1. After the Holocaust: Jewish Resettlement Researched and Presented by Jelena Ann Dinesen

2. Moving on was not Easy In 1945, when American and Soviet troops entered the concentration camps, they discovered piles of corpses, bones, and human ashes, the result of rule under Hitler. Soldiers also found thousands of Jewish and non-Jewish survivors suffering from starvation and disease. For survivors, coming out of the ashes of their past and moving on from the horrors they had experienced, was daunting.  Anti-Semitism, the hatred of Jews, remained in parts of Europe, even after the fall Nazi Germany. Many Jews who returned to their European homes feared for their lives.  Pogroms, violent anti-Jewish riots, broke out. In 1946, the largest pogrom occurred in the town of Kielce, when Polish rioters killed 42 Jews and beat many others.

3. Refugee Centers and Displacement Camps  Tens of thousands of homeless Holocaust survivors migrated westward to other European territories, liberated by the western Allies. There they were housed in hundreds of refugee centers and displaced persons camps. The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) and the occupying armies of the United States, Great Britain, and France saw over these camps.

4.  American-Jewish Joint Distribution Committee provided Holocaust survivors with food and clothing.  Organization for Rehabilitation through Training offered employment training and education furthering classes to help survivors reintegrate into society. (Bottom photo: Jewish women gather to exchange sewing knowledge and learn new techniques)

5. Australia: Immigration and Anti-Semitism  Immigration: Over 17,000 Jews arrived from Europe by 1954. A further 10,000 arrived by 1961. The Australian Jewish population grew from a tiny group of 23,000 in 1933 to 60,000 in 1961.  The Australian government policy keeping Australian Jewish population under 0.5%: Was the result of anti-Semitism in parts of Australia. Hate of Jews manifested itself in newspapers, in statements by members of parliament and in petitions passed by social groups.  Anti-Jewish organizations: Damaged property in protest, particularly in areas of Jewish urban areas.

6.  Jews were considered evil: Accused of setting up sweatshops, paying long hours for low wages, not following Australian living standards. In addition, Jews were portrayed as godless people out to destroy Christianity, lacking morality. The Jewish concept of the ‘Chosen People’ led accusations of plans for cultural international control and world domination theories.  Jews were considered “physically undesirable” — fat, ugly, with hooked noses and foreign accents. These features were highlighted in articles and cartoons published in newspapers.(I tried to find an authentic Australian one but couldn’t find any) Important Note: The hatred of Jews, promoted by Adolf Hitler, did not pass with the fall of Nazi Germany. Even Australia, not closely involved in WWII, was affected by Hitler’s ideologies. In the long run, Jews suffered from oppression long after the Holocaust.

7. Reintegration of European Jews When the Soviet army took over Berlin in 1945, only 8,000 Jews remained living in the city, all of them in hiding or married to non-Jews. 15,000 German Jews survived the concentration camps or survived by going into hiding. These German Jews were joined by about 200,000 East European Jewish Holocaust survivors. About 10,000 to 15,000 Jews decided to resettle in Germany. Despite hesitations and a long history of cultural differences between German Jews and East European Jews, what was left of the groups united, to form the basis of a new Jewish community. In 1950 they founded the Central Council of Jews in Germany.

8. Redefining German Jews  East Germany: Was a small community of people who promoted communist ideologies. Most Jews who settled in East Germany did so because their pre-1933 homes had been there, or because they had been politically leftist before the Nazi seize of power, and after 1945, wished to build an antifascist, socialist Germany. Most of these politically engaged Jews were not religious or active in the official Jewish community. Many East German Jews immigrated to Israel in the 1970s, when fascist ideologies became socially unacceptable.  West Germany: From the 1950s-1970s was characterized by its social conservatism and generally private nature. Because few young adults decided to remain in Germany, the community had a higher average age. In the 1980s, a college for Jewish studies was established in Heidelberg. By 1990, the community numbered between 30,000 and 40,000. Although the Jewish community of Germany did not have the same impact as the pre-1933 community, some Jews were prominent in German public life, including the Hamburg mayor, the Minister of Justice, Deputy Chief of Justice, Attorney General.

9. United States: A refuge  In December 1945, President Harry Truman loosened immigration quota restrictions on those oppressed by the Nazi regime; allowing 28 000 Jewish immigrants into the US. In 1948 the US congress passed the Displaced Persons Act, providing mass amounts of visas available for the immigration of people left homeless after WWII (displaced persons); there was a total of about 68 000 Jewish immigrants to the US.  The American “open culture” allowed many minority groups, including Jews, to flourish in Christian and predominantly Protestant America. Antisemitism in the United States has always been less common than in other historic areas of Jewish population. Being so far from the Holocaust, the United States after WWII as the largest, richest, and healthiest center of Judaism in the world. In 1900 there was 1.5 million Americans Jews; in 2005 there were 5.3 million.

10.  Many Jewish organizations, centers, and facilities opened, as Jewish school enrollment more than doubled after World War II, and synagogue affiliation in Jewish families increased from 20% in 1930 to 60% in 1960.  Jewish Americans were in the forefront of promoting important social issues such as working rights, civil rights, woman's rights, freedom of religion, peace movements, and other progressive causes.

11. Canada: A little slow, but eventually got there  Before WWII: In 1930 the Canadian government responded to the unemployment caused by the beginning of the Depression by imposing strong restrictions on immigration. Although the cabinet eventually approved certain kinds of immigrants, permission for Jews to enter was almost never given due to religious intolerance still being a common feature of Canadian society. Anti-Semitism, was found among cultural and political leaders.  The Canadian Jewish Congress worked to create a safe haven in Canada for some of the increasingly desperate Jews of Europe. Despite mass protests and continuous, pleas on behalf of the trapped Jews of Europe went unheeded. Canada took in (proportionately) fewer Jews than any western country, before WWII.

12.  After WWII: With a growing economy in need of workers, Canada opened its doors to immigrants soon after the end of WWII. About 40 000 survivors of the Holocaust came in the late 1940s, seeking a peaceful place where they might have a chance at rebuilding their lives. In the 1950s, Jews fleeing places of hostility in parts of Europe immigrated to Canada, settling mostly in Montréal, due to cultural preferences. During the postwar period, Jews became more fully integrated into Canadian life. Human rights legislation, which began to be introduced in Canada in the late 1940s, removed discriminatory practices which had been previously common, this lead up to 1971 and the federal policy of multiculturalism (into the Canadian Constitution).  Social patterns also changed as 2nd- and 3rd-generation Jews born in Canada became a larger part of the community. Rather than dispersing, the 2nd and 3rd generation of Canadian Jews moved as a group. Synagogues, schools, community centers and other institutions relocated to these new neighborhoods.  Canadian Jewish federations began working towards improving social welfare needs, developing co-operative relations with other community groups, and defending Jews against discrimination and anti-Semitism.