The defeat of Germany in the spring of 1945 liberated the surviving Jews from the Nazi concentration Camps. In liberated Europe, these Jews became displaced persons. Of course, displaced person (DP) was the term applied to all Europeans, Jews and non-Jews, who had been uprooted by war; but while the Jewish DPs were only a relatively small group, their unique fate during the war, as well as the fact that most of them could not be repatriated to their former homes, made their rehabilitation difficult. At the end of the war, an estimated 8 to 9 million DPs lived in Germany and Austria. But by September 1945, over 7 million DPs had been repatriated. Of those remaining, from 50,000 to 100,000 were Jews.
The division of Germany into zones of occupation caused the first major shift of the DP population. The DPs moved westward and southward from the Soviet zone to the zones of the Western Allies, and especially to the American zone. Thus, the need to find a rapid solution to the DP problem assumed high priority for the American military government. Further, during the first two postwar years, large numbers of Jewish refugees fled westward from Russia, Poland, and other East European countries to augment the Jewish DP population. During the summer of 1947, the period when the largest number of Jewish DPs were counted, 182,000 Jews resided as DPs in Germany; of these, 157,000 were located in the American zone of occupation. Most Jews lived in displaced persons assembly centers, commonly known as DP camps, but 20 to 30 percent of them resided outside these camps while retaining their DP status.1
As resettlement and repatriation in the immediate postwar years did little to alleviate the plight of the Jewish DPs, these had to begin rebuilding their lives even before their departure from Europe. The Jewish DPs in Germany, both those concentrated in the major cities and those in the DP camps, were developing extensive Jewish communal organizations and activities. This applied especially to those who had not relinquished their faith as a result of their wartime experiences. For these, the development of spiritual life served as a symbol of religious continuity. The need for such continuity was felt both by survivors who had previously been observant and by those who had become devout only after liberation because they had been saved; religious extremism was especially prevalent among these recent converts.
The internal communal life of the Jewish DPs is a multifaceted issue deserving intensive examination, and this article with its limited scope cannot do justice to the topic. We have, therefore, chosen to concentrate upon a subject that incorporates the most spiritual and temporal aspects of Jewish DP communal life: the politics behind the spiritual rehabilitation in the DP camps, an issue characterized by the organizational struggles over the provision of ritual objects in postwar Germany. In the following pages we will chart the development of this issue, primarily in the American zone, noting the politics behind the change of ritual priorities and the chronological, sociological, and sectarian factors influencing this issue. Furthermore, we will examine the relationships between the organizations involved in supplying the DPs with ritual objects. Finally, we will address the question of whether the developing demand for ritual objects can be said to parallel the return to normality of the Jewish DPs during the postwar period.
The first steps in the religious rehabilitation of the DPs were almost totally apolitical, as individuals, not bodies and organizations, were being approached for assistance. Jews connected with the military were asked by survivors for ritual objects. This is understandable in view of the fact that the initial attempts to obtain basic ritual necessi- ties were made immediately after liberation. Objects requested were primarily prayer books, Bibles, and phylacteries. Such incidents usu- ally occurred in the liberated concent ration camps during the early interaction between the former prisoners and the first free Jews with whom they made contact-American and British Jewish soldiers, army chaplains, and members of the Jewish Brigade. Rabbi Herschel Schacter, a former U.S. army chaplain who had entered Buchenwald a few hours after its liberation, recalled the following experience:
It was within a day or so of April 11 [the date Buchenwald was liberated] that a tall, skinny boy of sixteen approached me and asked for a pair of tefillin [phylacteries]. I told him that I knew there were several of the "underground" ones around-the tefillin which had been secretly used in camp during the war."I want to use Your tefillin," he insisted. "But mine are in my barracks at the military installation in Weimar," I told him. "Why not use the other tefillin?" "Rabbi," he explained, "I am sure that your tefillin are kosher [ritually fit]; about the others I can't be sure." And after I had given special permission for him to do so and left word in Weimar, this boy, practically a skeleton after liberation, walked five or six miles every morning to my barracks at Weimar in order to put on kosher tefillin.2
This act exemplified the religious zeal that would later characterize many observant Jews after liberation who had been prohibited from maintaining their Orthodox way of life throughout the war years. It also made them into easy prey for extremist elements offering rapid salvation through radicalization. Already then, the Orthodox-ultraOrthodox schism was rearing its head with practical consequences for any cooperative effort to rehabilitate the survivors spiritually.
