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