American Awls!' Periodical
C.
Thursday, September 7, 1950
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE
Page 30
-------
body of
a hundred DP camps in Germany, I known to the great
American
Jews.
Some
of them
Austria and Italy, and an equally
large body of minor installations, were members of "lost communi-
there are today not many more ties"—such as the Jews of Ye-
men, who for all practical pur-
than a dozen.
Where they were once 250,000 poses were cut off from the Jews
Jews in DP camps, today all the of the rest of the world for 2,000
Displaced Jews in the DP areas years.
• • •
number less than 40,000, and of
IN OTHER MOSLEM com-
these only about half are in ac-
munities, including Egypt and
By EDWARD M. M. IVARBURG
tual camps.
Iraq, Jews until the Palestine-
• • •
Chairman, Joint Distribution Committee
THE DREAM OF a haven in- Arab war lived under excellent
the
. I do not spired by the. birth of the new conditions and were members of
, . soil
. of , Israel.
EARLY THIS MONTH an _immigrant stepped
- - off a boat onto
man _ or boy, woman or girl. But you State was not confined, however,- thriving CoMmunities. In still
know his or her name, or whether he or she w _ - a a man
areas—notably in North
may be sure, nevertheless, that immigrant was of particular interest to the Joint Distribu- to the Jews of the DP camps, or other
Africa
the majority of Jews
tion Committee and to all who help make JDC's work possible. For he, or she, was the even of the remainder of Europe. lived under conditions of poverty
When
liberation
in
Europe
was
500,000th person that the JDC has been able to help emigrate to a new home in a free land
and disease that are indescrib-
followed by liberation in the Pa-
able.
since Liberation Day! 4)
brth ,to the neighbors who had detention camps. Here nearly cific, in the fall of 1945, JDC be-
In 1948 Jews of Yemen began
Half a million Jews rescued 1I i
gan strenuous efforts to break up moving into the British protecto-
through emigration in little more ; stood by while they and their 55,000 Jews were held by British the concentration of some 15,000
than five years!—to anyone who' families were shipped off to authorities as they sought to European Jewish refugees in rate of Aden in great numbers—
Tremblinka, to Dachau, to Mai- press on to Palestine, outside the
seeking a way to go to Israel.
recalls the desperate situatior in I
JDC's program there grew by
spring, 1945 which confronted ' danek and similar death camps. permitted quota of some 1,500 Shanghai, China.
The bulk of the refugees were leaps and bounds, as a few hun-
immigrants monthly.
Europe's surviving Jews and I The goal for all was a land 1 Jewish
Meanwhile, in 1946, the U. S. enabled to go to Me United States dred refugees grew to number
, where a Jew could live, work
those who wi,,,heC to help them, and
raise
a
family
without
fear.
Congress
enacted liberalized DP and Australia, but several thou- thousands.
fantastic.!
this achievement seems
f
Jews—'
legislation
— w h i c h 'eventually sand, with no chance of entering
There was no question but that
I remember that period only But for the majority o
made possible the entry here of these lands, found a haven in Is- the Yemenite Jews, fleeing per-
those
who
had
sur-
Jews'
particularly
too well. It was then that
up to 55,000 Jews, The initial rael. As this is being written, it
and misery in a back-
in the concentration
camps legislation was revised this spring is hoped that the Shanghai com- secution
in the free countries of the worldI vived
of Germany
and Central Europe
ward, theocratic state, had to be
discovered how near Hitler had
upon its expiration, and a pos- munity can be reduced to a "hard moved to Israel. But Israel and
. . '
come to his terrible aim of clam - I—this goal meant Palestine, and sible 20,000 additional Jews are -core" of no more than 250 persons Egypt were at war, and the peo-
Dating all the Jews of the con- ! later Israel.
expected to enter this country —with the evacuation of some ple could not be taken by boat
tinent. It was then we realized I Others, however, in impressive under the new DP Act.
