Learn & REMEMBER ISOLATION
SURVIVAL
Hungarian children leave the Netherlands and return to Hungary. The Kindertransport arrived in the Netherlands in winter of 1947, and the children stayed for 6 months with temporary foster parents.
After liberation, many survivors searched for their families by returning to their hometowns.
They often then discovered that their homes and personal items had been taken by their neighbors. These neighbors often greeted survivors with open hostility and violence, ultimately driving many out of the towns they once called home. The loss and isolation felt by survivors, losing not only their families but also the life they once knew, led many to severe depression. Survivors attempted to build a new life on their own, often in strange and foreign lands.
Many attempted to immigrate to British controlled Palestine but were prevented from legally resettling there due to immigration quotas. Out of desperation, survivors often turned to illegal means of immigration, attempting to break the British blockade using barely seaworthy ships; those captured were sent to detention camps.
These refugees who had survived the horrors of Nazi concentration and death camps were, again, behind barbed wire fences put there by the very people who had helped liberate them.
Once the state of Israel was established, many survivors immigrated to the new Jewish homeland. In many cases the refugees’ feelings of guilt for their own survival was compounded by the judgement of Native Israeli Jews who criticized them for not fighting harder against the Nazis. Many survivors found it difficult to adapt to new environments as the memories of their prolonged isolation stayed with them long after liberation.
Josef Zyskind
Returning home was not a pleasant experience for Josef. The Poles were still very antisemitic, and Josef felt as if Poland was no longer his home. He did not know what had happened to his family. He left Lodz and never wanted to go back. He was scared because he had heard about the pogroms or mob attacks carried out against Jews after the war.
Ella Rosenmann Raboy
Ella had survived the Nazi occupation by hiding in the forest. After her hometown of Stryj was liberated by the Russians, she returned home. As the group walked into town, many opened windows and hollered, “We thought they killed them all.” Ella could not believe her ears. There was still horrible intolerance in the world.
David Scharff
They liberated the camp, and David was free to return to Zawiercie. He took one train after another until he finally arrived at his home town. He quickly learned that he was the only member of his immediate family to survive. He was also told about a Jewish man who, having survived in hiding, was shot as he made his way back to Zawiercie after the war ended. David decided he no longer wanted to remain in his town or in Poland.
Read David’s full testimony HERE
Ruth Fuks Reif
Ruth went home to Lodz where she learned that none of her family survived the war. She had an emotional breakdown. Ruth found that the Polish people in Lodz were not friendly to the few Jews who returned after the war. They even went so far as to ask why the Jews had returned. There was a great deal of antisemitism. Some of the townsfolk made comments like, ‘I thought the Germans killed all you Jews.’
In this video, survivor Rose Williams talks about a time in the camps when she wasn’t sure she wanted to keep Surviving.
Learn more about the psychological effects of survival from our partners at Jewish Family Services.
Resilience is the ability to overcome or adapt from difficult situations. What are some ways you have adapted to overcome difficulties in your life?
Exhibit Panels Navigation | Introduction // Intimidation // Exclusion // Separation // Loss // Survival // Aftermath
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