversified social and
cultural program was conducted in Yiddish and Hebrew, including
newspapers, theaters, orchestras, youth movements, sports
organizations, etc. Thousands of young people underwent agricultural
training or were taught a trade in the *ORT vocational schools or in
workshops maintained by the Central Committee and the Joint. However,
there was also the enforced idleness of thousands of people, which had
demoralizing effects such as black market activities and, during a part
of this period, the disintegration into splinter groups and exaggerated
political dissension.
[since 1948: Emigration to Israel - 1950-1953: DP camps closing down]
With the establishment of the State of Israel the process that brought
about the solution for the problem of the Jewish DPs began. By the end
of 1949, 75,000 Jewish DPs from Germany and many thousands from Austria
and Italy had gone to Israel. Only 30,000 were left in Germany and
about 10,000 in Austria.
The Jewish Agency Mission wound up its operations in Germany early in
1950, and the office of the Adviser on Jewish Affairs to the U.S.
Supreme Commander was also abolished. By the end of the year, the
Central Committee of the She'erit ha-Peletah also ceased to exist. Four
Jewish DP camps were still operating in 1951, of which three were
disbanded in the course of that year and the last one in 1953.
About two-thirds of the total number of Jewish DPs settled in Israel; a
quarter emigrated to other countries, especially the U.S. and Canada;
and the rest remained where they were and were absorbed by the existing
local Jewish communities. By their steadfast loyalty to the Jewish
people and their decisive cooperation with the vishuv [[Jews in
Palestine before Herzl Israel foundation, before 1948]] in the struggle
for a Jewish state, the Jewish DPs made a significant contribution to
the course of Jewish history. (See also *Berihah; * "Illegal"
Immigration).
[[And the Arabs and the Palestinians were not asked]].
Bibliography
-- Jewish Agency for Palestine: Jewish Case ... (1947)
-- F. Fuss (comp.): Displaced Persons: A selected Bibliography,
1939-1947 (1948)
-- K. R. Grossmann: Jewish D.P. Problem (1951)
-- Ch. (Yahil) Hoffman: Report of the Jewish Agency Mission in Germany
(1949)
-- S. E. Bloch (ed.): Holocaust and Rebirth. Bergen-Belsen 1945-1964
(1965)
-- M. J. Proudfoot: European Refugees 1939-1952 (1957)
-- L. W. Schwarz: Redeemers (1953)
-- G. Woodbridge: UNRRA, 3 vols. (1950)
-- L. H. Hardman and C. Goodman: The Survivors (1958)
-- K. Gershon: Postscript (1969)
-- Z. Warhaftig: Uprooted (1946)
-- N. Muehlen: The Survivors (1962), 1-40
[CH. Y.]>
Sources
|
Encyclopaedia Judaica: Displaced Persons, vol. 6, col. 75-76
|
Encyclopaedia Judaica: Displaced Persons, vol. 6, col. 77-78 |
Encyclopaedia Judaica: Displaced Persons, vol. 6, col. 79-80 |
Jewish survivors and DPs in Vienna
since 1945
(from: Vienna; In: Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971, vol. 16)
<Postwar Period. Shortly
after the end of World War II the number of Jews in Vienna was
estimated at about 4,000 people, who had survived either in hiding or
in concentration and labour camps. Their number decreased due to excess
of deaths over births, and emigration; the loss was soon more than
compensated for by the return of several thousands of Austrian Jews,
and the addition of a number of *Displaced Persons and refugees who had
settled in Vienna. The population of the community reached its postwar
peak in 1950 with 12,450 registered Jews, and decreased to 8,930 in
1965. It was estimated that there were at least 2,000 Jews living in
Vienna who did not register with the community.
Vienna was the main
transient stopping-place and the first refuge for
hundreds
of thousands of
Jewish refugees and emigrants from Eastern
Europe after World War II. This applies to the greater part of
the
exodus of Polish Jews in 1946 (see *Berihah), and, to a lesser degree,
to Jews from Rumania [[Romania]] and Hungary in 1946-47, when the
Rothschild-Hospital of the Viennese community became the main screening
station on the way to the D.P. camps of Germany, Austria, and
Italy.> (col. 128)
[[In other regions of the "American" zones there were other towns with
against hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees and emigrants from
Eastern Europe, e.g. around Munich]].
Sources
Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: Vienna, vol. 16, col. 127-128, with the
indication of hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees and emigrants
from Eastern Europe after World War II. in Vienna
|
