Post-Holocaust Politics: Britain, the United States, and Jewish Refugees, 1945-1948 PDF
Preview Post-Holocaust Politics: Britain, the United States, and Jewish Refugees, 1945-1948
POST- HOLOC UST A POL TICS I POST- HOLOC UST A POL TICS I BRITAIN, THE UNITED STATES, & JEWISH REFUGEES, 1945–1948 ARIEH J. KOCHAVI THEUNIVERSITYOFNORTHCAROLINAPRESS CHAPELHILLANDLONDON © TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaPress Allrightsreserved DesignedbyRichardHendel SetinMinionandMantiniatypes byTsengInformationSystems,Inc. ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica Thepaperinthisbookmeetstheguidelinesfor permanenceanddurabilityoftheCommitteeon ProductionGuidelinesforBookLongevityofthe CouncilonLibraryResources. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Kochavi,AriehJ. Post-Holocaustpolitics:Britain,theUnitedStates, andJewishrefugees,–/byAriehJ.Kochavi. p.cm. Includesbibliographicalreferences(p.)andindex. ---(cloth:alk.paper) .Refugees,Jewish—Governmentpolicy—Great Britain. .Refugees,Jewish—Governmentpolicy— UnitedStates. .Holocaustsurvivors—Europe. .GreatBritain—Emigrationandimmigration— Governmentpolicy. .UnitedStates—Emigration andimmigration—Governmentpolicy. .Jews— Europe—Migrations. .Palestine—Emigrationand immigration. I.Title. .. .''—dc CONTENTS Preface ix AbbreviationsandAcronyms xv Introduction . . NonrepatriableDisplacedPersonsinGermany ATemporaryProblem? PolishDisplacedPersonsPressuretheWesternPowers ResettlementOptions .JewishDisplacedPersonsinBritishOccupationZones ‘‘LikeAllOthers’’ ‘‘Infiltrators’’fromtheEast WithholdingFoodRations SeparatingGermanJewsfromJewishDisplacedPersons .CounteringIllegalImmigration DebatingaPolicy DeportationstoCyprus DeportationsBacktoPortsofEmbarkation? EndingtheMandate . .JewishDisplacedPersonsandAmericanPolicy-making TheHarrisonReport EisenhowerReacts .ConflictingAttitudes TrumanIntervenes Anglo-AmericanNegotiations FurtherDiscords RespiteforWhitehall SwayedbyElectoralConsiderations .AmericanOccupationZonesOfferAsylum AnOpenGatePolicy FailingtoSealtheBorders ChangeofPolicy? Washingtonand‘‘IllegalSailings’’ . . TheFlightfromPoland PolishJewsintheAftermathoftheWar PhaseOne:SummerandWinterof– BehindtheScenes:Moscow’sRole TheAnglo-AmericanCommitteeVisitsPoland PhaseTwo:Summerof .CzechoslovakiaandHungary:CountriesofTransit Czechoslovakia:BetweenPolandandGermany Hungary:BetweenRumaniaandAustria .TheBalkans:PortstoPalestine Rumania:TheMainThrust Yugoslavia:InterimSailingBase TheHungerFlight Bulgaria:FinalSailingBase WithMoscow’sBlessings . : .Italy:ContraryManeuvers TheLaSpeziaEpisode andthe ConfoundingBritishStrategies . France:Manipulations AsylumforJewishRefugees Quaid’Orsayvs.theInteriorMinistry TheExodusAffair Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS PrisonersinDachau,Germany,raiseAmericanflag onliberation,April RabbiLeslieH.Hardman,chaplainintheBritishArmy,reciting KaddishatamassgraveinBergen-Belsen SurvivorsoftheHolocaustinBergen-Belsenafterliberation InsideoneofthebarracksinBergen-Belsencamp TakingabathinaDPcamp Brichah:Fatherandhischild Brichah:Restingplace Ma’apilimatHaifaportfollowingcapturebytheBritish,June Ma’apilimdetentioncampinCyprus AdemonstrationofAmericanJewsagainstBritishpolicyinPalestine JewishrefugeesonthewayfromaDPcampinAustriato oneinGermany PartofParschDPcampnearSalzburg,Austria FatheronMedinatHayehudimshowingthedeadbodyofhisbaby toguardingBritishsoldiers TheMedinatHayehudimfollowingcapturebytheBritishatHaifaport Brichah:onthemove Exodusaftersurrender Germany—ZonesofOccupation PartitionResolution,November TheBrichahMovement PREFACE BetweenandmorethanaquarterofamillionJewsfledfromcoun- tries in Eastern Europe and the Balkans to theWest, where they were given temporaryshelterintheDisplacedPersons(DP)campshastilyerectedbythe AlliesinGermanyandAustria.SailingclandestinelyfrombothsidesoftheIron Curtain, the Zionists tried to bring as many Jewish refugees as theycould to the shores of Palestine.These efforts helped establish the State of Israel, not so much because of the numbers involved as because of the dramaticway in whichtheypublicizedtheplightoftheJewishrefugeesandenabledtheJewish communityintheUnitedStatestoinfluenceWhiteHousepolicybylinkingits votetoasolutiontotheDPproblem. Britain was not only one of the four powers that occupied Germany and Austriaafterthewar,italsoheldtheMandateinPalestine.Hencethequestion of what to dowith thevast majorityof Jewish DPs who refused repatriation became paramount for London.The Middle East was pivotal to Britain both economically—becauseof itshugeoilresources—andstrategically—because ithelpedtosecurethelandroutetoIndiaandalsoformedabufferagainstthe expansionist ambitions of the Soviet Union. As the cooperation of the Arab countrieswasessentialtosafeguardingtheseinterests,Britainquicklymovedto frustrateZionistattemptstotransferJewsfromEuropetoPalestine.Insistence on strictly separating the Palestine question from the DP problem became a mainstayofBritishpolicy. WiththeendofWorldWarII,relationsbetweenArabsandJewsinManda- toryPalestinedeterioratedrapidly.AsWhitehallsawit,Jewishimmigrationwas acrucialproblemfortheArabcountriesandtheindigenousArabsinPalestine. Because Britain’s interests in the Arabworld carried moreweight than help- ing the Zionists build their homeland, the government decided not to allow Jewishinfluxintothecountrytoincrease.Thusafterhavingsignificantlycon- tributedtodefeatingtheAxispowersandtherebyhelpingsavethelivesofmany Jews,BritainbecamethemainbarrierforJewishrefugeeswantingtoreachthe haventheZionistsweresettingupinPalestine.Thispolicyalsoresultedinin- creasedresistanceagainstBritainonthepartoftheZionists,boththemoderate majorityoftheYishuv(Hebrew:settlement;theprestateJewishcommunityin Palestine)andthemoremilitantfactions.AmemosubmittedtoForeignMin-
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