“I Am A Jewish DP. A Jew From The Eternal Nowhere.” Jews From Poland In Displaced Persons Camps In The Occupation Zones Of West Germany: Encounters Wi
“I Am A Jewish DP. A Jew From The Eternal Nowhere.” Jews From Poland In Displaced Persons Camps In The Occupation Zones Of West Germany: Encounters Wi

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the paper is to analyze encounters between Poles and Jews in postwar Germany in order to ascertain whether or not Polish–Jewish relations influenced the rejection of old national affiliations among Holocaust survivors as well as the construction of a community which transcended categories of citizenship, and if so how exactly. The first part focuses on encounters and confrontations between Poles and Jews inside displaced persons camps as well as outside. Issues addressed include the impact on Polish- Jewish relations of the common framework of occupation policy towards refugees and the attitude of individual military and UNRRA officials as well as that of the German population surrounding the camps. The aim is to ascertain the role played by the history of anti-Semitism in Poland (in particular the 1946 Kielce pogrom) in the narrative of Zionism, the rejection of Diaspora life and the identification of non-Jewish DPs as persecutors. The extent to which Jews in DP camps associated Polish anti-communism with anti-Semitism is also assessed. The second part looks at the place of Poles and Poland in the self-definition of Jewish DPs and the formation of the Jewish DP community. The paper argues that notwithstanding their difficult relations with Poles, Jews from Poland gathered in the DP camps wanted to relate to their vanished past in Poland and strove for some continuity with it. This can be observed in the remembrance practices carried out by landsmanshaftn and the space devoted in the Polish- Jewish DP press to recollections of the pre-war achievements of Polish Jewry.

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