Historian reflects on rejection endured by Jews displaced after 1945 – US Sports – US Sports –
Posted By admin on August 27, 2022
Historian David Nasaw is not surprised by the worlds reaction to the plight of millions of Ukrainian refugees fleeing their country.
The influx of aid and offers of accommodation have a lot to do with the fact that Ukrainian refugees are mostly European, white and Christian, with the exception of a few Jews, says Nasaw, author of the book. recently published The Last Million: Europes Displaced Persons from World War to Cold War.
Refugees who are not white, Christian or European are going to continue to be treated badly, Nasaw told the Times of Israel. In fact, their treatment may even deteriorate due to the attention and resources focused on Ukrainians.
Receive our free daily edition by email so you dont miss any of the best news Free registration!
In his book, Nasaw recalls the plight of displaced persons in the years following Europes liberation from Nazi rule, including the quarter of a million Jewish Holocaust survivors who literally became pawns in the cold war between Moscow and the West.
At the end of World War II, Jews made up 2% of Germanys displaced persons population. In 1947, however, at least 20 percent of those displaced were Jewish, says Nasaw. The world issued work permits and residency to European refugees, but not to Holocaust survivors.
Almost all of the Jewish displaced persons who entered through southeastern Germany in 1946 survived the Holocaust under Stalins protection in Soviet lands, Nasaw said. When they returned to Poland after the war to reclaim their homes, most of the survivors were driven from their homes a second time by vigilante groups and pogroms.
In the eyes of Western countries, Jews who had survived the war on Soviet territory were not desirable immigrants, Nasaw points out.
[Ces Juifs polonais] owed their survival to the Red Army and their families were still under communist rule, which made them suspect in the eyes of the United States and other countries, says Nasaw. I think the cold war really started around these displaced people.
The resurgence of old anti-Semitic myths
According to Nasaw, red fear and negative stereotypes about Jews coalesced in the minds of anti-Semitic leaders keen to bar Jewish refugees from entering the United States.
During this period in the United States, a number of politicians in the South and Midwest worked to revive old anti-Semitic myths, Nasaw said, so that Jews were seen as disloyal and unable to assimilate.
Its a shameful moment in our history, confesses Nasaw.
Some 50,000 of Germanys quarter million displaced people have managed to obtain visas for North America, Nasaw said. At the same time, the United States and other countries received thousands of Nazi collaborators, considered anti-Soviet refugees.
In the United States, it was thought that Jewish refugees were likely to be Communists or Soviet sympathizers, and in any case not in a position to prepare for a Cold War likely to turn into World War III, says Nasaw.
From Moscows perspective, the displaced persons camps were potential training grounds for an anti-Soviet insurgency. In fact, Nasaw says, the Allies toyed with the idea of parachuting armed displaced people into Lithuania and Ukraine, for example, where vengeful refugees would go to fight Russian authorities.
The fantasy of an Eastern European Displaced Persons militia never materialized, but the Russian paranoia was not unfounded, says Nasaw.
There were plans, some of them quite spooky, to use displaced people against the Russians, Nasaw says.Radio Free Europe was created with displaced people, and the CIA funded all kinds of anti-Soviet and anti-Communist organizations.
Jewish Immigrants Held in Horror
Calling themselves the last vestige of the post-Hoah era, many Jewish displaced people may have thought the best way to mourn the loss of loved ones in the Holocaust was to create new families, Nasaw said.
Two years after the end of the war, the highest birth rates in the world were thus recorded among Jewish displaced persons in Germany. Contrary to what one might think, says Nasaw, only a minority of refugees wanted to settle in Palestine.
Historians point to surveys that 95 percent of Jews were in favor of partition or a Jewish state, but that doesnt mean those refugees themselves wanted to go to Palestine, Nasaw says. These people had just experienced a war and the last thing they wanted was to settle in a territory at war or about to be.
While the British blocked access to Palestinian shores to ships loaded with Jewish refugees, the US government prepared its own blockade to prevent Holocaust survivors from entering America, as described in Nasaws book.
In 1948, US President Harry Truman and Congress passed the Displaced Persons Act. European refugees could enter the United States as permanent residents, unless they came from a displaced persons camp after December 1945.
This law effectively banned almost all Holocaust survivors from coming to the United States.
The nations of the world were united in [l] horror of Jewish immigrants, Nasaw confesses, a fact that led most Jewish refugees to become reluctant Zionists.
Asked why the saga of Jewish displaced persons has been largely forgotten, Nasaw recalls the tendency of Americans to steer clear of the consequences of wars.
Its too hard for the Americans to deal with what we did to the survivors [de la Shoah] for years, says Nasaw. Its too terrifying a picture.
We refuse to see that wars continue in the post-war period, and that it is the civilians who suffer, Nasaw explains. In parts of Africa and the Middle East, IDP camps have been allowed to become an end in themselves, with the camps housing generations of refugees.
