The Last Million

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In May 1945, the surrender of German forces marked the end of World War II in Europe, but the aftermath of the conflict continued to reverberate. Germany was overwhelmed with millions of lost and homeless individuals, including POWs, slave laborers, political prisoners, and concentration camp survivors. British and American soldiers worked to repatriate these malnourished foreigners to their homelands, including Poland and Ukraine. However, over a million displaced persons remained, many refusing to return home or lacking a place to go. They spent the next three to five years in camps, organized by nationality, with their own police, churches, schools, and medical facilities. The international community struggled to agree on their fate, leading to the creation of an International Refugee Organization to resettle them in labor-short nations. Yet, no countries were willing to accept the 200,000 to 250,000 Jewish individuals still trapped in Germany. In 1948, the U.S. passed a Displaced Persons Bill, but it primarily favored anti-communists, including former Nazi collaborators, while excluding Jews suspected of communist ties. It wasn't until the controversial UN resolution for the partition of Palestine and Israel's declaration of independence that the remaining Jewish survivors could finally leave their camps in Germany.