Mass Migration (Pages 110-137)

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[Page 110]

Chapter III

Jewish DP Camps in the British zone
of occupation in Germany

Following WWII, Britain tried to return to its prewar policies regarding Jewish emigration to Palestine. The “White Paper” laws were kept intact. But things changed regardless of British decisions. The entire colonial world was on the move including Palestine. The Jews of Palestine felt betrayed by Britain who stood by and permitted the Shoah to run its full course. Some statements on behalf of European Jews were printed on the back pages of the newspapers but no action or even attempt to act took place. A third of the Jewish population was exterminated while the British navy patrolled the seas so that no ships with Jews would enter Palestine. No act of mercy was extended to the helpless Jews who managed to break out of Nazi–controlled Europe. The answer was always, “We are fighting a war, all other matters would be dealt after the war.” Of course, after the war, there was no need to deal with Jews since most of them were exterminated.

The signs of British changes towards Palestinian Jewry began to manifest in the thirties. In 1930, Britain introduced severe limitations on the number of Jews entering Palestine. From then on, one had to obtain a certificate of entrance granted on the basis of certain qualifications notably financial or skilled. The system was steadily tightened and the number of certificates were reduced. The number of Jewish applicants increased each day with Hitler's rise to power in Germany. In 1936, 60,000 Jews reached the shores of Palestine. Palestinian Arabs protested and an Arab revolt began that lasted until 1939. Britain decided to further reduce the number of Jews entering Palestine and to crush, militarily, the Arab revolt. Both policies succeeded. The Arab revolt was slowly squashed and the number of Jews entering Palestine dwindled with the passage of the “White Paper”, which restricted Jewish immigration to 75,000 for five years and said that any new immigration would have to be approved by the Arab majority. The gates of Palestine were closed to the thousands of Jews who would have found a safe haven from the death camps of Europe.

The Jewish Agency of Palestine went along with the British policies until the adoption of the “White Paper”. This was the breaking point between Britain and Jewish Palestine. Already in 1934, the “Halutz” or Zionist pioneer organization in Poland had successfully sent 350 passengers to Palestine illegally on the ship Vellos. The Jewish Agency had opposed the move and made sure that such operations were stopped. The Vellos passengers were helped by the Haganah or Palestinian Jewish underground as a onetime event. The Revisionist Zionist movement under the leadership of Ze'ev Jabotinsky ignored the British rules and began to organize illegal ships that sailed to Palestine with Jewish passengers. These operations tended to be small because of a lack of funds. At first small boats like Af Al Pi or Dor were used but with time larger vessels like Patria with 850 passengers in 1939 were used. With publication of the Britain's “White Paper” the Jewish Agency created an office called “Mossad l'Aliyah Bet” to handle illegal immigration to Palestine. More illegal ships began to reach Palestine with Jewish immigrants but the British Navy was there to greet them.

The British were well informed of the Jewish situation in Palestine and expected some reactions to their policy of preventing Jews from immigrating. The Royal Navy was already partially mobilized due to the war–threatening situation in Europe. The Navy and the Royal Air Force were ordered to patrol the Mediterranean Sea and intercept illegal ships with Jews. British agents in Mediterranean ports were ordered to be on the lookout for the ships. Even the Foreign Office began to apply pressure on Romania to stop the flow of Jews to the Romanian ports where they embarked on boats heading to Palestine. As mentioned earlier, the British were very successful in stifling the illegal aliyah. Some illegal ships still managed to leave Europe but had tragic consequences, notably the Patria and the Struma. The Patria was blown up by the Haganah on November 25, 1940 to stop it from taking illegal Jewish immigrants to the island of Mauritius. The explosion sunk the boat within minutes and resulted in the estimated death of 267 people. The Struma had a tragic end^[1]. December 12, 1941 The Struma ship left Romania with about 800 Jewish refugees heading illegally to Palestine^[2]. It experienced engine trouble and was towed to Turkey on the Black Sea. All attempts to repair the engines proved fruitless. The ship had no money for extensive repairs. Turkey was willing to permit the ship to stay in Turkish waters on condition that they would leave Turkey. The British were approached for help, namely to promise Turkey that they would grant certificates to all passengers if the ship was not repaired. Britain refused to commit herself and the Turks towed the helpless ship to the open waters of the Black Sea where a Russian submarine spotted her and torpedoed the ship on February 24, 1942. All passengers drowned except for a young man named David Stoliar. To this day we do not know the precise number of passengers aboard the ship. The estimates range from 797 to about 800.^[3] With such dire consequences, all illegal shipping operations stopped.

