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U.N. exhibit remembers when the world turned its back on stateless Jewish refugees
(New York Jewish Week) — In 2017, Deborah Veach went back to Germany, looking for the site of the displaced persons camp where she and her parents had been housed after World War II. They were in suspension, between the lives her parents led in Belarus before they were shattered by the Nazis, and the unknown fate awaiting them as refugees without a country.
To her dismay, and despite the fact that Foehrenwald was one of the largest Jewish DP centers in the American-controlled zone of Germany, she found barely a trace. A complex that once included a yeshiva, a police force, a fire brigade, a youth home, a theater, a post office and a hospital was remembered by almost no one except a local woman who ran a museum in a former bath house.
“It was sort of an accident of history that we were there in that particular camp in Germany, of all places, with no ties, no extended family, no place to call home,” said Veach, who was born at Foehrenwald in 1949 and lives in New Jersey. Now, “they renamed it. They changed the names of all the streets. There is nothing recognizable about the fact that it had been a DP camp.”
Veach is part of a now-aging cohort of children born or raised in the DP camps, the last with a first-hand connection to the experience of some 250,000 Jewish survivors who passed through them at the end of the war. To make sure memories of the camps survive them, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and the United Nations Department of Global Communications have staged a short-term exhibit, “After the End of the World: Displaced Persons and Displaced Persons Camps.”
On display at U.N. headquarters in New York City Jan. 10 through Feb. 23, it is intended to illuminate “how the impact of the Holocaust continued to be felt after the Second World War ended and the courage and resilience of those that survived in their efforts to rebuild their lives despite having lost everything,” according to a press release.
Residents of a displaced persons camp in Salzburg, Austria. Undated, post-Second World War. (YIVO Institute for Jewish Research)
Among the artifacts on display are dolls created by Jewish children and copies of some of the 70-odd newspapers published by residents, as well as photographs of weddings, theatrical performances, sporting events and classroom lessons.
The exhibit is “about the displaced persons themselves, about their lives and their hopes and their dreams, their ambitions, their initiatives,” said Debórah Dwork, who directs the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity at the Graduate Center-CUNY, who served as the scholar adviser for the exhibition.
“There’s no point where the residents of these DP camps were just sitting around waiting for other people to do things for them,” she told the New York Jewish Week. “They took initiative and developed a whole range of cultural and educational programs.”
As early as 1943, as the war displaced millions of people, dozens of nations came to Washington and signed onto the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Authority. (Despite its name, it preceded the founding of the U.N.) After the war, the British and U.S. military were in charge of supplying food, protection and medical care in hundreds of camps throughout Germany and Austria, and UNRRA administered the camps on a day-to-day basis.
Early on, Jewish Holocaust survivors — some who suffered in concentration camps, others who had escaped into the Soviet Union — were put in DP camps alongside their former tormentors, until the U.S. agreed to place them in separate compounds. Unable or unwilling to return to the countries where they had lost relatives, property and any semblance of a normal life, they began a waiting game, as few countries, including the United States, were willing to take them in, and Palestine was being blockaded by the British.
Abiding antisemitism was not the only reason they remained stateless. “Jews were [accused of being] subversives, communists, rebels, troublemakers, and the world war quickly gave way to cold war, and with it the notion that Hitler had been defeated and what we have to worry about is the communists,” David Nasaw, author of “The Last Million,” a history of the displaced persons, told the New York Jewish week in 2020.
In 1948 and 1950, Congress grudgingly passed legislation that allowed 50,000 Jewish survivors and their children to come to the United States. The rest were eventually able to go to Israel, after its independence in 1948.
The U.N. exhibit focuses less on this macro history — which includes what became another refugee crisis for the Palestinians displaced by Israel’s War for Independence — than on life in the DP camps.
“The exhibition illustrates how the displaced persons did not shrink from the task of rebuilding both their own lives and Jewish communal life,” said Jonathan Brent, chief executive officer at YIVO, in a statement.
Among those rebuilding their lives were Max Gitter and his parents, Polish Jews who had the perverse good luck of being exiled to Siberia during the war. The family made its way to Samarkand, in Uzbekistan, where Gitter was born in 1943. After the war ended, his parents returned to Poland, but repelled by antisemitism sought refuge in the American zone in Germany. They spent time in the Ainring DP camp, a former Luftwaffe base on the Austrian border, and at a small camp called Lechfeld, about 25 miles west of Munich.
