It is safe to say the 1930’s and 40’s were not a good time for Judaism. Persecuted and nearly exterminated, European Jews drew the short straw during the second world war. Even after the German surrender their hardships were not over. Continuing to be ostracized by many of the communities they found themselves in, mostly in eastern Europe, many Jews began to move west to non other than occupied Germany. The survivors of the Holocaust were treated differently throughout the nations in Europe. In western Europe, France, Belgium etc., they played a small role in the displaced persons crisis and were mostly assimilated into the millions of DP’s during the time. “In France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, the small number of Jews fortunate enough to return from Nazi death camps was absorbed into the broader category of labor and political deportees,” (Cohen, In War’s Wake, pg. 2). As stated before those Jews who sought refugee in eastern Europe found to solace in the already war torn countries and communities. In occupied Germany however, the survivors were on full display to anyone who would listen, most notably German military veterans and civilians along with foreign journalists. These Jews were pushing not for revenge, but for the recognition of a “distinctive Jewish nationality,” (Cohen, pg. 4). This would eventually come to fruition after the Harrison Report and a Jewish Nationality would be recognized by the UN in 1945. This would eventually begin the process of the assisted emigration to Israel.
Cohen makes a good argument for the treatment of Jews in post-war Europe. They were given almost special treatment by the western Allied armies, and was eventually given the right of international protection. Most of this kind sentiment was due to, “knowledge of the Final Solution provoked strong public pronouncements in favor of Jewish victims,” (Cohen, pg. 13). All of this spurred the process of a Jewish homeland, which had been an international issue even before the war. Even the Soviet Union was sentimental to the Jewish population in Germany, supporting the “extraterritoriality of
Jewish DPs,” (Cohen, pg. 14). This surprised me due to the rise of anti-Semitism in the Soviet Bloc nations, mostly the Soviet Union and Poland. I’ve always remembered that the Jews were pushed out of eastern Europe, as stated earlier by Cohen himself. Although the Soviets public policy was in favor of Judaism, they seemed to do little to quell the rising anti-Semitism actions, which grew to be more numerous and violent as more and more displaced Jews attempted to return home.
Holocaust survivors visit the Radom Jewish cemetery after the war. https://www.timesofisrael.com/historian-polish-society-shunned-jewish-survivors-returning-from-death-camps/
