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In Hamburg
Photo: Bitmuna
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In the third and last part of this series Abraham boards the Exodus with some of 'his' children and sets out for the Land of Israel. Unfortunately, they never get there. In the meantime, Sarah continues caring for the children in the Schwebda camp, and wanders with them to other regions
Nadav Mann, Bitmuna
The British followed the Exodus and its illegal immigrant passengers from the moment the ship left Europe until the time it reached the Land of Israel. The British government insisted on preventing the 4,500 Holocaust survivors on board from entering Palestine. Soldiers forcibly took control of the ship, and some of the passengers were killed or wounded.
Next the British transferred the refugees to ships that would take them back to Europe. The entire world raged against the British, but no country was prepared to take the refugees in. After a two-month battle the British forced the refugees to disembark at Hamburg, Germany and to go to displaced persons camps in the British zone of occupation. Among the refugees were Abraham and the children.
The illegal immigrants were dragged off the boat by force in Hamburg. Among the people in this photo are Abraham and Sarah’s parents.
Hamburg. The British transfer the illegal immigrants to the Amstau and Poppendorf displaced persons camps near the city of Lubeck.
Translation from Yiddish: “From Hamburg to the Poppendorf and Amstau displaced persons camps.”
Translation from Yiddish: “Surrounded by the English soldiers guarding them, the refugees are led to the displaced persons camps.”
Avraham accompanied the children to Poppendorf. In the camp were emissaries from Hashomer Hatza’ir who offered Hebrew-Zionist activity to the displaced persons. The refugees from the Exodus came to Israel after the establishment of the state. From the photos Abraham took in Poppendorf they made him an album with photos and drawings. Can you identify the people in the photographs?
While Abraham was on the Exodus, Sarah continued to care for “her” children in the Schwebda camp, wandering with them to the house in Blankenese (in the photo).
This house, which before the war was owned by the Jewish Warburg family, was confiscated by the Nazis. When the war ended the family gave permission for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) to use the house, and from 1946-1948 it served as an orphanage for child Holocaust survivors. The home was run by Betty Adler, who was working for the JDC, as well as Reuma Schwartz, an emissary from Israel who later became Reuma Weizman, wife of Israel’s seventh president Ezer Weizman.
Sarah with her children at the home in Blankenese
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