The Struma ship

With the liberation of Italy from the Germans, the Mossad renewed the illegal shipping of Jewish Holocaust survivors to Palestine. The Royal Navy and Air Force chased the ships throughout the Mediterranean Sea, seized most of them, and sent the passengers to the detention camps on the island of Cyprus. The British foreign office applied pressure to all the countries notably Italy, France and Greece, to stop illegal ships from leaving their ports. The Jewish Shoah survivors refused to cooperate with Britain. The thousands of Jewish survivors and Jewish refugees who had fled the Nazi horrors and the anti–Semitic pogroms in Eastern Europe were determined to reach Palestine. Most of them had no place to go and only Jewish Palestine wanted them. Even after the atrocities of WWII became evident, Britain still stubbornly prevented the Jews from entering Palestine, devoting considerable military resources to stopping illegal ships. Britain already had approximately 50,000 soldiers in Palestine to control the situation and prevent illegal refugees from entering the country. Ernest Bevin, British foreign minister admitted that there were refugees in Europe but said they were nationals of various European countries notably Poles, not Jewish refugees. Bevin urged all refugees including the Jewish refugees to return to their native countries. The Jewish DPs insisted on being Jewish. They began to organize with the help of the Jewish Brigade soldiers. They had no place to go and Palestine wanted them. Of course, Britain saw in every Jewish DP a potential illegal immigrant to Palestine.

Britain was winning the battle of the high seas namely preventing Jews from entering Palestine but was losing the public opinion especially in the United States. The American Jewish organizations enlisted the help of American public opinion that supported a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Americans demanded

Earl Harrison Dean of the Pennsylvania University Law School

that the President Truman take action on behalf of the Shoah refugees. The reasoning was clear; countries including the US, did not want to admit large numbers of Jewish refugees, but Palestine did want them. Britain refused to budge assuming the US was posturing for its public. The State Department and the Pentagon assured Britain that the US would support the British position.

President Truman knew that he had to take a stand and was in favor of Britain slightly opening the gates of Palestine. Immigration to Palestine was becoming an issue between England and the US. Truman felt that he must give something to his Jewish constituents who were demanding action. As mentioned earlier, American Jewish soldiers and chaplains were writing home about the terrible conditions of the Jewish Shoah survivors. This became the most important topic of conversation at Jewish community centers and temples. During the war, the Jewish organizations were promised that that the situation in Europe would be seen to once the war was over. They now demanded action. Truman then decided to investigate the situation of the refugee camps in the American occupation zones in Germany and Austria. He appointed Earl Harrison, Dean of the Pennsylvania University Law School and former Commissioner of Immigration, to investigate the DP situation. Harrison submitted his first impressions at the end of July, 1945, and the final report to the president on August 24, 1945^[4]. His findings were very critical and accused the United States Army of inhuman conduct towards Jewish DPs. The report stated that the survivors were still fenced in by barbed wire and guarded by soldiers. Many of them were still wearing the rags from the camps. The report also suggested that 100,000 Jewish DPs should be permitted to go to Palestine. The president ordered the military to take steps to implement the recommendations in the Harrison report. General Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, issued specific orders to the military establishment in the American zones to implement the recommendations, notably the establishment of separate Jewish DP camps, removal of barbed wire, soldiers, and the establishment of elected representation in the camps. Most military commanders implemented the recommendations. President Truman seriously considered Harrison's recommendation to send some Jewish DPs to Palestine and the US. The British refused to listen and insisted on continuing their policy of no Jewish emigration to Palestine. Furthermore, Britain did everything in its power to limit the number of Jewish refugees in her military zones.

