Displaced Persons Camps in Germany Records from YIVO RG-67.020M
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Displaced persons camps in Germany records from YIVO RG-67.020M United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW Washington, DC 20024-2126 Tel. (202) 479-9717 e-mail: [email protected] Descriptive summary Title: Nachman Zonabend collection Dates: 1939-1944 Accession number: 1996.A.0270 Extent: 117 microfilm reels (35 mm) Repository: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW, Washington, DC 20024-2126 Languages: German English Yiddish Scope and content of collection Consists of records of displaced persons (DP) camps and centers, which were collected by YIVO between 1946-1954. Includes information about Jewish organizations and committees that supported DPs, the occupation authorities, antisemitism, liberation day celebrations, annual congresses, material needs, the housing shortage in Germany, cultural activities, the Jewish community of Berlin, searches for surviving family members, religious life, the placement of Jewish orphans, the Red Cross, relations with American Jewish communities, and immigration possibilities. Administrative Information Restrictions on access: No restrictions on access. Restrictions on reproduction and use: For scholarly use only, no reproduction without permission. Films shall not be copied or shared in any way with another individual or institution. Information on these films of a personal or confidential nature shall not be shared with third parties, neither through hard copy printouts nor by making copy films. For permission to reproduce documents write to the Chief Archivist, YIVO Archives at: [email protected]. Page 1 Preferred citation: Preferred citation for USHMM archival collections; consult the USHMM website for guidance. Acquisition information: From YIVO record group 294.2.They were generated by the Jewish DP institutions in Germany after WWII and were transferred to YIVO between 1948 and 1954, following the closing of the camps and dissolution of DP institutions. In 1963 a separate record group was formed of these materials and a preliminary inventory was compiled by Zosa Szajkowski. The arrangement of the records and preparation of the finding aid were completed by Marek Web in 1986. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the filmed collection via the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum International Archives Project in 1996. Existence and location of originals: Yivo Institute for Jewish Research Related materials: Web, Marek. Guide to the Records of the Nachman Zonabend Collection: 1939- 1944, RG 241. New York: Center for Jewish History, 2004. System of arrangement Organized in 19 series: 1. Central Committee of the Liberated Jews in the American Zone; 2. Camps and centers, A-E; 3. Camps, Feldafing; 4. Camps, Foehrenwald; 5. Camps, F-Z; 6. Union of Employees of the Central Committee; 7. Union of Invalids; 8; Union of Jewish Students; 9. Landsmanshaften; 10. Jewish Actors Union; 11. Various DP Unions; 12. Zionist Parties; 13. ORT; 14. AJDC; 15. Various Organizations; 16. Miscellaneous Printed Matter; 17. Central Jewish Committee of the British Zone; 18. French Zone and Berlin; 19. Supplements of various series. Historical Note The Displaced Persons Camps and Centers in Germany came into existence in 1945 as a result of the liberation of masses of inmates from the Nazi concentration camps and forced labor units. The term “displaced person” (DP) was used by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) and by the Allied military commands to describe the persecuted persons driven by the Nazis from their native countries into Germany and Austria. Of the nearly 6,000,000 DPs, who at the end of the war were found in Central Europe, there were only about 50,000 Jewish survivors. But while most of the DPs were repatriated at a rapid pace, the Jewish survivors from Eastern Europe did not want to return to their country of origin and demanded that they be allowed to emigrate to Palestine. A report to President Truman by his special envoy Earl G. Harrison on August 1, 1945 supported the assertion that the Jewish DPs could not be repatriated and that they should be considered as Jews rather than nationals of their native countries, and that 100,000 immigration certificates to Palestine should be provided for them through the Jewish Agency. These recommendations were accepted by the military government in the U.S. zone where there was the highest concentration of Jewish DPs. As a result, separate camps and centers were set up by the UNRRA for the Jews, although the first Jewish DP camp in Feldafing was organized prior to the Harrison report. At the same time, the Jewish DP population began to grow quickly as a result of the flight of Jewish survivors from Poland, which continued through 1946 and became especially intensive after the