Judaism is a religion of both faith and practice. Ritual symbolism played a prominent role in the immediate period following the liberation. According to Rabbi Schacter, the following incident, involving matsah-the "bread of affliction"-occurred on Pesah Sheni (27 April 1945)3 at Buchenwald, which had been liberated six days after Passover.
Although it was already a month after Pesah, I was left with dozens of boxes of matsah. So after davening [prayers] on Pesah Sheni, traditionally the day on which those unable to observe Pesah could do so a month later, I announced: "Jews, today is Pesah Sheni, and I have matsot for you." Here they were, Jews who had not seen matsot in years, and they practically trampled the boxes. Not a piece remained. And then Rabbi Yaacov Avigdor, who a month earlier had been liberated in the camp, got up before the group. Even then in his emaciated state, he was an impressive figure, over six feet tall; and with tears in his eyes, he pronounced the blessing over the matsah. But that was not all. Before eating, he recited another blessing, the she-lieheyanu, thanking God for having sustained them until that day.4
Passover, the feast commemorating the liberation of the Jewish slaves from Egypt-and also the time of the liberation of many of the concentration camps- and matsah, the specially prepared unleavened bread symbolizing the flight from Egypt, were to remain problematic and emotionally charged issues throughout the Jewish DP experience. There were psychological and traditional reasons for this development. Apart from the natural correlation between the liberation from Egypt and that from Germany, each group or sect within Judaism had its own way of preparing matsah. With the exception of Pesah Sheni 1945, some of the more devout refused to eat matsah not produced from scratch by members of their own group. Both this stipulation and the need for shemurah matsah (ritually supervised from the harvest and used by Hassidic groups for all eight days of Passover and by the observant at the seder) complicated the relief effort and confused the uninitiated Americans working in the religious department of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). These workers, often in charge of distributing ritual objects and ceremonial necessities, rapidly underwent a crash course in the intricacies of the diversified Jewish observances.
Long before Passover 1946 and its specific problems, which will be discussed below, the observant Jews liberated in Germany began their search for the basic ritual necessities. Those who reached the main cities, such as Frankfurt and Berlin, where Jewish books had been confiscated and stored by the Nazis, found it easier to obtain prayer books and Bibles than their coreligionists remaining in the liberated camps.5 In Buchenwald most prayer books circulated among the liberated Jews were those of the Jewish Welfare Board (JWB), army variety.6 When a group of young liberated Jews living on the first postwar hakhsharah kibbutz (agricultural training settlement) established in Germany requested a Bible from visiting U.S. army chaplains in June 1945, they were told that it was almost impossible to obtain one. Luckily, a Bible was provided by an American Jewish soldier who visited the kibbutz the next day. The incident was immortalized by him in a letter to his wife in America:
When the talking died down a bit, I went out into the jeep and brought in . . . some of the reading matter I brought along ... and finally the Tanakh [Bible]. it was received, let me tell you, with real enthusiasm. They had asked for a Tanakh the night before but the chaplains told them they had no hope of getting one for them: Where would they find it? Oh these modern rabbis! Undertaking a perilous journey across the seas without a Bible in their pocket. Well, perhaps they know it all by heart.7
The inability of these chaplains to provide ritual objects was definitely the exception and not the rule. A pivotal role was played by the Jewish army chaplains based in Germany in both the physical and the spiritual rehabilitation of the DPs. The rabbis were, in most cases, the first Jews and spiritual leaders from the free world with whom the DPs came in contact.8 Other groups that later dealt with the religious welfare of postwar European Jewry included the Rabbinical Council for the U.S. Zone, the religious department of the JDC, the Vaad haHatzalah (a religious rescue organization founded during the war), the Mizrahi (religious Zionists), and Agudath Israel. By late 1945 each organization had representatives functioning in Germany who assisted the DPs as a whole or limited themselves to various target populations.
