Guide to the Records of the Displaced Person Camps and Centers in Germany

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" (and its acronym "DP") was used by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) and by the Allied military commands to describe the persecutees 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 being repatriated at a rapid pace, the Jewish survivors from Eastern Europe did not want to return to their countries of origin and demanded that they be allowed to emigrate to Palestine. A report to President Truman by his special envoy Earl G. Harrison submitted on August 1, 1945 supported the assertion that the Jewish DPs were non-repatriable, 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 American zone where there was the highest concentration of Jewish DPs and as a result, separate camps and centers were set up by 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 (July 4, 1946). Also, in the spring of 1947 some 20,000 Rumanian Jews took refuge in Austria and Germany. This infiltration of refugees from Eastern Europe brought the total number of Jewish DPs to 184,000 in February of 1947.

The American authorities recognized the need to receive the refugees and establish for them a "temporary haven" in the American zone. This policy was in force until April 12, 1947 when any further infiltration by the refugees into the American 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 the solution to the DP problem. By 1951 a great majority of Jewish DPs had emigrated to Israel and to the U.S. The last of the DP camps was closed in 1953.

Faced with the post-war chaos and uncertain of their future, the Jewish DPs began organizing themselves soon after the 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 in organizing these meetings were 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 survivors. These initial contacts led to the conference in St. Ottilien which opened on July 25 with the participation of 94 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 the survivors were held. The second congress took place in Bad Reichenhall on February 25, 1947. The third congress, again in Bad Reichenhalll convened on March 30, 1948. Each congress elected a new Central Committee and a Council. The task of the Council was that of determining policy directions. The Central Committee was headed by the chairman, the vice-chairman, and the 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 Zvi 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: Jacob Olejski, Abram Blumovitch, Boris Pliskin, J. Ratner, H. Eife, Avram Melamed, M. Chwoinik, C. Fefer, S. Schlamovitch, Rabbi Samuel A. Snieg, Sultanek. The first chairman of the Council was Dr. Samuel Gringauz; he 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. McNarney 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 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 in an advisory capacity to the military authorities in the American zone, as the ultimate solutions of their problems of rehabilitation and resettlement. This advice will normally be presented through the Liaison Officer."

The Central Committee was rapidly developing into a sprawling bureaucracy with a complex organizational structure of departments and offices. In 1948 it employed about 1000 persons in its own departments and in various institutions that it maintained. It exerted control in the camps and communities through regional and local committees which were organized in a similar manner to the Central Committee.

In addition, a multitude of political, cultural, educational and professional organizations were active among the DPs contributing to a sense of an organized community, if only in transition. There were schools, professional unions, political parties of various persuasions, religious groups, theaters and writers' unions. These groups produced ad hoc publications, made election posters, issued and collected tickets and kept track of their libraries.

The Central Committee was dissolved in 1950, at the time when all of the camps and centers in the American zone had closed down.

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. Joseph Rosenzaft 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. The second Congress of the Survivors was held on July 20-23, 1947 in Bad Harzburg.

The Bergen-Belsen camp was closed in September 1950. The last DPs to emigrate from the British zone departed on August 15, 1951.

The Jewish DPs in the French zone were represented by the Comité Central des Juifs Libérés in Constance. Its secretary general was M. Gerstenfeld. The Jewish DP group in the French zone was the smallest of all zones comprising in 1947 some 1800 persons.

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.