AUGUST 3, 1945

HARRISON ISSUES REPORT ON JEWS IN GERMANY

U.S. special envoy Earl Harrison heads a delegation to the displaced persons' camps in Germany. Following World War II, several hundred thousand Jewish survivors are unable to return to their home countries and remain in Germany, Austria, or Italy. The Allies establish camps for displaced persons (DPs) for the refugees. Most Jewish DPs prefer to emigrate to Palestine but many also seek entry into the United States. They remain in the DP camps until they can leave Europe. Harrison's report underscores the plight of Jewish DPs and leads to improved conditions in the camps. At the end of 1946 the number of Jewish DPs is estimated at 250,000, of whom 185,000 are in Germany, 45,000 in Austria, and 20,000 in Italy.

JULY 11, 1947

REFUGEE SHIP SAILS FOR PALESTINE DESPITE BRITISH RESTRICTIONS

Many Jewish DPs seek to emigrate to Palestine, despite existing British emigration restrictions. (In 1920, Great Britain received a mandate from the League of Nations to administer Palestine, and administered the territory until 1948.) Despite the restrictions, the refugee ship Exodus leaves southern France for Palestine, carrying 4,500 Jewish refugees from DP camps in Germany. The British intercept the ship even before it enters territorial waters off the coast of Palestine. The passengers are forcibly transferred to British ships and deported back to their port of origin in France. For almost a month the British hold the refugees aboard ship, at anchor off the French coast. The French reject the British demand to land the passengers. Ultimately, the British take the refugees to Hamburg, Germany, and forcibly return them to DP camps. The fate of the refugee ship Exodus dramatizes the plight of Holocaust survivors in the DP camps and increases international pressure on Great Britain to allow free Jewish immigration to Palestine.

NOVEMBER 29, 1947

UNITED NATIONS VOTES FOR PARTITION OF PALESTINE

In a special session, the United Nations General Assembly votes to partition Palestine into two new states, one Jewish and the other Arab. Less than six months later, on May 14, 1948, prominent Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion announces the establishment of the State of Israel and declares that Jewish immigration into the new state will be unrestricted. Between 1948 and 1951, almost 700,000 Jews emigrate to Israel, including more than two-thirds of the Jewish displaced persons in Europe. Holocaust survivors, the passengers from the Exodus, DPs from central Europe, and Jewish detainees from British detention camps on Cyprus are welcomed to the Jewish homeland.