All these American activities surrounding Jewish refugees drove Britain mad. They looked for ways to reduce the American preoccupation with the Jewish refugees. The British continued to repeat their claims that there were no Jewish refugees, only former nationals of European countries. On instruction from London, the British military commanders tried to isolate the few Jewish camps in their zones. New arrivals were checked and rechecked and frequently refused food ration cards without which it was difficult to exist. Even British Jewish social services were not permitted to enter DP camps in the British zones. Despite American pleas to soften the policy of Jewish admission to Palestine, Britain stood firm. The issue became a problem for Truman. He could not come home with empty hands. An Anglo–American commission was established to review the situation. The commission reported that the British policy must be altered. Britain refused to accept the findings. The Americans were now angry at Britain as were the Jews in Palestine that expressed itself in daily terror attacks against the mandate authority in Palestine. Britain still adhered to its policy and tried to keep Jewish refugees from entering the British military zones. Still, there were Jewish Shoah survivors in the areas liberated by the British army namely Bergen Belsen that the British and UNRRA had to provide for.

List of Jewish or Partially Jewish DP Camps in the British Military Zone in Germany^[5]

Bergen–Belsen
Bocholt
Eckernförde
Emden
Emslandlager
Flensburg
Gladbeck
Goslar
Göttingen
Greven
Gronau
Hamelin
Hanover
Hann. Münden
Hildesheim
Itzehoe
Lingen
Lippstadt
Lübeck
Meppen
Minden
Mönchengladbach
Mülheim
Neustadt
Paderborn
Peine
Pinneberg
Remscheid
Detmold

Am Stau– Jewish DP Camp in the British zone of Germany

This camp was temporarily established to receive the refugees of the “ Exodus Ship” that British prison ships brought to Hamburg from Haifa, Palestine. The ‘Aliyah B’ office or department of illegal immigration of Jews to Palestine decided to change rapidly the tactics of sending illegal ships packed with Jewish refugees to Palestine. The boats were small, slow and easy to intercept. The office decided to buy a big American ship named “President Weifield”. Great changes were made aboard the ship. A crew of American Jewish volunteers with naval experience was assembled. Their job would be to bring the ship to Palestine.

The President Warfield later renamed the “Exodus” was the largest Brichah ship to carry illegal Jews to Palestine.

The American crew of the Exodus:

ARANOFF Murray

BEERI Shmuel

BERNSTEIN William

FORMAN Ben

GOLDSTEIN Myron

GRAUL John

KALM Eli

KOCHAVI David

KOLOMENTZEV Arye

KURT Baruch

LAVINE Frank

LEIDNER Harold

LESTER Aaron

LUTZ Abbot

MALOWSKY Danny

MARGOLIS Reuven

MARKS Bernie

MILLMAN Dave

MILLMAN William

MILLS Dov

NADLER Nat

NAFTAL Al

RITZER Stanley

ROFE Roger

SCHILER Shmuel

SEGAL Zeev

SELOVE Lou

SKLAR Lennie

STANCZAL Frank

SYGAL Awraham

WARDI Teddy

WEINSTEIN Cy

WEISAFT Harry

All were informed of the dangers and problems they face if detained by the British. They all accepted the challenge and brought the ship to Europe where it underwent major changes namely large halls were created where many people would stay. Preparations were made for a large number of refugees to board the vessel. Food and other necessities were loaded aboard the ship. The technical crew was now joined by a military crew of Palestinian Hagannah soldiers that will care for the passengers and their maintenance. The captain of the ship Itzhak Ahranovitch took charge of the boat and preparations were made for a hasty exit. The ship left the area between 2 :00 AM and 4:00 AM in the morning on July 11,1947. The ship headed full speed to the open sea, flying a Honduran flag and claiming to be headed for Istanbul. It was carrying 4,515 passengers including 1,600 men, 1,282 women, and 1,672 children and teenagers. All passengers came from the DP camps in Germany. They were transported to Sete by the Brichah organization. This was going to be a showdown between the Jewish refugees in the camps and the British Empire. Captain and Haganah commissioner Yossi Harel . was the military commander. The ship was manned by a crew of some 35 volunteers, mostly American Jews. See list above

