| Contents |
From Poland and Ukraine : Forced Laborers, 1941-1945 -- From Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Western Ukraine -- From the Concentration and Death Camps -- Alone, Abandoned, Determined, the She'erit Hapletah Organizes -- The Harrison Mission, Report, and Consequences -- The U.S., the UK, the USSR, and UNRRA -- Inside the DP Camps -- "The War Department Is Very Anxious" -- "U.S. Begins Purge in German Camps. Will Weed Out Nazis, -- Fascist Sympathizers and Criminals Among Displaced Persons," -- New York Times, March 10, 1946 -- The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry Issues Its Report -- The Polish Jews Escape into Germany -- Fiorello La Guardia to the Rescue -- The Death of UNRRA -- "Send Them Here," Life Magazine, September 23, 1946 -- Fact-Finding in Europe -- "The Best Migrant Types" -- "So Difficult of Solution" Jewish Displaced Persons -- "Jewish Immigration Is the Central Issue in Palestine Today" -- "A Noxious Mess Which Defies Digestion" -- "A Shameful Victory for [the] School of Bigotry" -- "Get These People Moving" -- "The Utilization of Refugees from the Soviet Union -- in the U.S. National Interest" -- The Displaced Persons Act of 1950 -- McCarran's Internal Security Act Restricts the Entry of Communist Subversives -- "The Nazis Come In" -- The Gates Open Wide -- Aftermaths. |
| Abstract |
"In May of 1945, German forces surrendered to the Allied powers, effectively putting an end to World War II in Europe. But the aftershocks of this global military conflict did not cease with the signing of truces and peace treaties. Millions of lost and homeless POWs, slave laborers, political prisoners, and concentration camp survivors overwhelmed Germany, a country in complete disarray. British and American soldiers gathered the malnourished and desperate foreigners, and attempted to repatriate them to Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and the USSR. But after exhaustive efforts, there remained over a million displaced persons who either refused to go home or, in the case of many, had no home to which to return. They would spend the next three to five years in displaced persons camps, divided by nationalities, temporary homelands in exile, with their own police forces, churches, schools, newspapers, and medical facilities. The international community couldn't agree on the fate of the Last Million, and after a year of fruitless debate and inaction, an International Refugee Organization was created to resettle them in lands suffering from labor shortages. But no nations were willing to accept the 200,000 to 250,000 Jewish men, women, and children who remained trapped in Germany. In 1948, the United States, among the last countries to accept anyone for resettlement, finally passed a Displaced Persons Bill - but as Cold War fears supplanted memories of WWII atrocities, the bill only granted visas to those who were reliably anti-communist, including thousands of former Nazi collaborators, Waffen-SS members, and war criminals, while barring the Jews who were suspected of being Communist sympathizers or agents because they had been recent residents of Soviet-dominated Poland. Only after the passage of the controversial UN resolution for the partition of Palestine and Israel's declaration of independence were the remaining Jewish survivors finally able to leave their displaced persons camps in Germany."-- Provided by publisher. |
| Abstract |
May, 1945. After German forces surrendered to the Allied powers, the aftershocks of this global military conflict did not cease with the signing of truces and peace treaties. Millions of lost and homeless POWs, slave laborers, political prisoners, and concentration camp survivors overwhelmed Germany, a country in complete disarray. British and American soldiers gathered the malnourished and desperate foreigners, and attempted to repatriate them to Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and the USSR. Over a million displaced persons either refused to go home or, in the case of many, had no home to which to return. Nasaw tells the hidden story of postwar displacement, the 1948 US Displaced Persons Bill, and the controversial 1947 UN resolution for the partition of Palestine and Israel's declaration of independence. -- adapted from jacket |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages [563]-615) and index. |
| Issued in other form | Online version: Nasaw, David. Last million. New York : Penguin Press, 2020 9780698406636 |
| Genre/form | History. |
| LCCN | 2020016888 |
| ISBN | 9781594206733 hardcover |
| ISBN | 1594206732 hardcover |
| ISBN | electronic book |