Dolls made by stateless Jewish children residing in a DP camp near Florence, Italy, known as “Kibbutz HaOved.” The dolls are attired in local costumes based on the districts of the Tuscan city of Sienna. (YIVO Institute for Jewish Research)
“I was there until we came to the United States when I was six and a half, so I have some very distinct memories and some hazy memories,” said Gitter, emeritus director and vice chair of the YIVO board. One story he hasn’t forgotten is how his father and a friend were walking through the camp when they came upon a long line of people. “They were from the Soviet Union, so they knew that when there’s a line that it might be of interest.” It turned out to be a line for the lottery that would allow them to get into the United States under the Displaced Persons Act of 1948.
The family came to the United States in 1950, to “pretty shabby lodgings” in the Bronx, before his father bought a candy store and moved to Queens. Max went on to attend Harvard College and Yale Law School, and became a corporate litigator.
Gitter’s brother was born in one of the camps, and the exhibit includes a poster depicting the population increase between 1946 and 1947 at the Jewish DP center Bad Reichenhall. The birthrate in the camps has often been described as evidence of the optimism and defiance of the survivors, but Dwork said the truth is somewhat more complicated.
“There was a very high birth rate among the Jews in DP camps. This is the age group of reproductive age, at 20 to 40,” she said. “However, this image of fecundity hides what was rumored to be a significant abortion rate, too. And women had experienced years of starvation. Menstruation had only recently recommenced. So many women, in fact, miscarried or had trouble conceiving to begin with.”
A chart by artist O. Lec depicts the natural population increase of the Jewish Center Bad Reichenhall, Germany, 1946-1947. There was a very high birth rate among the Jews in DP camps. (YIVO Institute for Jewish Research)
“There is no silver lining here,” she added. “People live life on many levels. On the one hand, DPs look to the future and look with hope; at the same time, they carry tremendous burdens of pain and suffering and trauma and trepidations about the future.”
Veach, a member of the YIVO board, hopes visitors to the exhibit understand that such trauma is hardly a thing of the past.
“I think the real lesson is that history keeps repeating itself,” said Veach, growing emotional. “Basically we have DPs on our border with Mexico, you have DPs from Ukraine. I don’t think people realize the repercussions for these people who are trying to find a place to live. These are good people who are just placed where they are by history.”
Gitter, who like Veach will speak at an event Jan. 24 at the U.N. marking the exhibit, also hopes “After the End of the World” prods the consciences of visitors.
“A lot of the countries, a lot of places, including the United States, would not accept Jews after the war,” he said. “The issue of memory, the issue of statelessness, the issue of finally there was some hope for the Jews in their immigration to Israel and the United States — that part of the story also needs to be told.”
“After the End of the World: Displaced Persons and Displaced Persons Camps” is on view from Jan. 10-Feb. 23, 2023, at the United Nations Headquarters, 405 E 42nd St, New York, Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Entrance to the United Nations Visitor Centre in New York is free, but there are requirements for all visitors. See the United Nations Visitor Centre entry guidelines.
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Most Jewish Israelis Say Israel Is the Safest Place for Jews, New Survey Shows
Pro-Israel demonstrators gathered at Bebelplatz in central Berlin on Nov. 30, 2025, before marching toward the Brandenburg Gate. Participants held Israeli flags and signs condemning rising antisemitism in Germany. Photo: Michael Kuenne/PRESSCOV/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Most Jewish Israelis view Israel as a safer place for Jews than anywhere else in the world, according to a new end-of-year survey, as Jewish diaspora communities continue to face unabated antisemitism, marked by a surge in targeted attacks and rising anti-Israel hostility.
On Tuesday, the Israel Democracy Institute released a December survey conducted by the Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research, showing that 76 percent of Israeli-born Jews consider Israel the safest place for Jews, up almost 10 percent from earlier in 2024.
In contrast, Arab Israelis expressed mixed opinions, with 32 percent saying Israel was safer for Arabs than abroad, 35 percent saying life abroad was safer, and 29 percent saying both were equally safe.
The survey also found that most Jewish respondents believe Israel should work with foreign governments to protect Jewish communities, deploy official emissaries — representatives who coordinate with local authorities — and play an active role in planning security for Jewish events.
Half of respondents also backed financial aid for the Jewish diaspora, representing the most widely supported option in the survey.
Jewish communities around the world, especially in Europe, have faced a troubling surge in antisemitic incidents and anti-Israel sentiment since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Jewish leaders have consistently called on authorities to take swift action against the rising wave of targeted attacks and anti-Jewish hate crimes, ranging from the vandalism of murals and businesses to violent physical assaults, that their communities continue to face.
With global antisemitism continuing to skyrocket, Israel recorded a surge in Jewish immigration from Western nations in 2025, despite an overall decline in Jews abroad moving to their ancient homeland.