The multiple representation which ensued was often a cause of friction stemming from lack of coordination, organizational rivalry, and struggle over the mastery of the ritual aspect of the DP issue. During the summer of 1946, the JDC attempted to coordinate these bodies and unify them within a religious council for UNRRA.9 Its first success in this direction was also its last. On I September 1946, a tentative agreement was reached between the Rabbinical Association of the American Zone in Germany and the JDC religious department creating a pool of religious supplies and agreeing in principle to cooperate in their distribution.10 This, however, was the total extent of formal cooperation achieved between any of the parties in question. Historical rivalries and sectarian differences made it impossible for the particularists among the aforementioned bodies to work together for any length of time. The same held true for the relationship between the JDC and the Vaad, which claimed a more spiritual hierarchy of considerations than the former organization; the JDC was viewed primarily as a welfare and assistance organization, often guided in its actions by political motives. In the case of ritual objects, such an accusation made the JDC suspect.
Within several months of the liberation, parallel supply channels of ritual objects and support for observant Jews in Germany had emerged. DPs who were associated with Agudath Israel received supplies from the American Agudath Israel, the Vaad, and the JDC. The ultra-Orthodox Munich-based group centering around the Klausenburg rebbe, Rabbi Yekutiel Yehudah Halberstam, received its supplies from its own sources in America and from the JDC. The Lubavitscher hasidim in Pocking were supplied by the American Lubavitscher and by the JDC. The Mizrahi-affiliated groups and the independent religious received their supplies primarily from the JDC. Throughout the existence of the DP camps, the JDC served as a common denominator supplying the physical and spiritual needs of all Jewish DPs in Germany regardless of affiliation. Out of necessity, therefore, a working relationship was maintained between the JDC and the various sectarian groups that were on the receiving end of its multifaceted distributions. No such cooperation could exist, however, between the JDC and the Vaad, its parallel and rival sectarian American counterpart, nor among the various Orthodox groups in Germany intent upon achieving postwar religious control over various aspects of the lives of observant DPs.11
One facet of the DP experience in which the rivalries emerged in forms ranging from the ugly to the piquant was in the struggle for hegemony over the distribution of supplies, religious and nonreligious, in postwar Germany. There were those such as the Klausenburg rebbe who tried to achieve primacy in this sphere by enlisting the JDC on his side. He therefore met in New York with members of the JDC in early 1947 in order to obtain greater control over the distribution of food and supplies earmarked for the ultra Orthodox.12
During the same year, the Vaad, involved in activities ranging from Jewish education and religious book printing to supplying kosher food and maintaining an old-age home,13 entered the struggle wholeheartedly on the side of the Agudath Israel-based rabbis in Germany. This involvement was supported by the split in the Agudat haRabbanim (Rabbinical Council) in Germany between the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox members. As could be expected, matters came to a head during preparations for Passover. In February 1947 it became known that Rabbi Samuel Abba Snieg, head of the Agudat ha-Rabbanim in Germany, had appealed to the Vaad for special Manischewitz (American-manufactured) matsah for the Orthodox DPs, claiming that there would not be enough local matsah available for all. This request was made despite his earlier assurances to the JDC that their matsahbaking arrangements in Germany were satisfactory. "Smear" tactics were then added to the "scare" tactics regarding the lack of availability of Passover matsah. A rumor was spread that the flour used in the JDC baking project in Germany was ritually unsuitable. Snieg backed down when confronted with evidence of the Vaad appeals and rumors, and admitted that JDC matsah was strictly kosher. Yet he continued to insist that additional matsah would still be necessary.14
The entire brouhaha led to a showdown between the Vaad and the JDC, and was symptomatic of an ongoing power struggle that had already begun between the two organizations during wartime.
An additional formal attempt to coordinate the treatment of Orthodox DPs was the establishment of a Central Orthodox Committee in Paris in 1948. This organization, headed in practice by Samuel L. Sar, Dean of Men at Yeshiva University and long active in rescue and rehabilitation, dealt with the problems of the Orthodox and with the distribution of religious supplies via JDC channels. Its ultimate purpose was to put an end to the interorganizational bickering. Nevertheless, it did little in fact to foster cooperation between the Vaad and other Orthodox bodies.15
An additional group, small yet vocal, were the Lubavitscher hasidim, centered in the Pocking area in Germany. They had supply channels of their own but were still included in the JDC calculations for religious supplies. Their rigorous stipulations made them a difficult factor with which to reckon. Once again, matters came to a head around Passover time. The situation was strikingly summed up by the JDC Frankfurt district director in his February 1949 letter to the JDC supply department in Munich. Apart from its unique style, the letter refers to several major points of the ritual-objects issue, and we therefore quote from it at length.
