A GROUP OF JEWISH TAILORS

A GROUP OF JEWISH TAILORS and seamstresses who were trained in the Pocking DP camp.

A NURSE HOLDS A FIVE-DAY-OLD

A NURSE HOLDS A FIVE-DAY-OLD infant in the JDC-supported maternity ward at the Pocking DP camp.

AFTER THE PRISONERS ARE LIBERATED

AFTER THE PRISONERS ARE LIBERATED, American soldiers vaccinate them in a barrack. Loan from Monika Hofer and Ulrike Dümmler, Munich

After the war hundreds of thousands of Jews congregated in Displaced Persons’ (DP) camps

AFTER THE WAR HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF JEWS CONGREGATED IN DISPLACED PERSONS’ (DP) CAMPS in the areas controlled by the Allies. These Jews, known as Sh’erit Hapleita (the surviving remnant), sought to emigrate from Europe, most hoping to immigrate to Eretz Israel. Their goal of leaving Europe did not materialize due to the limited options of immigration to other countries as well as the limitations put in place by the British government in 1939 on immigration to Palestine known as “the White Paper.”

After WWII

AFTER WWII, in the wake of the Holocaust, the Allies set up the camps throughout Europe to offer temporary homelands to traumatized populations.

Allies set up camps

ALLIES SET UP CAMPS for survivors, including at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp site.

An infant being weighed

AN INFANT BEING WEIGHED by a nurse in a DP camp, Munich.

Banner

BANNER: “Welcome to the Heidenheim D.P. Camp”

Barracks on the grounds of the Gauting

BARRACKS ON THE GROUNDS OF THE GAUTING (Starnberg districts) DP camp in the late 1940s. The German Air Force built a training barracks on the side in 1938/39. From 1943 the barracks were used as a military hospital for soldiers suffering from tuberculosis. With the arrival of the US Army in Gauting on 30 April 1945, the previous patients were transferred to other military hospitals and the facility was occupied by the first DPs suffering from tuberculosis. In 1951, the Upper Bavarian State Insurance Institution (LVA) took over the administration of the sanatorium from the International Refugee Organization (IRO). (Photo: Asklepios Fachkliniken München-Gauting (Asklepios Specialist Clinics Munich-Gauting).

Britain’s Responses to Polish DPs

BRITAIN’S RESPONSES TO POLISH DPS Image Credit: Bocholt Camp: from the personal collection of a Polish DP who was resident in the camp.

Children at the Foehrenwald DP camp

CHILDREN AT THE FOEHRENWALD DP CAMP gather around a US soldier. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Larry Rosenbach).

CHILDREN IN THE BAD REICHENHALL

CHILDREN IN THE BAD REICHENHALL displaced person’s camp. Germany, 1945.

Children learn a religious text

CHILDREN LEARN A RELIGIOUS TEXT from an Orthodox Jewish teacher. Landsberg displaced persons camp, Germany, 1946-1947.

Cramped Jewish Refugees

CRAMPED JEWISH REFUGEES, young Jewish refugees traveling in cramped conditions towards Palestine. The physical closeness and similarities between the men and women seem to have influenced an emotional closeness. (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Displaced persons' camp for refugees

DISPLACED PERSONS' CAMP FOR REFUGEES (1950), One of the major challenges faced by post-war Germany was the accommodation of German civilian refugees fleeing from areas east of the Oder-Neisse Line and their economic and social integration.

Displaced persons wait

DISPLACED PERSONS WAIT next to their suitcases and bundles, place uncertain, ca. 1947. US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Robert L. Kaplan

Everyday life in the Jewish displaced persons camp

EVERYDAY LIFE IN THE JEWISH DISPLACED PERSON’S CAMP. (DP camp) Föhrenwald near Wolfratshausen, photograph 1946. The Föhrenwald DP camp was established in 1945 as the third DP camp in the greater Munich area on the "Deutsche Sprengchemie GmbH" and the "Dynamit Nobel AG" workers' housing estate, which had been built in 1940. Initially, the camp was accommodation for non-Jewish DPs, from Poland, Yugoslavia and Hungary. Because the other two Jewish DP camps in Landsberg and Feldafing (Starnberg district) were already overcrowded, Föhrenwald was reorganised in September 1945 into another exclusively Jewish DP camp. The workers' housing estate was designed for around 3,400 inhabitants. However, by January 1946, 5,300 Jewish DPs were already crowding the camp grounds. The last Jewish DPs left the Föhrenwald camp on 28 February 1957. It was therefore the longest existing Jewish DP camp. (Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte (Centre of Bavarian History)

Festive gathering

FESTIVE GATHERING marking the birth of the thousandth baby in the Bergen-Belsen DP camp, Germany. In the photograph: the baby, Chana Mincer (Simmonds), born 9 January 1948, her parents, and nurses.

Flossenbürg, camp for Polish DPs

FLOSSENBÜRG, CAMP FOR POLISH DPS, undated. (Photo: Danuta Mykytiuk).

Fürth Displaced Persons Camp Identity Card

FÜRTH DISPLACED PERSONS CAMP IDENTITY CARD, this identity card was issued to Henryk Lanceter at the Fürth Displaced Persons Camp in Germany. US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Eugenia Hochberg Lanceter.

FÜRTH DISPLACED PERSONS CAMP

FÜRTH DISPLACED PERSONS CAMP, for the Jews who survived the Holocaust, the end of World War II brought new challenges. Many could not or would not return to their former homelands, and options for legal immigration were limited. In spite of these difficulties, these Jewish survivors sought to rebuild their shattered lives by creating flourishing communities in displaced persons camps in Germany, Austria, and Italy. In an unparalleled six-year period between 1945 and 1951, European Jewish life was reborn in camps such as Fürth.

Gabersee D.P. camp

GABERSEE D.P. CAMP was located near Wasserburg in Bavaria in the American zone of occupation. It opened on 29 March 1946 and by the end of 1947 had a Jewish D.P. population of 2000. After the mass emigration of 1948, Gabersee became a camp for people who, due to illnesses or other problems, were not able to emigrate. ORT school in Gabersee opened on July 1, 1946, and ran classes in women's and men's tailoring, dressmaking, radio technology, leather work, joinery, driving and auto mechanics. The school had an enrolment of 161 students. Gabersee D.P. camp closed in June, 1950.

Group of young DPs

GROUP OF YOUNG DPS eating a meal in the Pocking DP camp.

Holocaust Survivors Salute

HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS SALUTE the Allies, Dachau, 1945 | Credit: U.S. Holocaust Museum

Janiak Boleslaw

JANIAK BOLESLAW has made a car out of an axle, old pram and burlap in a displaced persons camp, 1947. NAA: A12111, 1/1947/15/1.