Itzhak Ahranovitch, captain of the Exodus

As she left the port of Sete , the Exodus was shadowed by the sloop HMS Mermaid and by RAF aircraft. Later, the Mermaid was relieved by the destroyer HMS Cheviot. Later, the Mermaid was relieved by the destroyer HMS Cheviot. Indeed, even as people began boarding the ship at the

The Exodus limping into the port of Haifa

port of Sète near Montpellier, a British RAF plane was circling overhead together with the assistance of the British Royal Navy.

The people on the Exodus prepared to be intercepted. The ship was divided into sections staffed by different groups and each went through practice resistance sessions. The ship was loaded with enough supplies to last two weeks. Passengers were given cooked meals, hot drinks, soup, and one liter of drinking water daily. They did their washing in salt water. The ship had only 13 lavatories. A British military doctor, inspecting the ship after the battle, said that it was badly over–crowded, but that hygiene was satisfactory and the ship appeared well prepared to cope with casualties. Several babies were born during the long journey.

The British finally boarded the ship on July18, 1947, some 40 km from the Palestinian shore. Boarding it was difficult, and was challenged by the passengers and Haganah members on board. One crew member, the second officer, an American volunteer, Bill Bernstein died after being clubbed to death in the wheelhouse. Two passengers died of gunshot wounds. Two British sailors were treated afterwards for fractured scapula, and one for a head injury and lacerated ear. About ten Exodus passengers and crew were treated for mild injuries resulting from the boarding, and about 200 were treated for illnesses and maladies.

William (Bill) Bernstein aboard the Exodus prior to its departure for Europe

William Bernstein was born January 27, 1923, in Passaic, New Jersey. At the age of 13, his family moved to San Francisco. He graduated from Galileo High School in San Francisco and attended Ohio State University. Although entitled to a deferment from military service as a pre–medical student, he volunteered for the U.S. Merchant Marines in World War II. He graduated from the Kings Point Merchant Marine Academy in 1944 as a second lieutenant. After the war, he received an appointment. All passengers of the Exodus were forcibly removed from the ship and had to board three British prison shops: Ocean Vigour, Runnymede Park and Empire Rival. The ships left the port of Haifa. Missing amongst the passengers were most of the Haganah military men and some technical crew members who had been smuggled off the ship dressed as port workers.

The event was witnessed by members of UNSCOP of the United Nations and the press. Headlines throughout the free world railed against the British actions. It was assumed that the passengers of the Exodus would be heading to Cyprus camps where illegal refugees were sent. Bevin decided to play rough ball and send the passengers back to France whence they came. Indeed, all three ships soon appeared at Port–de–Bouc near Marseilles on August 2,1947 . Foreign Secretary Bevin insisted that the French must remove the illegal passengers. The French Government said it would allow disembarkation of the passengers only on a voluntary basis.

The passengers refused to leave their ships and the French refused to use force to carry out British policies. Besides, the French felt ill at ease with the job having just deported a good part of the French Jewish population to the German death camps. The British government had no intention of backing down or relaxing its policy. Media coverage of the contest of wills put pressure on the British to find a solution. The matter also came to the attention of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) whose members had been deliberating in Geneva. Meanwhile the ship continued its journey to Hamburg, Germany, in the British occupation zone.