Mr. Kaufman in Stuttgart has just called to my attention the fact that among the people who have moved into Heidenheim from Pocking, there are a considerable number of very orthodox Jews-Agudath Yisroel and Lebovitche Chassidim. Hearing this, I fainted briefly and when I had been revived, I screamed out that we had better arrange for Matzoh baking or else the Lebovitches will have to fast on Pesach which is not according to the Shulchan Aruch [Code of Jewish Law] or the Baal Shem Tov [the founder of Chassidism]. In fact, according to the Shulchan Aruch and the Baal Shem Tov, they are supposed to be "frelach" [joyous] on Pesach.I remember very vividly my experiences before Pesach 1946 with the baking of Matzoh in Pocking with the same Chassidim and Agudath. Mr. Manischewitz of Cincinnati could be a frommer Yid [devout Jew] but his Matzoh is not for our Chassidim. They will insist on baking their own or the cries will stretch all the way from Heidenheim to Eastern Parkway, New York, to the domocile [sic] of Reb Schneersohn....
Bekizur, [in short] I have suggested ... that you ... see what arrangements have to be worked out for enabling those people to do their own baking. What about flour this year? I am not talking about Matzoh Shemurah which is something else again.
Undoubtedly, the question of payoks [payoffs] for the workers will come up. I think that last year we sensibly took the position that, since joint is providing Matzoh for Kellal Yisroel [the Jews in general], those who want to make their own should do their own work and their reward will be the Mitzvoh [good deed] they earn. I think we ought to make this our policy for this year also.
In case you think that you were going to have an easy pre-Pesach period, forgive me for reminding you.16
In these five paragraphs, the writer managed to summarize several of the points of contention surrounding the ritual-objects issue in general and the Passover-related problems in particular: specific ritual requirements of the various Orthodox groups-requirements that did not always correspond to JDC priorities; the question of importing ritual objects or manufacturing them in Germany; payment for specific items having particular and not general use; the organizational question of which body would supply the articles or the raw materials for their manufacture.17 Another problem in the first years after the liberation was how to obtain special permission from the military authorities to import ritual items and to alter accepted methods of rationed food distribution in the case of kosher food.18
It is striking to note the difference in the attitude of the Lubavitscher and KJausenburger hasidim and the Klausenburger rebbe toward the JDC, and that of the Vaad-affiliated groups. The Lubavitscher hasidim, similar to the Klausenburg group, saw cooperation with the JDC as the best vehicle of obtaining religious primacy in Germany. The relationship that developed between the Lubavitscher and Klausenburger hasidim and the JDC was naturally one of necessity and not ideological agreement. Nevertheless, it stood in stark contrast to the acrimonious "nonrelationship" between the JDC and the Vaad. This is most evident in a letter of Rabbi Joseph 1. Schneersohn (the Lubavitscher rebbe) to the JDC Paris office, thanking them for their assistance in enabling Orthodox DPs in Italy to obtain shmurah matzo for Passover:
I was gratified to hear of the Joint's prompt and favorable action in this matter, which once again goes to show the fine spirit of humanitarianism and sympathetic understanding for the religious needs of our needy brethren which permeates the work of the Joint.19
The problem of kosher Passover products was only a small part of the larger issue of obtaining kosher food in postwar Germany, yet another aspect of spiritual life that rival organizations wished to organize under their domination. The solutions available were often dependent upon the geographical location of the Jews in question.
