Survivors

Holocaust Survivors

 There are 400,000 Jewish Holocaust Survivors alive today.

100,000 Survivors live in the United States.

100,000 Survivors live in Israel.

The remaining 200,000 Survivors are spread throughout the world (including Germany and war-torn Ukraine.)

Many people know what happened to the Jews during World War 2 and the Holocaust, but most do not know what happened to the Survivors after 1945.

There were an estimated 3.5 Million Holocaust Survivors in Europe in 1945.

300,000 of them had been in the Death Camps and Concentration Camps.

The rest had either fled, been in hiding, used false identities or been working as Forced Laborers (but not in the Death or Concentration Camps.)

With the War over the Survivors went to their old Homes looking for Family or Friends. 98% of them found no one alive.

Personal Property: Their Homes, Apartments, Farms, Businesses and Personal Property (stolen by the Germans and their Collaborators) now had new owners and no country that the Germans had occupied did anything to help the Survivors get their lives or property back - on an official basis.

These countries were: The United Kingdom (the British Channel Islands were occupied by the Germans during the War and British Jews living there were deported), Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Austria, Italy, Yugoslavia (Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Slovenia), Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia (the Czech Republic and Slovakia), Poland and the Soviet Union (Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Russia.)

Many Survivors not only found all their Family and Friends murdered and all their personal property given away, but they also faced Anti-Jewish Attacks. This is after Hitler was dead and the Nazis and their Collaborators were defeated.

Examples:

The Krakow Pogrom: August 11, 1945 in Krakow Poland.  6,637 Jewish Holocaust Survivors (out of a Pre-War Population of 80,000) were attacked by the Local Poles and sanctioned by both the Polish Communist Authorities and the Soviet Communist Authorities. Many were beaten and wounded. One Woman, 56-year-old Auschwitz Survivor Róża Berger, was shot while standing behind closed doors.

In Kyiv, the Soviet Union (Ukraine) between September 4–7, 1945, 100 Jewish Holocaust Survivors were beaten, of whom 36 were hospitalized and 5 died of wounds.

 

The Topoľčany Pogrom: September 24, 1945 in Topolcany, Czechoslovakia (Slovakia.) 48 Jewish Holocaust Survivors were beaten by the Town’s 9,000 Residents.

The Kielce Pogrom: July 4, 1946 in Kielce, Poland. 200 Holocaust Survivors were attacked by Polish Police, Police Soldiers, Polish Civilians and the Polish Communist Authorities. 42 Jewish Men, Women and Children were murdered (9 were shot, 2 were killed with bayonets and the rest were beaten and stoned to death.)

The Kunmadaras Pogrom: May 22, 1946 in Kunmadaras, Hungary. 9 Jewish Holocaust Survivors were murdered by Hungarians Civilians, the Hungarian Communist Authorities and the Soviet Communist Authorities.

The Miskolc Pogrom: July 20, 1946 in Miskolc, Hungary. 2 Jewish Holocaust Survivors were killed and 1 wounded by the Hungarian Civilians, the Hungarian Communist Authorities and the Soviet Communist Authorities.

Poland: From 1945-1947 an estimated 2,000 Jewish Holocaust Survivors were murdered in Poland by Polish Civilians and the Polish Communist Authorities.

210,000 Jews fled Post-War Poland because of the Official Anti-Semitism and the Pogroms.

By 1947 only 90,000 Jews still lived in Poland (45,000 of those fled during the Polish Communist Government’s 1969 Anti-Semitism Attacks.)

The Soviet Union: From 1945-1953 Stalin sent many Jewish Holocaust Survivors from the liberated German Death Camps and German Concentration Camps to Soviet Gulags for several years imprisonment. The Soviet Communist Authorities also had Official Anti-Semitism as their Party Agenda and allowed for the random imprisonment and beating of Jews throughout the country. Soviet Jews were not allowed to leave the USSR until the 1980s.

