What to understand first
- Liberation ended Nazi rule but did not restore destroyed communities.
- Displaced-persons camps became centres of recovery and renewed Jewish life.
- The 1946 Kielce pogrom reinforced the danger of returning home for many survivors.
- Many survivors sought to rebuild in the Land of Israel.
From liberation to sovereignty
Liberation and displacement
Survivors begin searching for family, health, homes and destinations. 65
Displaced-persons communities
Jewish schools, publications, marriages and organisations renew communal life. 65
Kielce pogrom
Postwar violence demonstrates that return can remain dangerous. 26
Brihah and Aliyah Bet
Jewish networks help survivors move toward the Land of Israel. 66
Israel declares independence
Jewish refuge becomes a matter of sovereign policy rather than foreign permission. 12
Life begins again in the camps
Return was not always safe
Movement toward the homeland
From refugees to citizens
Sources for this article
- S1Holocaust Survivors and the Establishment of the State of Israel
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Modern Zionism, Herzl, the Holocaust and statehood.
- S11Report of the UN Special Committee on Palestine
United Nations. Population, competing claims and partition recommendation.
- S12Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel
Knesset archive. Statehood, equality language and appeal to Arab inhabitants.
- S26The Kielce Pogrom
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Post-Holocaust anti-Jewish violence in Poland.
- S30General Assembly Resolution 181 (II)
United Nations. Recommendation for Arab and Jewish states and an international Jerusalem.
- S65Jewish Displaced Persons
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. More than 250,000 Jewish displaced persons in Germany, Austria and Italy.
- S66Aliyah Bet
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Attempts to bring Jewish refugees to Mandatory Palestine despite British restrictions.