Brichah

The Jews survivors of the Shoah were traumatized. Eastern European Jews saw what happened to their families and decided to remain in the German and Austrian labor or concentration camps that were now maintained by the UNRRA. Even the Polish Jews who lived in Russia during the war decided not to return to Poland but to continue their wandering. They hardly unpacked their suitcases. Fear for their lives made them restless. Anti-Jewish incidents occurred almost daily. Jews were killed in the cities, in hamlets, on the roads and even on the trains. Only big events or pogroms like the one in Krakow or Tarnow were minimally reported. But information went from ear to ear. Fear became the by-word of the Jew in Eastern Europe namely Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and Ukraine.

Some Jews decided to take matters into their hands and head to the borders where they were helped by members of the “Brichah” (Flight in Hebrew) organization to cross the borders. What started as a trickle soon became a flood. About 250,000 Jewish survivors left Eastern Europe and wound up in the D.P. camps (Displaced Persons camps) in Germany, Austria and Italy. Most of them hoped to reach Palestine in spite of British opposition. Eventually, Britain caved in and abandoned Palestine. The State of Israel was created and most of the Jewish refugees sailed to Israel. The Jewish D.P. camps vanished not to be seen again. This is the story of that exodus from Europe to Eretz-Yisrael.