The Aftermath

1
The Aftermath
2
International Needs

• Retribution for perpetrators
• Re-settlement of people uprooted by the war
• Trials in Soviet Union, Germany, Austria, Italy,
  France, and other European countries indicted
  hundreds of war criminals

3
People Were Displaced

• Seven to nine million displaced people (DP) by
  end of war
• 1945, 1.5 to 2 million did not want to return
  home for fear of economic and social
  repercussions, or even annihilation
• Allies set up DP camps until they could get the
  situation remedied

4
Punishment
This girl pays the penalty for having had
personal relations with the Germans. Here, in the
Montelimar area, France, French civilians shave
her head as punishment.
5
Recovered Loot
This salt mine in Merkers, Germany was found to
contain Reichsbank wealth, SS loot, and museum
paintings that had been removed from Berlin.
6
DP Living Conditions Improved

• Influential visitors visited camps
• Jewish DPs recognized as special ethnic group,
  with autonomous needs
• US and Britain became involved with camps
• Vocational, agricultural, financial, legal and
  psychological assistance was offered

7
Nuremberg Trials

• Occurred in war-ravaged town in southern Germany
• 22 high ranking Nazi officials named and brought
  to trial in front of the world
• World learned of extent of Crimes against Peace,
  War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity
• Half of 22 were sentenced to death, 3 acquitted
  and remaining were imprisoned

8
International Military Tribunals Conclusions

• A war of aggression, in any form, is prohibited
  under international law
• An individual is responsible for crimes carried
  under superior orders
• Gestapo, Nazi Party, SS, and SA were criminal
  organizations
• Leaders and organizers of these criminal
  organizations were guilty of crimes carried out
  by others in executing the criminal plan

9
More Trials

• There were more trials held between December 1946
  and April 1949 which tried 177 people
• Individual countries also prosecuted war
  criminals

10
Bricha

• Jewish refugees turned to American DP camps for
  temporary asylum
• Organized illegal mass movement of Jews
  throughout Europe, known as Bricha
• US and Britain were 2 countries in position to
  resolve crisis
• US did not want to raise immigration quota
• Britain did not want to alienate Arabs who did
  not want to see Palestine become Jewish homeland

11
Street Scene at DP Camp

• Street scene in the Foehrenwald displaced
  persons' camp.

12
School

• Group portrait of the children and teachers of
  the Lindenfels displaced persons' center for
  children, 1946. The center was administered by
  members of the Hashomer Hatzair Zionist youth
  movement, who prepared the children for
  immigration to Palestine.

13
Children at Landsberg DP Camp
14
1947

• Problem increasingly clear that 1 million
  displaced people
• Bill released to U.S. Congress to relax
  immigration quotas
• November 29 United Nations General Assembly
  adopted a plan that divided Palestine into Arab
  state and a Jewish state with Jerusalem under
  international control

15
Leaving DP Camp

• A group of Jewish children waving goodbye to
  friends in Buchenwald DP camp. They have been
  recently released and are on their way to France,
  from where some will go to Palestine.

16
On the way to Palestine

• These Jewish children are on their way to
  Palestine after having been released from
  Buchenwald concentration camp. The girl on the
  left is from Poland, the boy in the center is
  from Latvia, and the girl on the right is from
  Hungary.

17
May 14, 1948

• Jewish people proclaimed the independent state of
  Isreal as theirs and Britain withdrew from
  Palestine
• The next day, neighboring Arabs attacked Israel
• U.S. legislature passed Displaced Persons Act of
  1948 which had strong anti-Semitic elements. It
  limited number of displaced Jewish people who
  could emigrate to US

18
Still Continues...

• Simon Wiesenthal is prominent figure who has
  devoted much of his life to hunting down Nazis in
  hiding and prosecuting them
• Evidence is now emerging of complicated financial
  transactions between the Nazis and the European
  countries and businesses that profited by the
  genocide

19
One of the greatest thefts by a government in
history (Stuart Eizenstat)

• Between January, 1939 and June, 1945, Nazi
  Germany transferred 400 million (3.9 billion
  today) worth of looted gold to the Swiss National
  Bank, in exchange for foreign currency and
  materials vital to Germanys war machine
• Gold, jewelry, coins, and melted dental fillings
  were taken from victims, mixed with plundered
  bank gold, and remelted into gold bars that were
  traded to other countries

20
Unresolved Issues

• Real estate and works of art were seized from
  Jewish people. Many Jews sent to camp and
  property was never returned
• Belgium and Netherlands demand to know what
  happened to gold that was taken from their
  currency by the Nazi invasions
• March, 1997, seven existing insurance companies
  failed to honor policies bought prior to war.
  Charged with acting in bad faith and enriching
  themselves at expense of the war.

21
Fiftieth Anniversary (1995)

• New awareness of the tragedy heightened interest
  in discovering the truth about this horrific
  event
• Generation of holocaust survivors is aging and
  passing away
• The world still continues to search for answers