Jews in Europe Today. Two Reports by Jewish Relief Workers in Germany. (A) Interview with Rabbi E. Munk Who Worked in Celle Near Hanover, and  (B) Mrs. Miriam Warburg, Conditions of Jewish Children in a Bavarian Rehabilitation Camp.

Rabbi E, Munk and Miriam Warburg. **Only ONE copy in WorldCat ** The Situations of Holocaust Survivors--Autumn 1945**

Published by London by the Jewish Central Information Center, London, 1945

About this Item

10 leaves, 13"x 8.5". Five leaves printed front and back. Sheets three and four are printed on different stock, and are much more browned, and are missing the top two or three lines of text. So, a problematic copy. BUT: it exists, and even though it may seem that the two brown sheets don't belong, they do.

Provenance: Library of Congress, with their 12mm perforated "LC" stamp on front cover, plus receipt stamp also on front cover, plus a surplus rubber stamp on rear cover.

This rare document I can find only one copy located at the Leo Baeck Library in NYC presents interviews with people who were present doing relief work right after the concentration camps were liberated and right at the beginnings of helping (or simply housing in many cases) the many displaced, newly-liberated people.  (There were some 6 million displaced persons at the beginning of the peace, including a (very) estimated 200,000 Jews.)

This document is an insight into the conditions of the Jews in refugee camps in October/November 1945, and which is also may not be published.  It was still an enormously difficult time for the Jews even though liberated, many thousands were still dying due to their treatment at the hands of the Nazis. For example, when Bergen-Belsen was liberated, there were some 60,000 Jewish survivors, but by the end of the first two weeks more than 9,000 of that number had died. In addition to continuing medical problems there were also high tides of anti-Semitism that ran through many of the DP camps many of which received people by nationalities and not by religion, so there were continuing problems for Polish Jews who were placed in general Polish camps and who suffered from anti-Semitism there.

Rabbi E(lie) Munk of Golders Green Beth Hamedrash, London, contributed his report from a relief trip to Germany and was interviewed by the Jewish Central Information Office. Munk was in Celle, near Hanover, and attended three displaced person camps in the vicinity of the Bergen Belsen concentration camp (with his remarks occupying pages one through three of the document). He reported on the numbers of people in the camps as well as the relations between nationalities and Jews within the camps. For example, he says that the relations were good between Jews and Greeks, but "the relations between Poles and Polish Jews were unsatisfactory". Regarding the question of discrimination in favor of the Jews, Munk stated that "the Jews do not enjoy any privileges, although there is no doubt that they have suffered the most at the hands of the Nazis". He found the general conditions within the camps "to be generally appalling…many of the inmates have lost their will power …all they want to do is go to Palestine…"

On the question of German Jews, Munk reports that "there were no German Jews in the camps of the British zone which I visited but that there were some Jewish communities, although most consisted of mixed marriages and half-Jews . He continues: "on the whole, I am afraid, we have to accept the fact that the overwhelming majority of the German Jews have ceased to exist. The rest are a broken people".

The remarks of (the Englishwoman) Mrs. M(iriam) Warburg occupy page four through twelve, and gathered  under the title "Conditions of Jewish Children in a Bavarian Rehabilitation camp", at  Froehrewald, and dated September, 1945. It is ironic that this camp was located on a housing estate of I.G. Farben, producer of integral chemicals to the Nazi war effort and also of course manufacturers of Zyklon-B. She too refers to the refugees in the rehabilitation camps as "inmates", and states that the Jews are still treated like prisoners, even when being "closely guarded" by American soldiers, which "the Jews resent very much…they are still prisoners, are not allowed to move about freely, and are punished daily for trespassing…."   Condition: FAIR copy (3/10).

Seller Inventory # ABE-1753713136768

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Jews in Europe Today. Two Reports by Jewish Relief Workers in Germany. (A) Interview with Rabbi E. Munk Who Worked in Celle Near Hanover, and (B) Mrs. Miriam Warburg, Conditions of Jewish Children in a Bavarian Rehabilitation Camp.
• Publisher: London by the Jewish Central Information Center, London
• Publication Date: 1945
• Binding: No Binding
• Condition: Fair
• Dimensions: 8W x 12.75H x 1D inches 8 inches width by 12.75 inches height by 1 inches depth
• Weight: 1 pound
• Seller catalogs:
  • Social History
  • WWII