According to Nasaw, the story of the displaced Jews fills a gap between the Holocaust and the founding of Israel in 1948, a space usually punctuated only by the story of the Exodus [en 1947] .
A key lesson from his research, Nasaw says, is that humanitarian concerns should guide the treatment of refugees, as opposed to the hard Darwinian principles applied after World War II.
With l'[histoire] Jewish displaced persons after the Second World War, we saw how lies and untruths could shape immigration policy, concludes Nasaw.
FB.Event.subscribe('comment.create', function (response) {jQuery.ajax({type: "POST",url: "/wp-content/themes/rgb/functions/facebook.php",data: { p: "1340056", c: response.commentID, a: "add" }});});FB.Event.subscribe('comment.remove', function (response) {jQuery.ajax({type: "POST",url: "/wp-content/themes/rgb/functions/facebook.php",data: { p: "1340056", c: response.commentID, a: "rem" }});});
};(function(d, s, id){var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;js.src = "https://connect.facebook.net/fr_FR/sdk.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));});
The rest is here:
Historian reflects on rejection endured by Jews displaced after 1945 - US Sports - US Sports -
- Lithuania must acknowledge its role in the Holocaust - opinion - The Jerusalem Post - September 26th, 2023
- The White Factory review: An important addition to the Shoah canon - The Jewish Chronicle - September 22nd, 2023
- In an unsettling account of French collaboration with Nazis, disturbing parallels with todays politics - Forward - September 22nd, 2023
- Mom Shocked By 8th Grade Teacher Reading Anne Frank's Diary ... - Bored Panda - September 22nd, 2023
- On the History of Antisemitism | USC Shoah Foundation - USC Shoah Foundation | - September 18th, 2023
- Renaissance of Italian synagogues and cemeteries showcased at Ferrara Jewish museum - The Times of Israel - September 18th, 2023
- The lesson of history & hate: Is Holocaust 1.0 the new Holocaust ... - New York Daily News - September 18th, 2023
- Catholic institutions offered shelter to Jews during the Second World ... - Jesuits Global - September 18th, 2023
- How I learned to fill in the gaps in my family's Shoah story - The Jewish Chronicle - September 12th, 2023
- The Zoryan Institute Issues an Open Letter to the Rabbinical Centre of Europe - Armenian News by MassisPost - September 12th, 2023
- Village View: USC Shoah Foundation to celebrate 30th anniversary - Main Line - August 22nd, 2023
- 78 years after the Shoah, Israels air defense system to protect ... - JNS.org - August 22nd, 2023
- Sidney Itzkowitz fought with Jewish partisans behind Nazi lines ... - The Globe and Mail - August 22nd, 2023
- Oprah Winfrey Net Worth 2023: What Is The TV Host Worth? - HotNewHipHop - August 22nd, 2023
- Holocaust survivor whose family were ripped apart during the Shoah ... - The Jewish Chronicle - August 14th, 2023
- Deny and Distort | USC Shoah Foundation - USC Shoah Foundation | - August 14th, 2023
- The ultimate Jewish guide to Milan: What to see, eat and do ... - Jewish Unpacked - August 14th, 2023
- Antisemitism and Radical Anti-Israel Bias on the Political Left in ... - ADL - August 14th, 2023
- Remembering the Treblinka rebellion - JNS.org - August 14th, 2023
- From Nazi Camp to Memorial Centre: In Serbia, the Transition Isn't ... - Balkan Insight - August 14th, 2023
- Controversy swirls around Bollywood romcom and use of Shoah ... - JNS.org - August 3rd, 2023
- A Film About the Holocaust Survivor Who Helped Make Abortion ... - Kveller.com - August 3rd, 2023
- Our doors are open: York gets its first resident rabbi in more than 800 years - The Guardian - August 3rd, 2023
- Making a difference in the community - Australian Jewish News - August 3rd, 2023
- Seven weeks of consolation! | 7 - Arutz Sheva - August 3rd, 2023
- Letters to the editor, 4 August 2023 - The Jewish Chronicle - August 3rd, 2023
- Rabbi Uziel and the Holocaust: New Readings for Tisha b'Av - Jewish Journal - July 20th, 2023
- Why Germany Struggled to Reckon With the Nazi Past - Jacobin magazine - July 20th, 2023
- The fight against British extremism is never over - The Jewish Chronicle - July 20th, 2023
- David Shulick Promoted to Vice President of Corporate Affairs for ... - PR Web - July 20th, 2023
- Keep the Postal Service Out of the Booze Delivery Business - gvwire.com - July 20th, 2023
- In-N-Out Burger Employees Forbidden to Wear Masks Unless They Have a Doctors Note - gvwire.com - July 20th, 2023
- In Sweden, they burn Torahs - Religion News Service - July 20th, 2023