According to data from Israel’s Immigration and Absorption Ministry, over 21,900 Jews from more than 100 countries arrived last year amid ongoing hostility abroad, a decline of roughly one-third from 2024, largely driven by a sharp drop in Russian emigration.
However, aliyah – the process of Jews immigrating to Israel – from the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and other Western countries surged sharply in 2025. Continuing a steady upward trend, arrivals from France jumped 45 percent last year to 3,300, up from 2,200 in 2024, while immigration from the UK rose almost 20 percent to 840 immigrants.
Ministry data also showed 420 newcomers from Canada, 220 from South Africa, and 180 from Australia.
These latest figures come as Jewish communities worldwide warn of escalating threats in the wake of a deadly attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that left 15 dead and at least 40 injured.
Last year, a string of deadly terrorist attacks also targeted Jewish communities abroad, including the Yom Kippur assault in Manchester that killed two Jewish men, the firebombing of a march for Israeli hostages in Boulder, Colorado – which killed one and injured 13 – and the murder of two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington, DC.
According to Nefesh B’Nefesh (NBN), a nonprofit that promotes and facilitates aliyah from the US and Canada, overall North American immigration rose about 12 percent in 2025 to 4,150 new arrivals, the highest annual total the organization has seen in four years.
However, even as antisemitic incidents worldwide reach levels not seen in decades following the Oct. 7 atrocities, Jews and Israelis continue to emigrate to Europe, reshaping the heart of today’s Jewish diaspora.
Despite an increasingly hostile social and political climate, Jewish life in much of Europe is not shrinking. In some places, it is holding steady — and in others, growing.
According to recent demographic reports, Israeli immigrant communities in Europe are among the fastest-growing Jewish communities in the world.
Europe is home to nearly 30 percent of all Israelis living outside the country — roughly 190,000 to 200,000 people — with their population steadily increasing across the continent, according to a report from the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR).
JPR data shows that Israel-born Jews now make up nearly 50 percent of the Jewish population in Norway, 41 percent in Finland, and over 20 percent in Bulgaria, Ireland, Spain, and Denmark.
Over the past decade, the number of Israeli-born Jews has grown significantly in Baltic countries (135 percent), in Ireland (95 percent), in Bulgaria (78 percent), in the Czech Republic (74 percent), in Spain (39 percent), in the Netherlands (36 percent), in Germany (34 percent), and in the UK (27 percent).
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Actor Proposes Casting Anti-Israel Star Melissa Barrera to Replace Gal Gadot in Next ‘Wonder Woman’ Film
(L-R) Simu Liu and Melissa Barrera attend ‘The Copenhagen Test’ Season 2025 New York Screening, at the Whitby, New York, NY, December 16, 2025. Photo: Anthony Behar/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Canadian actor Simu Liu said he thinks Mexican actress Melissa Barrera, his costar on “The Copenhagen Test,” would be a great Wonder Woman to replace Israeli actress Gal Gadot in the upcoming DC Universe film by James Gunn about Diana Prince.
“James Gunn or anybody else out there, I think she really pushes herself,” said Liu, who starred in Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” during a recent interview with JoBlo. “There were a couple of moments during stunt training where I was like ‘That’s Wonder Woman-esque.’ I’m just throwing it out there. I don’t know who’s watching or listening to this interview, but I just think she’s a total badass. And she puts in the work.”
Barrera came under fire in November 2023 for sharing posts on social media that accused Israel of genocide and criticized the Jewish state during its war against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, following their deadly rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7 of that year. The actress uploaded posts on Instagram that described Israel as a “colonized” land and suggested that the Jewish state controls the media. She reshared a post that accused Israel of “genocide and ethnic cleansing,” and also shared posts from other accounts that featured messages calling for “every civil institution” to boycott the country. She additionally shared a post that includes claims about manipulating facts related to the Holocaust “to boost the Israeli arms industry,” according to the BBC.
“Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp,” Barrera wrote in one post on her Instagram Story in 2023. “Cornering everyone together, with no where to go, no electricity no water … People have learnt nothing from our histories. And just like our histories, people are still silently watching it all happen. THIS IS GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING [sic].”
Barrera was fired from the film “Scream 7” following her social media posts against Israel. In a statement to Variety magazine, a spokesman for the movie’s production company Spyglass said its stance was “unequivocally clear.”
“We have zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech,” the statement noted.
Hours after her firing was announced, Barrera shared a statement on Instagram claiming that she condemns antisemitism and Islamophobia, and all forms of hate and prejudice.
“Every person on this earth … deserves equal human rights, dignity and, of course, freedom,” she added. “I believe a group of people are NOT their leadership, and that no governing body should be above criticism. I pray day and night for no more deaths, for no more violence, and for peaceful co-existence. I will continue to speak out for those that need it most and continue to advocate for peace and safety, for human rights and freedom. Silence is not an option for me.”