700 Jews in that city eligible and through the Red Sea, as JDC had
that almost to a man, the 1,400,000 I numbers, sought to come to the
Canada and Australia have also able to leave.
taken nearly seven thousand Ye-
surviving Jews in Europe west of United States, or Canada, or sim- granted haven to several thou-
But of all the prices where the menite Jews during 1943.
the USSR were broken people— ilar lands, where they were cer- ■ sand Jewish DPs, as have Latin dream of Israel glowed brightest
And so, JDC took to the air—
and that the task of helping them taro they would find the oppor- American countries.
—in none of them did it glow chartering planes to move the
tunities to lead the decent life
would be enormous.
But the event that meant most brighter than in certain of the
(Continued on Next Page)
Those who remained were a they desired.
for the resue of Jews through Moslem lands.
pitiful lot—starved, without fam-
The events which accompanied emigration, was the historic
Take a map and draw a cres-
ilies, displaced and in acute dan- this great exodus of Jews from establishment of the State of Is- cent:shaped line from Morocco at
L'Shono Tova Tikosevu
ger. "Take them out of Europe," the continent and other areas are rael, May 14, 1948. Now, restric- the northwest tip of Africa, to
—this was the cry that went up among the most dramatic in mod- tions were a thing of the past, and Iran, well to the northeast of Is-
in the United States and other ern Jewish history.
the people of Israel welcomed the rael.
Your line will pass through or
free lands.
The year 1946-47 saw more newcomers by the tens of thou-
But in 1945, where could a dis- than 100,000 Polish Jews flood sands, even in the midst of a war near Arab and Moslem countries
which, when Israel became a
placed Jew be sent? Immigra- over the borders of Poland and for independence.
After Israel's birth, JDC's emi- state, harbored over 900,000 Jews.
tion to Palestine, controlled by drive down into the American
British authorities, was limited to zones of Germany and Austria. gration schedules soared. 5,000- Today, there are probably not
the merest handful. Immigration Most of these people who had 10,000, and eventually 20,000 — more than 800,000 Jews in these
to the United States was out of ' si.ffered out the war years in the this was the number of persons a lands, and the near future will
11547 DEXTER
the question in most cases, and USSR to which they had fled, month JDC was able to send to witness an additional substantial
Israel
during
1949.
Once,
20,000
was waiting the advent of legis- were determined to reach Israel
decrease.
Phone WEbster 3-5814
The Jews of the Moslem world
lation which would liberalize the —and after two to three years of persons was the total emigrated
waiting as Displaced Persons in in a year—now it becomes the until recently were almost un-
entry of DP's.
Meanwhile, emigration oppor- what became known as DP total for a brief 30 days.
The DP camps, which to some
tunities to other lands were, for camps, they have done so.
seemed
to threaten to become
the time being, practically non-
The year 1947-48 saw a similar
movement of Jews out of Ru- permanent establishments, began
existent.
to empty out at a phenomenal
Yet today, JDC has not only mania and Hungary, though not
rate, beginning with the fall of
helped half a million persons to as large in numbers.
In 1946 we witnessed the es- 1948.
6500 KERCHEVAL
leave not only Europe, but other
12300 GREENFIELD
Where there were once nearly
distressed areas, and is prepared tablishment of the tragic Cyprus
to aid many thousands more, pro-
vided the funds are available.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
HOLIDAY GREETINGS from
• • •
IT BEGAN WHEN JDC field
workers, following the advancing
Allied armies, found among those
TY. 6.1827
9116 Grand River Ave.
who had survived a firm deter-
TR.
1-6060
Manager, BEATRICE SUTTON
mination: they would not, could
467 Amsterdam
NDOIM
•1•■•■••■••■ ••••• ■■ ••••••• ■■•■•••■•■• ••■•■••■•■•:!INNIMINI
not return to the lands of their
Jewish Migration Reaches
Half Million in 5 Years
CERESNIE
BROTHERS
FURS
A Happy
Holiday To All
AMSTERDAM PRESS and
W. J. WHITE & COMPANY
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and Co.
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