Sh'erit ha-Pletah

The Jewish displaced persons called themselves the Sh'erit ha-Pletah, a Hebrew term of biblical origin meaning "Surviving Remnant." The term was derived from the books of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nechemia and it referenced the Jews who remained in Israel after the destruction of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem.

Though the term had simultaneously appeared among groups in the liberated Soviet Union, Western Europe, and Palestine before the final victory, Sh'erit ha-Pletah gained popular currency through the efforts of an American Army Jewish chaplain named Abraham Klausner. In June 1945, Klausner compiled the first list of survivors and chose the term as its title. As the 25,000-name list expanded into a six-volume registry of Jewish DPs, the name Sh'erit ha-Pletah gained wide acceptance. When elected delegates of survivors met in Munich in February 1946, they identified themselves as the Congress of the Sh'erit ha-Pletah.