Exodus 1947 Refugees at Poppendorf Camp, Germany

Authors

Object ID

2014.1.367

Object Name

Print, Photographic

Date

9-26-1947

Files

Description

Front: Two photos of Jewish refugees aboard the Exodus 1947.Text on top of image, 'NY580-9/9 - Luebeck-Kuecknitz, Germany - Shown at Poppendorf camp today (9/9) where they were brought for screening are Jewish refugees who were returned to Germany after unsuccessful attemt to enter Palestine aboard the Exodus 1947. (L) Old men read their bibles. (R) An old woman, on the verge of tears, sits ont he edge of her bed. ACME RADIOPHOTO via TELE PHOTO'. Back: Handwritten notes in red and a blue 'REF DEPT 9-26-47' hand stamp.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

ACME wire photos of Jewish refugees from SS EXODUS 1947, Poppendorf Camp, Lubeck, Germany. Most of the surviving remnant of the Holocaust, the 250,000 post-war Jews confined to DP camps in Europe, wanted to make their way to Palestine. However, any immigration was constrained by the quotas set forth by the British in the White Paper of 1939. The ship Exodus 1947 became a symbol of the Aliyah Bet, or “illegal” immigration, when British authorities prevented it from landing in Palestine. With 4,515 immigrants on board, including 655 children, the Exodus was rammed and boarded near the coast of Palestine. The immigrants put up a fight against the British soldiers: 2 passengers and 1 crewman were killed and 30 were wounded. The British decision to return the passengers to Germany to two DP camps created a worldwide scandal. The fate of the Holocaust survivors in the Exodus affair became an important international symbol of the Jewish struggle for a homeland and the establishment of a Jewish state. Britain had conceded that it could no longer manage either the political instability in Palestine or the refugee crisis and submitted the matter before the United Nations. The Exodus, exemplar of the Aliyah Bet, became known as “the ship that launched a nation.”

Dimensions

6 1/2 x 8 1/4"

Keywords

Aliya Bet, Aliyah, Exodus, refugee

Subcollection

Exodus

Recommended Citation

"Exodus 1947 Refugees at Poppendorf Camp, Germany" (1947). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2014.1.367.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/623