pogrom in Kielce on July 4, 1946. Also, in the spring of 1947 about 20,000 Rumanian Page 2 Jews took refuge in Austria and Germany. This infiltration of refugees from Eastern Europe brought the total number of Jewish DP’s in February of 1947 to 184,000. The American authorities recognized the need to receive the refugees and establish for them a “temporary haven” in the U.S. Zone. This policy was in force until April 12, 1947, when any further infiltration by the refugees into the U.S. Zone was barred by the military. The British Zone was closed off to the refugees much earlier, on December 5, 1945. The establishment of the State of Israel in May, 1948, aided by the introduction in the U.S. of the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, brought about a solution to the DP problem. By 1951 a great majority had emigrated to Israel and to the U.S. The last of the DP camps was closed in 1953. Faced with postwar chaos and uncertain of their future, the Jewish DPs began organizing themselves after liberation. The very first meetings of the representatives of Jewish survivors in the American Zone were held as early as June 24, 1945 at the Flak-Kaserne in Munich and on June 1, 1945 in the Feldafing camp. Instrumental at organizing these meetings was Abraham Klausner, a chaplain of the U.S. Army, and the members of the Jewish Brigade who arrived from Italy for the express purpose of contacting the survivors. These initial contacts led to the conference in St. Ottilien which opened on July 25 with the participation of ninety-four delegates from all over Germany. The conference elected the Central Committee of the Liberated Jews in Bavaria, but it did not succeed in establishing one representation for all survivors in Germany. Separate committees of survivors were organized in the British and French zones. On January 27, 1946 the first Congress of Shearit-Ha-Pleita was opened in Munich. The Congress elected a new Central Committee of Liberated Jews in the American Zone of Germany. In the following years two more congresses of survivors were held. The second congress took place in Bad Reichenhall on February 25, 1947. The third congress, again in Bad Reichenhall, convened on March 30, 1948. Each congress elected a new Central Committee and a Council. The Central Committee assumed the tasks of the Council of determining policy directions. The Central Committee was headed by a chairman, a vice-chairman, and a general secretary. These functionaries, along with four other Central Committee members, comprised the Presidium. This group was in charge of all daily operations of the Central Committee. The first chairman of the Central Committee was Avi Grinberg. Upon his departure for Israel in 1946, David Treger took over the post and remained at it until 1949. Pesakh Piekatch was the last chairman, presiding over the period of dissolution of the DP camps and liquidation of the Central Committee. Among other members of the Central Committee were J. Olejski, A. Blumovitch, B. Pliskin, J. Ratner, H. Eife, A. Melamed, M. Chwoinik, C. Fefer, S. Schlamovitch, S. Snief, Sultanek. The first chairman of the Council was S. Gringauz but was replaced in 1947 by R. Rubenstein. The Central Committee was officially recognized by the U.S. military authorities in the summer of 1946. In the letter of recognition dated September 7, 1946 the U.S. Army Commanding General Joseph T. MacNarney specified the committee’s functions as: “a. Operational: On a zone level, the Central Committee may function within its available resources, in those welfare activities which are supplementary to the operations of the army, UNRRA and its associated voluntary agencies, which are in Page 3 accord with the general policy of the Military and UNRRA in regard to the care of displaced persons, and which are approved by the official Liaison Officer. b. Consultative: The Central Committee may furnish the army and establish welfare agencies, advise on the specific needs of the Jewish Displaced Persons, and shall in turn insure that the official interpretation of the policies of the military authorities are transmitted to the group it represents. c. Representative: The Central Committee may act on behalf of those Jewish Displaced Persons whom it represents as an advisory capacity to the military authorities in the U.S. Zone, as the ultimate solutions of their problems of rehabilitation and resettlement. This advice will normally be presented through the Liaison Officer.” In addition, a multitude of political, cultural, educational, and professional organizations were active among the DPs, which contributed to a sense of an organized community, if only in transition. The Central Committee was dissolved in 1950, at the time when all of the camps and centers in the American Zone had been liquidated. 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, just two days after the liberation of the camp.