The passengers of the Exodus being forced to leave the ship

The disembarkation of the passengers of the ‘Exodus’ started in Hamburg on Monday, September 8, 1947 and was completed by Wednesday, September10, 1947. Upon landing in Germany the emigrants rejected the DP status as they wanted to be treated as being ‘in transit to Palestine’. They were then sent to Lubeck, and then to two camps; Am Stau camp received 2,000 and the remainder went to Poppendorf. Conditions were bad in the temporary An Stau and the camp was moved to Emden.

Bad Hartzburg– Jewish DP Camp in the British zone

Josef Rosensaft speaks at the 2^nd Congress of the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in the British Zone, with Norbert Wollheim at his left, Bad Harzburg, July, 1947

The Congress was successfully concluded when on the last day a new Central Committee was elected. It was no surprise that Josef Rosensaft and Norbert Wollheim should be re–elected as Chairman and Vice–Chairman. A more noticeable change was the number of members from outside Bergen–Belsen who were elected showing the influence of the Central Committee on Jews outside the Camp. The newly elected Committee consisted of the following members:

Josef Rosensaft (Belsen) – Chairman
Norbert Wollheim (Lubeck) – Vice–Chairman
Berl Laufer (Belsen) – General Secretary
Karl Katz (Bremen) – Chairman of the Council
(This was a council of 36 representatives of Jewish communities and committees in the British Zone)
Dr. Hadassa Bimko–Rosensaft (Belsen) – Vice–Chairman of the Council
Rabbi Dr. Zwi Azaria (Helfgott) (Belsen) – Head of the Rabbinate
David Rosenthal (Belsen), Paul Trepman (Belsen), Raphael Olewski (Belsen) – Heads of Cultural Department
Samy Feder (Belsen) – Manager of the Theatre
Harry Goldstein (Hamburg)
Moritz Goldschmidt (Cologne)
Julius Dreifus (Dusseldorf)
Heinz Solomon (Kiel)
Norbert Prager (Hanover)
Jacob Bornstein (Belsen)
Ludwig Seif (Belsen)
Elie Smetana (Belsen)
E. Londner (Belsen)
B.Kosovski (Belsen)
Sigfried Heimberg (Dortmund) – without voting rights
Rabbi M. Olewski (Belsen) – with the right of vote in religious matters only
Control Commission:
Herman Levy (Hamburg), Samuel Berger (Bremen), Ludwig Seif (Belsen) later replaced by Josef Tennenbaum (Belsen)

Bad Salzschlirf, Jewish DP camp

The community in Bad Salzschlirf says that there was a DP camp with about 1,000 Jewish DP s in the camp.

Bergen–Belsen Jewish DP Camp

The liberation of Bergen Belsen, April, 1945

On April 15, 1945 the British Army entered the camp and saw hundreds of dead bodies unburied on the grounds, almost all inmates of the camp were sick and dying by the minute. The entire camp was infected and parts had to be evacuated^[6].

The camp contained about 34,000 emaciated people who had to be treated. Around 14,000 former inmates died after liberation despite the best efforts of the British Army, the British Red Cross and many other medical services. By June, 1945, around 11,000 of the former inmates still required emergency treatment, Only about 11,000 survived, mostly Jews. They were the first residents of the Bergen Belsen DP camp that operated from the summer of 1945 to September, 1950. Bergen Belsen DP camp was the largest Jewish DP camp in occupied Germany and the only one in the British occupation zone with an exclusively Jewish population. The British authorities were not pleased with the development and tried to reduce the number of Jews in the camp but the efforts were fruitless. Britain had to accept the fact that the largest Jewish DP camp was in her zone. Of course, they tried to tell the survivors that they were Polish or Hungarian citizens but most Jewish inmates refused to accept the definition and remained officially Jewish. This stand was reinforced by the soldiers of the Jewish Brigade from Palestine that entered the camp as part of the British Army. They also provided the basic staff of the camp schools and medical services due to the fact that many of them spoke Yiddish the prevalent language amongst the residents of the camp.

