The British use of detention camps as a deterrent failed, and the flood of immigrants attempting entry into Palestine continued. In most cases, the British detained the refugees-over 50,000-in detention camps on the island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The ship had 4,500 Holocaust survivors on board, who were returned to Germany on British vessels. In 1947, for example, the British stopped the Exodus 1947 at the port of Haifa. However, the British intercepted most of the ships. The Mosad le-Aliyah Bet, an agency established by the Jewish leadership in Palestine, organized "illegal" immigration (Aliyah Bet) by ship. The Jewish Brigade Group, formed as a unit within the British army in late 1944, worked with former partisans to help organize the Brihah (literally "escape"), the exodus of 250,000 Jewish refugees across closed borders from inside Europe to the coast in an attempt to sail for Palestine. Despite these obstacles, many Jewish displaced persons attempted to leave Europe as soon as possible. Many countries closed their borders to immigration. The British, who had received a mandate from the League of Nations to administer Palestine, severely restricted Jewish immigration there largely because of Arab objections. In the United States, immigration restrictions strictly limited the number of refugees permitted to enter the country. There were central committees of Jewish displaced persons in the American and British zones which, as their primary goals, pressed for greater immigration opportunities and the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
Jewish displaced persons also formed self-governing organizations, and many worked toward the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee provided refugees with food and clothing, and the Organization for Rehabilitation through Training (ORT) offered vocational training. While the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) administered all of the displaced persons camps and centers, Jewish displaced persons achieved a large measure of internal autonomy.Ī variety of Jewish agencies were active in the displaced persons camps. Īt its peak in 1947, the Jewish displaced person population reached approximately 250,000. Several large camps holding 4,000 to 6,000 displaced persons each- Feldafing, Landsberg, and Foehrenwald-were located in the American zone. The British established a large displaced persons camp adjacent to the former concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen in Germany. Most of the Jewish displaced persons were in the British occupation zone in northern Germany and in the American occupation zone in the south.
The Allies established such camps in Allied-occupied Germany, Austria, and Italy for refugees waiting to leave Europe. They were housed in displaced persons (DP camps and urban displaced persons centers. Many Holocaust survivors moved westward to territories liberated by the western Allies. These pogroms led to a significant second movement of Jewish refugees from Poland to the west. The worst was the one in Kielce in 1946 in which 42 Jews, all survivors of the Holocaust, were killed. In Poland, for example, locals initiated several violent pogroms. Many of those who did return feared for their lives. Most Jewish survivors, who had survived concentration camps or had been in hiding, were unable or unwilling to return to eastern Europe because of postwar antisemitism and the destruction of their communities during the Holocaust.
Between 1.5 million and two million DPs refused repatriation. Within months of Germany's surrender in May 1945, the Allies repatriated to their home countries more than six million displaced persons (DPs wartime refugees). During World War II, the Nazis deported between seven and nine million Europeans, mostly to Germany.
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