1948 Letter from the International Refugee Organization in Linz, Austria

After the war, those who survived the concentration camps had nowhere to go. Their homes were often inhabited by non-Jews who did not want to see their return. Former neighbors were hostile to returning Jews who were emaciated, sick, and destitute. Also, the townspeople may have believed the antisemitic propaganda and blamed the Jews for the war.   

 

While Jews might have wanted to return to their pre-war home to restart their lives, mostly they returned to their towns to find out if any of their family had survived.

 

The Allied forces set up Displaced Persons (DP) camps to house the nearly 850,000 people who had been displaced during the war, many of whom were survivors of the Concentration Camps. 

 

The Red Cross attempted to reconnect families. Lists of survivors were published and circulated among the Displaced Persons (DP) camps.