Liberation of Bergen Belsen

Josef Rosensaft was born on January 15, 1911 in Będzin in Poland. He was born to an affluent scrap–metal dealer in Będzin in Poland and was, in his youth, active in the Zionist Labor Movement. He was deported to Auschwitz in 1943 but escaped the transport by jumping into the Vistula River, Poland. He was injured by gunfire during the escape but walked back to Będzin, where he was captured again, given

Former quarters of the German army converted into displaced persons housing. Bergen–Belsen, Germany, May 1945.

250 lashes and confined to a chicken cage in Auschwitz. He spent time in other camps before being sent on a death march to Bergen–Belsen, where he was liberated on April 15, 1945.

Yossef Rosensaft behind his desk

He was very active in the in the political and social life of the camp. He was elected to the committee of the camp that administered Bergen Belsen. The committee soon elected him to be the official spokesman of the camp. He dealt with the British military authorities that run the camp and also dealt with UNRRA that maintained the camp. Due to his position, he also helped other Jewish DP camps in the British zone.

The paper openly called for permitting Jews to enter Palestine. The British did not like the articles and the paper's stand, but Rosensaft was very popular. He went to the United States where he gave many speeches and popularized the existence of Jewish DP camps in the British zone of German occupation. The battle of wits between the British and Rosensaft continued for many months. Rosensadt organized all Jewish DP camps in the British sector. He gave interviews and criticized the British policies. Bergen–Belsen was the site of an astounding rebirth of family life, with an average of 20 weddings per day. After the first few months of liberation, 2,000 children were born in the camp. The DPs founded an elementary school as early as July 1945, and by 1948, 340 pupils attended the school. A high school, which was staffed partly by soldiers from the Jewish Brigade (the Palestinian Jewish unit of the British Army) was established in December 1945. The DPs also provided education for the children of Bergen–Belsen.

‘Unzer Shtime’ or Our Voice was published by the Bergen Belsen DP camp

There was a kindergarten, an orphanage, and a yeshiva (a religious school). The Organization for Rehabilitation through Training (ORT) vocational training schools organized occupational education. The DPs of Bergen–Belsen also created and maintained a lively cultural life and published Unzer Shtime (Our Voice), the main Jewish newspaper of the British zone.

The Jewish self–government in the British zone was the first to be established by the Jewish DPs in Central Europe. The first Jewish DP committee was organized by the inmates of Bergen–Belsen on April 17, 1945 just two days after the liberation of the camp. Joseph Rosensaft was named the chairman. Several weeks later an expanded Central Jewish Committee was established which represented not just the Bergen–Belsen camp but also other Jewish DP centers in the British zone. The survivors of this zone held their first Congress of Liberated Jews on September 25–27, 1945 in Bergen–Belsen.

Until 1947, UNRRA was the officially designated administrator of the DP program. In 1947, the International Refugee Organization (IRO, PCIRO) took over the task of caring for the DPs and assisting them with the emigration process. On the Jewish side, the American Joint Distribution Committee, the Jewish Agency, the World Jewish Congress and ORT (Organization for Rehabilitation and Training) contributed their shares to the maintenance of the camps and subsequent dispersion of the DPs through emigration.

Large numbers of DPs began leaving the camp in 1947 as opportunities for emigration improved. Beginning in the spring of 1947, the British government allocated 300 certificates a month to Jews in the British occupation zone – these allowed legal emigration to Palestine. Between April, 1947 and the founding of the State of Israel in May, 1948, around 4,200 Jews from the British zone, most of them from Bergen Belsen, emigrated there legally. By March, 1949, the population was down to 4,500. The DP camp at Bergen Belsen was closed in September, 1950 and the remaining 1,000 people transferred to Upjever near Wilhelmshaven.

Jewish transport leaving Bergen Belsen for Palestine

The Bergen–Belsen camp was closed in September, 1950. The last DPs to emigrate from the British zone departed on August 15, 1951. The Central Committee was dissolved in 1950, at the time when all of the camps and centers in the American zone had closed down.

Becholt – Jewish DP camp

This camp was a small camp and was basically a transit camp for Jewish refugees.

Bremen – Jewish DP community