The new founders of Israel called all able bodied men and women ages seventeen to thirty-five to fulfill their “national duty”. Thousand of young men and women from displacement camps where sent to continue the fight in Palestine and Israel. Young Jewish people met this challenge with great enthusiasm. Scholars have debated over where the enthusiasm came from.
DPs youth had a great many struggles to contend with after the Holocaust. Many DP youth were left orphaned, leaving them to make difficult life decision alone. Many where not sure how to continue on with life. Liberation for many DPs was not what they expected, the young DPs where still met with many of the same terrible treatment practices. They where denied food, the freedom to move camps and so much more. Many young Jewish DPs got tired of waiting for help and helped themselves. Eventually they where aided some help by the United States government and the united nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. Earl Harrison reported to President Truman in 1945 recommending a mass population transfer for widows and orphans.
Agricultural training farms started in mid 1946. Many of the youth that joined these farming groups knew little about Zionism. The agriculture training also included kibbutzim. It did not matter they where eager to prepare for a new pioneering way of life while learning about Zionism.
I really enjoy and appreciate the way you’ve set your blog up. The decision on what to do (as a DP youth) after the loss of your home and family had to have been unimaginably tough, but I also think that’s why many turned to the Zionist farms (as pointed out in the readings)–not only to find a home and way of life, but to find themselves.
I like how you focused on the youth and their treatment in the Displaced Persons camps. I guess a lot of people wouldn’t think that the Jews would have still suffered after the war once the Nazi regime had been taken out. Learning about the plight of Displaced Persons, Jewish or otherwise, make me question the moral fiber of the Allied forces in the postwar era.