46 | FEBRUARY 11 • 2021 

Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive 
of Jewish Detroit History

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org
Displaced Children
I

nternational Holocaust Remembrance 
Day was commemorated two weeks ago 
on Jan. 27, 2021. The date marks the 
anniversary of the Soviet Union Army’s 
liberation of the largest Nazi death camp 
in Poland: Auschwitz-Birkenau. In 2005, 
the United Nations General 
Assembly designated 
the date as International 
Holocaust Remembrance 
Day. This year, the theme for 
Holocaust educational pro-
grams and commemorations 
was “Facing the Aftermath: 
Recovery and Reconstitution 
after the Holocaust” with a 
special focus upon the estimated 1.5 mil-
lion children who perished at the hands of 
the Nazis. 
Much has been written about World 
War II, an event that claimed the lives 
of about 20 million people; 6 million 
of whom were Jews murdered in Nazi 
death camps. The end of the war and the 
Holocaust should be remembered, yet 
that did not end the suffering. There were 
millions of Displaced Persons (DPs) in the 
aftermath, and more than 1 million were 
Jews, including hundreds of thousands of 
Jewish children.
The focus on children this year remind-
ed me of stories in the William Davidson 
Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History 
that have left a deep impression upon me; 
that is, the coverage of the immediate years 
after the war in the JN and Jewish Chronicle. 
In some ways, these reports are just as 
striking and as sad as newspaper coverage 
during WWII, but there are also hearten-
ing stories.
 Shortly after WWII ended, the July 6, 
1945, issue of the JN had a chilling report 
that 1.2 million Jewish children had per-
ished. The month before, on June 20, the 
headline on page 6 of the JN was: “What 
Becomes of our Refugee Children?” 
Many children went to DP camps estab-
lished in such places as Italy, Cyprus and 

the Middle East, or to the Oswego 
Camp in New York. While wait-
ing to immigrate, the DPs often 
suffered extremely poor living 
conditions. The irony is that 
many Holocaust survivors went 
from one form of internment 
into another. Many prominent 
Detroiters visited the DP camps. 
For a few examples, see reports 
in the JN from Nate Shapero 
(June 11, 1948), Louis Berry and 
Joseph Holtzman (Feb. 27, 1948), 
and Congressman John Dingell Sr. 
(Oct. 1, 1948). 
Over the years, the majority of 
Jewish DPs were resettled in either 
British Mandate Palestine or the 
United States, with smaller groups 
staying in Europe or going to South 
America and other places around the 
world.
There are reports, however, that provide 
some positive counterweight to the sad 
ones. There are numerous articles in the JN 
and Chronicle (1945-1950s) regarding the 
massive support Jewish Detroiters provid-
ed for DPs including those adults and chil-
dren who arrived in the city. Agencies such 
as the Jewish Social Services Bureau, the 
Detroit Chapter of the National Council 
of Jewish Women, and local synagogues 
and congregations, to name just a few, did 
their best to place the children in foster 
homes. Many children grew up in Detroit 
and became successful citizens who raised 
their own families here. You may know 
them as your father, mother, grandfather, 
grandmother, uncle or aunt.
The Davidson Archive holds a tre-
mendous history regarding the theme of 
International Holocaust Remembrance 
Day 2021. It is important, impactful read-
ing. 

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation 
archives, available for free at www.djnfounda-
tion.org.

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

Joseph Holtzman (Feb. 27, 1948), 
and Congressman John Dingell Sr. 

Jewish DPs were resettled in either 

United States, with smaller groups 
staying in Europe or going to South 

