David Ben-Gurion

As the leader of the Jewish community in Palestine, David Ben-Gurion was influential in molding the Jewish DPs into a dynamic force for the Zionist cause. During his visits to numerous DP camps, including Bergen-Belsen, Zeilsheim, and Bad Reichenhall, in fall of 1945 and spring of 1946, Ben-Gurion offered the DPs invigorating encouragement as he addressed the survivors not as powerless victims but as partners in a national struggle.