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Timeline of Events

1944

Displaced Persons Act

Displaced persons (DPs) line the decks of the <i>General Black</i> as it leaves the port of Bremerhaven. Dubbed the “Ship to Freedom” by its passengers, it brought 813 European DPs from eleven nations to the United States under the provisions of the newly enacted Displaced Persons’ Act. These were the first DPs allowed to enter the United States under the new quota. The ship’s departure from Bremerhaven was marked by speeches by US military and civilian leaders and by an army band concert.

Displaced persons (DPs) line the decks of the General Black as it leaves the port of Bremerhaven. Dubbed the "Ship to Freedom" by its passengers, it brought 813 European DPs from eleven nations to the United States under the provisions of the newly enacted Displaced Persons' Act. These were the first DPs allowed to enter the United States under the new quota. The ship's departure from Bremerhaven was marked by speeches by US military and civilian leaders and by an army band concert. —National Archives and Records Administration, College Park

June 25, 1948

The United States Congress passes the Displaced Persons Act, under which approximately 400,000 displaced persons could immigrate to the United States over and above quota restrictions. US officials will issue around 80,000 of the DP visas to Jewish displaced persons.

Afur bonnet worn by Alice Robinson in the Zeilsheim displaced persons camp in Germany, where she lived from 1945–1948. Alice (b. 1944), her sister, brother, and parents got passage on the first immigrant transport to depart under the Displaced Persons Act, the <i>General Black</i>, which arrived in the United States on October 30, 1948. 

Afur bonnet worn by Alice Robinson in the Zeilsheim displaced persons camp in Germany, where she lived from 1945–1948. Alice (b. 1944), her sister, brother, and parents got passage on the first immigrant transport to depart under the Displaced Persons Act, the General Black, which arrived in the United States on October 30, 1948. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, gift of Alice Robinson Lev

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