Barrera and Liu were among the the many celebrities who signed an open letter by Artists4Ceasefire in October 2023 that called for an immediate ceasefire to end the Israel-Hamas war, a release of the hostages taken by the terrorist organization after its invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, and an end to “the bombing in Gaza.” The letter makes no mention of the Hamas terrorist organization by name, which slaughtered 1,400 Israelis, took more than 200 civilian hostages from Israel and led to the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
Liu is not the first to nominate Barrera as the next Wonder Woman. Several publications have ranked her among the top contenders for the role, and she addressed the topic in an interview with the online publication A Shot Magazine in April 2025.
“I think whoever gets the role, I just hope that they can embody the essence of the character because I think that those movies, whether they’re Marvel or DC, their reach is so big,” she said. “And because those artists that get those roles will inevitably get a built-in fanbase and have the eyes and the ears of so many people, I think that it would be nice if they did something actually positive with the influence that they have to at least be a good example of the kind of human being that you wanna be in the world, instead of just using it for self-serving purposes.”
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Rights Groups Say At Least 25 Dead in Iran Protests
A man walks near an anti-US and anti-Israeli billboard displayed on a building in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 4, 2026. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
At least 25 people have been killed in Iran during the first nine days of protests that started in the bazaar of Tehran over the plunging value of the currency and soaring inflation, according to rights groups.
The authorities have acknowledged the economic hardships but accused networks linked to foreign powers of stoking the protests. On Tuesday, Iran‘s police chief vowed to “deal with the last of these rioters.”
The shopkeepers’ protest continued on Tuesday in the bazaar, with about 150 people focusing on economic demands, Iran‘s Fars news agency reported.
The protests have spread to some cities in western and southern Iran but do not match the scale of unrest that swept the nation in 2022-23 over the death of Mahsa Amini, who died in the custody of morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code.
However, even though smaller, these protests have quickly expanded from an economic focus to broader frustrations, with some protesters chanting against the country’s clerical rulers.
MORE THAN 1,000 ARRESTED, RIGHTS GROUPS SAY
Iran also remains under international pressure, with US President Donald Trump threatening on Friday to come to the aid of protesters if security forces fired on them. Iran‘s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed not to “yield to the enemy.”
Hengaw, a Kurdish Iranian rights group, put the death toll at 25, including four under 18. It said more than 1,000 had been arrested. HRANA, a network of rights activists, said at least 29 had been killed, including two law enforcement agents, in addition to 1,203 arrests, as of Jan. 5.
Reuters has not been able to independently verify the numbers. Iranian authorities have not given a death toll for protesters, but have said at least two members of the security services have died and more than a dozen have been injured.
Authorities have attempted to maintain a dual approach to the unrest, saying protests over the economy are legitimate and will be met by dialogue, while meeting some demonstrations with tear gas amid violent street confrontations.
The police chief, Ahmadreza Radan, was quoted on Tuesday by state media as saying they had drawn a distinction between protesters and what he called rioters, the latter facing arrests on site or following identification by intelligence units.
“I pledge that we will deal with the last of these rioters. It is still time for those who were deceived by foreign services to identify themselves and draw on the Islamic Republic’s greatness,” Radan said.
WITNESS REPORTS HEAVY POLICE PRESENCE
Fars said Tuesday’s gathering of shopkeepers on Saadi street in Tehran ended without “expanding the police’s presence.”
Mohammad, 63, a jewelry shop owner in the bazaar, told Reuters there was a heavy presence of riot police and plainclothes security forces inside and around the area.
“They were forcing shopkeepers who were on strike to open their shops. I did not see it myself, but I heard there were clashes outside the bazaar and police fired tear gas,” he told Reuters by phone. He declined to give his family name.
Footage shared on Telegram on Tuesday by Vahid Online, which posts videos of the protests to more than 650,000 followers, appeared to show dozens of security forces on motorbikes patrolling the street and the unidentified person who took the clip can be heard saying the security forces had fired tear gas.
Reuters confirmed that the video was filmed on Saadi street but could not verify the exact date when it was taken.
GOVERNMENT PROMISES REFORMS TO PROTECT PURCHASING POWER
President Masoud Pezeshkian has promised reforms to help stabilize the monetary and banking systems and protect purchasing power.
The government has announced a subsidy reform, removing preferential currency exchange rates for importers in favor of direct transfers to Iranians to boost their purchasing power for essential goods. The measure will come into force on Jan. 10.
The central bank chief was also replaced on Dec. 29.
The rial fell further to 1,489,500 on Tuesday, representing a 4% fall since the protests started.