DP CAMPS

 

 

 

     Set up after World War II, displaced persons camps were established on once land of concentration camps. These camps were created on the countries of Germany, France, Belgium, and Italy immediately after World War II in 1945. Many people taken to these camps were of Jewish descent. People were taken from their homes, and transported to the sites of their workplaces. These places were guarded and even surrounded  by barbed wire. People were like prisoners, forced to work on plantations and other places. They were mistreated, humiliated, and lodged in poor conditions that were unsanitary. While children were sent to preschools, parents worked hard hours on their workplaces that were demanding, unpleasant, and uncaring to everyone. The workers were pushed around like animals and the troops made sure the work conditions were awful.

 

        The work places were, at first, made better with basic supplies, medical and food necessities with the Allied Forces and United Nations Rehabilitation and Relief Administration (UNRRA). By the end of 1945 the Jewish Welfare organizations took over the goodness institute as a new aid. It provided emergency aid, set up children centers, hospitals, and trade schools. While this was helping a lot, the conditions still were not as good as they should be. The Society for Rehabilitation and Training took care and lead the schools and also provided training programs for the workers. Zionist organizations taught farming skills and also taught the language of Hebrew to those who were to immigrate to Palestine. By 1946 conditions improved. The camps were humanizing into self-contained societies. A normal society with marriages and births was establishing. In fact, thousands of births were recorded. Many worked in a variety of training programs and also sports and cultural clubs were established. In 1947 even newspapers were beginning to emerge in Yiddish or other European languages.

A welfare officer of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) assists Polish Jewish orphans en route to France and Belgium. Prague, Czechoslovakia, probably 1946.

        World War II was a brutal war in which many people were carelessly murdered. Many Jews, as well as other European nationalities, were kidnapped, tortured, and even killed. The many conflicts between the many different countries led to an extraordinary amount of deaths. People were kidnapped, usually to different kinds of barracks, and then tortured or forced to work. They were also humiliated and stripped of their dignity. Transferred to unknown places in crowded trains, or trucks, they often never saw their families again. In the middle of nowhere, they were pushed around like slaves and treated like cattle. Dead bodies were thrown into a ditch like garbage. No troops cared about informing loved ones of their loss and they also did not have any respect for the dead. They stood above the workers and had no compassion for anyone.

 

 

 

                

RESOURCES
Main Page
Immigration Before World War II
Immigration After World War II
What were Dp Camps?
The Journey to America
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