Displaced Persons Camps: Jewish Holocaust Survivors around Europe were forced to Displaced Persons Camps in Allied-Occupied Germany and Austria. 99% of the DP Camps were in Former German Death Camps and Concentration Camps.

DP Camps didn’t just house Jewish Holocaust Survivors, but also Non-Jewish Displaced Persons that couldn’t or wouldn’t go back to their Home Countries because of the Post-War Communist Repressions there.

Any estimated 40 Million People (Jews and Non-Jews) were DPs throughout Europe from 1945-1959.

British Mandatory Palestine: The British Government (which ruled Palestine and was very Anti-Semitic) refused to allow the Jewish Holocaust Survivors from Europe to live there.

Aliyah Bet: Was the name of the illegal emigration of Jews to the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920-1948.

Even after the Holocaust in 1945 the British refused to let in Holocaust Survivors to Palestine.

 

Over 100,000 Jews attempted to illegally enter Mandatory Palestine from 1945-1948. There were 142 voyages by 120 ships. The British stopped half of them – forcing them back to either Displaced Persons Camps in Europe or Internment Camps in the British Colony of Cyprus (50,000 Jewish Holocaust Survivors were held in Camps in Cyprus.)

Over 1,600 Jewish Holocaust Survivors drowned at sea.

In 1947 the SS Exodus with 4,515 Jewish Holocaust Survivors illegally sailed from France to British-Palestine. Exodus was boarded by the British who used tear gas and beatings on the Men, Women and Children. The British eventually sent all 4,515 People back to France and then tried to deport them to the British Occupation Zone in Germany. This caused the Holocaust Survivors on-board to go on Hunger Strike. Nevertheless the British sent all the Holocaust Survivors from the Exodus back to Germany. Many tried again to get to Palestine illegally, but most didn’t get to Israel until after its independence in 1948 and the British Anti-Semites had left.

Israel: On May 14, 1948 the British Mandate over Palestine ended and the Jewish State of Israel was created.

Israel opened its borders to every Jew, including Holocaust Survivors, wherever in the World they lived.

Reparations: Israel and West Germany entered into a Reparations Agreement in 1953. That money was given right to the Country of Israel since it was the “Homeland of the Jewish People.”

In 1988, West Germany (later Germany) started giving $290 a month to Holocaust Survivors.

In 1997, the Hungarian Parliament passed a Jewish Compensation Act that returns property stolen from Jewish Victims during the Nazi and Communist Eras.

In 1999, Norway’s Stortinget voted to accept the proposition for 450 million Kroners for seized assets.

In 1999 Germany added Jews who were used as Forced Labor during the War to receive compensation. 140,000 Jewish Holocaust Survivors from 25 Countries received a Lump Sum Payment.

In 2005, the Austrian Government sent out compensation letters to the 19,300 Austrian Holocaust survivors still living. The total amount that Austria paid in compensation was over $2 million, which was paid to individual Holocaust Survivors themselves, to the Owners of businesses that were damaged, and for Stolen Bank Accounts, etc. In addition, the Austrian government also transferred $40 million to the Austria Jewish Fund.

In 2008, the Belgian Government and Belgian Banks agreed to pay €110 million in compensation to Holocaust Survivors, Victims' Families and the Country's Jewish Community.

In 2018 Germany increased the monthly stipend amount to Holocaust Survivors.

Some Governments (Bulgaria in 2008, Austria in 1991, France in 1995 and 2017, Luxembourg in 2015 and the Netherlands in 2000) have made Official Apologies for what their Country did during and after the Holocaust.

The rest have not apologized or compensated the Jewish Victims.

 

Even with some Restitution 97.3% of Holocaust Survivors live below the Poverty Line in every Country they live in.

The Holocaust Survivors are in their 70s, 80s, 90s and 100s and do not deserve to have to continue to fight for their survival or their basic needs 78 years after the Holocaust.

I have met around 86 Holocaust Survivors in my lifetime.