- Nazis in the cellar: is antisemitism coming out of hiding? - Prospect Magazine - July 20th, 2023
- Why this vegan activist's Holocaust analogy has angered the Jewish ... - SBS News - July 20th, 2023
- CA High-Speed Rail Gets Busy in 2023 With Five New Overcrossings - gvwire.com - July 20th, 2023
- The 25 Highest-Rated Movies of All Time on Letterboxd - MovieWeb - July 20th, 2023
- Diary shows hardships of post-Shoah refugees - The Jewish Star - July 14th, 2023
- Virtual Reality Brings New Look at the Holocaust - The Media Line - July 14th, 2023
- Peter Moffat to adapt The Escape Artist - Televisual - July 14th, 2023
- Preserving histories: Teaching the Holocaust to future generations - Worcester Mag - July 14th, 2023
- Roundup: Bears In The Woods, Hiro On The Mound - 06880 - July 14th, 2023
- I dreamed of joining the IDF growing up and finally donned the ... - The Jewish Chronicle - July 14th, 2023
- As Tree of Life trial enters final phase, 6 Jewish scholars on what text and tradition say about the death penalty - Forward - July 14th, 2023
- USC Shoah Foundation Testimonies - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - July 9th, 2023
- The riots in France have become antisemitic - opinion - The Jerusalem Post - July 9th, 2023
- Obituary: Sidney Cyngiser, 99, shared his story about the Shoah ... - The Canadian Jewish News - July 7th, 2023
- Parisian Holocaust Memorial Trashed The European Conservative - The European Conservative - July 7th, 2023
- Reunion of Torah Scrolls | Community | thejewishnews.com - The Jewish News - July 7th, 2023
- How Donald Trump convinced the son of Jewish refugees to ... - The Jerusalem Post - July 7th, 2023
- How a master of understatement conjured up the horrors of the Shoah - Forward - June 29th, 2023
- How Jewish is Stacey Solomon? Star's hebrew heritage revealed - The Jewish Chronicle - June 29th, 2023
- What Is The Longest Movie Ever Made? - The Script Lab - June 29th, 2023
- A Strong Man and a Warrior - Jewish Journal - June 29th, 2023
- Megan Fox Claimed Misogynistic Hollywood Only Wants Her to Play ... - FandomWire - June 29th, 2023
- J'lem Film Festival to feature films on Libyan Holocaust and Kiryat ... - Haaretz - June 23rd, 2023
- A Change Is Needed in How We Remember the Holocaust - Jewish Link of New Jersey - June 23rd, 2023
- Column: The Flower Communion | News, Sports, Jobs - Daily Mining Gazette - June 23rd, 2023
- He used to be a Christian Holocaust scholar. Now hes a Jew - Forward - June 23rd, 2023
- We cannot abandon them in their old age - The Jewish Standard - June 23rd, 2023
- Why a gripping new movie about the aftermath of a terrorist attack is personal for its director - Forward - June 23rd, 2023
- LETTERS: Weaponizing the Holocaust; Carlebach and the perils of ... - The Jewish News of Northern California - June 23rd, 2023
- What Is a Political Film, Anyway? - The New Republic - June 23rd, 2023
- Dimensions in Testimony The Most Interactive Holocaust Exhibit to ... - The Link - June 23rd, 2023
- Berlusconi and the Jews: Pro-Israel, but soft on antisemites and ... - Haaretz - June 12th, 2023
- Spiritual Resistance in the Holocaust Mosaic - Mosaic - June 12th, 2023
- The Tonys honored plays about antisemitism the winners were eager to talk about anything else - Forward - June 12th, 2023
- Shows about antisemitism win big at Tonys + ADL chief wants Tucker Carlson off Twitter - Forward - June 12th, 2023
- 92-year old Shoah survivor Eve Kugler honoured with live sculpture - Jewish News - June 10th, 2023
- Shoah education first as extended reality (XR) experience offers ... - Jewish News - June 10th, 2023
- Special Screening of Remember This | USC Shoah Foundation - USC Shoah Foundation | - June 6th, 2023
- US weighs in on Roger Waters controversy, says artist has long track record of using antisemitic tropes - EL PAS USA - June 6th, 2023
- Holocaust remembrance and the indomitable spirit of Holocaust ... - The Jerusalem Post - June 6th, 2023
- You Should Know...Andrea Heymann - Jewish Exponent - June 6th, 2023
- The 'unwinnable' video game that lights a path for Shoah education - The Jewish Chronicle - June 4th, 2023
- The rebbes beard: An original short story - The Jerusalem Post - June 4th, 2023
- Head of Yad Vashem decries a new low in efforts to gloss over Polands complicity in the Holocaust - Forward - June 4th, 2023
- New Rabbinical recruits at top college span science and art - The Jewish Chronicle - June 4th, 2023
- 'My mum was rounded up by Hitler's henchmen whilst games were ... - The Jewish Chronicle - June 4th, 2023
- Testimony of the Multitude | USC Shoah Foundation - USC Shoah Foundation | - May 29th, 2023
Comments