Abstract
Jewish life in camps, organized by Germans, is a well-known phenomenon. During the “Third Reich” millions of Jewish people were murdered in concentration and death camps. Auschwitz has become synonymous with the Holocaust, stands for Nazi genocide. But there also was Jewish life in camps after this catastrophe—on German territory from 1945 till 1957. Camps in post-war Germany accommodated Jewish Displaced Persons who had been stranded in the western zones of occupied Germany. The following essay shows that camp territories differed to a great extend—and as a result Jewish life in camps and the perception of Jewish DPs on the part of rural population differed as well.
The essay is based on my dissertation, published as Die Lage der Lager. Displaced Persons-Lager in der amerikanischen Besatzungszone Deutschlands. Klartext, Essen 2012.
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Notes
- 1.
16.4.1945, SHAEF Administration Memorandum No. 39 (Revised), National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), 165/476/818, Folder GERMANY (Displaced Persons SHAEF Admin. Memo 39).
- 2.
Harrison, Earl Grant: Report. Mission to Europe to inquire into the condition and needs of those among the displaced persons in the liberated countries of Western Europe and in the SHAEF area of Germany, with particular reference to the Jewish refugees who may possibly be stateless or non-repatriable. Washington 1945.
- 3.
31.8.1945, Harry S. Truman, President of the United States of America, to Dwight D. Eisenhower, General of the Army, published in Harrison, Earl Grant: Report, p. 1–2, 1.
- 4.
22.8.1945, Special Camps for Stateless and Non-repatriables, by Command of General Eisenhower, USFET, to CG Eastern Military District and Western Military District, NARA, 498/Records of the Assistant Chief of Staff, G−5 383.7/42, Folder 383.7−3 (Jews).
- 5.
Königseder, Angelika/Wetzel, Juliane: Lebensmut im Wartesaal. Die jüdischen DPs (Displaced Persons) im Nachkriegsdeutschland 1945–1949. Fischer Frankfurt am Main 1994, p. 9.
- 6.
Earl G. Harrison: The Last Hundred Thousand [draft without date], USHMM Archives, RG−10.088, Earl G. Harrison papers [microform], 1945–1946.
- 7.
Ibid.
- 8.
Friedman, Herbert A.: A Military Chaplin’s Perspective. In: Life Reborn. Jewish Displaced Persons 1945–1951. Conference Proceedings, Washington DC, January 14–17, 2000. USHMM Washington DC 2001, p. 67–74, 73.
- 9.
Lepper, Carl: Lampertheimer Heimatbuch. Porta-Verlag München 1957, p. 198: “Im schönsten Wohnviertel Lampertheims wurden von der Militärregierung 138 Häuser beschlagnahmt. […] Die erhöhte Wohnungsnot machte es den Betroffenen äußerst schwer, Unterkunft zu finden. […] Im Gegensatz zu den hungernden Deutschen erhielten die Displaced Persons eine ausgezeichnete Verpflegung, und bald begannen diese mit ihrem Überfluss zu schachern. Schöne Wohnungseinrichtungen wurden von den Juden demoliert und viele Einrichtungsgegenstände verschwanden spurlos. Die Juden fühlten sich als Herren der Häuser […].”
- 10.
Wittenberger, Georg (Hrsg.): Stadtlexikon Babenhausen. Babenhausen 1995, p. 70: “1945 bis 1950 verschiedene Verwendungen unter amerikanischer Verwaltung”.
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Köhn, H. (2016). Jewish Life in Camps after 1945. Displaced Persons Camps in the US Zone of Germany. In: Hoppe, A. (eds) Catastrophes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20846-6_4
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