Experiencing Liberation
This story is inspired by the National Holocaust Museum's Dialogue Box Project. It explores the lives of Jewish survivors during and after the liberation of the Nazi camps.
Dialogue Box, Experiencing Liberation 1 (2026) by National Holocaust Museum, Steve Bradley (photographer)National Holocaust Museum
Reclaiming spaces
The box that houses Experiencing Liberation is modelled on a wooden case adapted as a suitcase by child survivor Magda at the Bergen Belsen camp after liberation. It was her first opportunity to claim a personal space, however tiny. She took the case to Britain, where she found a new home.
Bergen Belsen liberation photograph Bergen Belsen liberation photographNational Holocaust Museum
First discoveries
As Allied troops liberated Nazi-occupied Europe, they encountered a sprawling system of c. 40,000 camps, ghettos, and detention facilities, as well as mass graves and other sites of Nazi crimes. This shed light on the full scale of the Holocaust.
Dachau liberation photograph (1945)National Holocaust Museum
Greeting liberators
In the midst of unspeakable suffering, survivors also greeted the end of the Nazi terror with jubilation. They decorated the entrance of the Dachau camp with improvised American flags and garlands. The banner reads: Peace forever. Long live the Allied Nations.
Bergen Belsen liberation photograph (1945) by Sam Lake (liberator)National Holocaust Museum
Precarious joy
Upon liberation, the joy of survival was overwhelming. Despite her suffering, the young survivor's expression is heartwarming. She gave her handkerchief to the soldier who held the camera as a token of gratitude. He treasured it all his life.
The memento
When the soldier returned to the hospital the next day, the young woman had died. Emaciated, traumatised and gravely ill, tens of thousands continued to die in the days and weeks that followed. Joy and despair lay close to each other.
Liberation letter (1945-06-01) by Isaac Parijs (survivor)National Holocaust Museum
Searching for relatives
After liberation, survivors like Isaac Parijs began a desperate search for missing family. Parijis wrote to a friend:
"I don't believe that my wife and the children were saved... The last time I saw them was on our arrival in Poland, and how hard it is to have to say that I have no more hope of ever seeing them again."
Bergen Belsen displaced persons camp photograph front (1945)National Holocaust Museum
Regaining strength
Survivors had to cope with physical ailments and psychological trauma. Recovery was long and uncertain. Liberating forces and relief organisations provided food, medical care and support as survivors began the difficult process of rebuilding their lives.
Bergen Belsen displaced persons camp photograph (1945)National Holocaust Museum
Finding a voice
For several years, in Displaced Persons camps, survivors learned new skills, worked in political groups, and chose representatives to advocate for their rights. Here Yosl Rosensaft, the leader of a Zionist group, signs a document.
Bergen Belsen displaced persons camp photograph (1945)National Holocaust Museum
Reconnecting with Jewish life
Taking part in religious rituals helped some survivors reclaim a sense of Jewish identity, and cope with the immense loss and trauma they had endured. Rabbis like Asaria Zvi Helfgott, a survivor himself, offered spiritual guidance and a sense of belonging to a Jewish community.
Self-expression
At Bergen Belsen Displaced Persons camp, the Kazet group, made up entirely of survivors, turned to theatre as a means of expression, staging plays to articulate their experiences.
Bergen Belsen displaced persons camp photograph (1945)National Holocaust Museum
Feeling safe?
With nowhere to go, many survivors remained in Displaced Persons camps across Germany, Austria and Italy. Security was provided by the Jewish Relief Unit to ensure a fair distribution of aid and to protect survivors in what often remained a hostile environment.
Ammunitions case by Trevor Burke (liberator)National Holocaust Museum
Attempting to return home
This wooden case was adapted by a Polish survivor, who was hoping to return home. However, he ended up giving the box to one of the British liberators in Belsen, who was from Stockport, as a thank you gift. He died shortly afterwards.
Continuing peril
Only 200 Holocaust survivors returned to their home town Kielce in Poland. But they were not welcome. In 1946, an anti-Jewish pogrom killed 42 and injured many more. After a burial the next day, the remaining survivors fled from Poland.
Malka Levine on post-war pogroms
Lingfield House scrapbook (1955) by Zdenka Husserl (survivor)National Holocaust Museum
A new beginning in Britain
Scared to return home, some survivors tried to emigrate to safe countries. Most countries only admitted a limited number. There were special schemes for orphanded child survivors. One group of orphans created this scrapbook about their time at Lingfield House, England, where they found sanctuary.
Jewish refugee ships photograph 3 (1947-1948)National Holocaust Museum
Seeking a Jewish homeland
Searching for safer places to live, many survivors embarked for British Mandate Palestine. But a lot of ships were intercepted, and the refugees sent to British detention camps in Cyprus.
Children's Forest certificate (1954) by Zdenka Husserl (survivor)National Holocaust Museum
Israel
Emigration became easier after Israel gained independence in 1948.
136,000 Jewish displaced persons from across Europe settled here. They joined existing Jewish communities and Jewish refugees from across the Arab world.
Immigrants (1955-07-12) by Michael RougierLIFE Photo Collection
Finding sanctuary in America
From 1945 to 1948, pressure from Jewish organisations and a deepening refugee crisis shifted international attitudes toward Jewish Displaced Persons. After the US Displaced Persons Acts of 1948 and 1950, emigration to the United States finally became possible.
Fremd (1981) by Ardyn Halter (artist)National Holocaust Museum
The long shadow of the Holocaust
Liberation meant living with a profound sense of loss and grief. As survivors rebuilt their lives and started new families, the memory of those they had lost and the painful experiences they had endured never left them.
Martin Stern discusses post-Holocaust trauma
Learn more from the National Holocaust Museum.
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