The first steps toward resolving this problem were often taken without any official organizational assistance whatsoever. As in most matters of this kind, Jews in major centers found it easier to obtain the necessary items than their brethren in rural areas. A survivor living on Kibbutz Buchenwald, the first postwar hakhsharah (agricultural training) kibbutz located at Gerringshof near Fulda, recalled some of the difficulties in getting kosher food in July 1945:
No one even thought of kosher meat. We would organize a dairy shabbot meal. Loaves of bread to be used as hallah were brought in from Fulda. In a world today which speaks of lialav Israel [milk under Jewish supervision] and pat A= [gentile bread], it is difficult to understand our simple efforts to obtain bread made without lard. In my later travels throughout Germany, I learned that this was the case in most places. Only in Munich or in other places with remnants of a Jewish community, could Jews afford the luxury of being scrupulously observant. For the rest of us, there was no question of obtaining kosher; it was enough to try not to eat treif [ritually unfit].20
By September 1945 there was still no organized effort to have kosher meat in the DP camps in Germany. Ritual slaughterers in the camps of Landsberg and Feldafing would occasionally slaughter live cattle purchased from the Germans. The procedure would be carried out either in barracks or in the kitchen amid appalling sanitary conditions. Zeilsheim, Frankfurt, Munich, and other communities had no kosher meat whatsoever. The situation began to change with the appointment of Rabbi Alexander Rosenberg as director of the JDC religious activities for the American zone. Both his own reports and those of his subordinates point to Rosenberg's unique combination of energy, humor, willingness to cooperate with others for the benefit of the DPs, and devotion to the cause. While personally above organizational politics, Rosenberg knew how to organize matters to the advantage of the DPs.
Throughout the autumn, slaughtering in Zeilsheim (population 7,000) was carried out first by Rosenberg himself and later by ritual slaughterers whom he had brought to the camp. The primitive sanitary arrangements continued until November, when Rosenberg was informed by American military authorities that the killing of live cattle would have to be stopped in order to protect the stock of German cattle. Although Rosenberg submitted a request to the JDC for kosher canned meat, the now-forbidden ritual slaughtering continued in practice under black market conditions. The official requests to continue the slaughtering met with little success and were usually unconditionally rejected, partly because of the admission by a Jewish chaplain that it was not fair to discriminate in favor of a small group of DPs when all American soldiers were being forced to eat canned meat. Arguments that ritual slaughtering was continuing in the English zone were of no avail.
In late December 1945, the issue came to a head at a meeting between Rosenberg, General Bedell Smith, and Rabbi David Horowitz of Landsberg. After a combination of cajoling, coercing, threatening, and finally the pronouncement of the priestly blessing over the general by Rabbi Horowitz, temporary permission was granted to slaughter live cattle for the kosher DP population of the American zone in Germany. A permanent arrangement was finally reached only with the assistance of Judge Simon Rifkin, special advisor on Jewish affairs to the theater commanders of the U.S. forces in Europe. Within two months, kosher slaughterhouses were opened in Munich, Regensburg, Nuremberg, Furth, Stuttgart, Lampertshein, and Eschwege.21 In the eastern district alone, 12 ritual slaughterers were employed along with over 30 additional functionaries involved in the processing of the meat. A total of 12,000 Jews could therefore avail themselves of fresh kosher meat.22
Additional difficulties concerning kosher food for the DPs pertained to wine and fat. The solution of the wine issue in particular was achieved only through a feat of cooperation among rabbinical, military, and German state authorities. During the winter of 1946, 10 tons of raisins were obtained from the army by the JDC supply department. These were the raw materials from which kosher wine would be locally produced to augment that being imported from Palestine and the United States. A decision was then made to produce the wine centrally in Germany and distribute it among the DPs rather than to distribute the raisins and encourage "home production. " The Rabbinical Council of Germany was entrusted with supervising the two concerns in charge of wine production. Securing wine bottles was a different matter entirely, as neither the JDC nor the military authorities had at their disposal the necessary materials. In desperation Rosenberg turned to the State Commissioner for Persecutees in Bavaria, Dr. Philip Auerbach, who assisted the JDC in obtaining the glass vessels. Through the cooperation of the various authorities, 42,000 liters of locally produced kosher wine were made available by 1 April 1946 in time for the Passover holidays.23
Kosher fat was another issue requiring cooperation between various authorities. This was one of the few items that by its nature could not be easily imported from overseas. In mid-1946 Rosenberg succeeded in securing a margarine factory in Germany, which was to be adapted for kosher production. For ten days the pots and kettles were scrubbed and boiled to meet religious requirements, with the kosher production eventually yielding 34 tons of kosher margarine. The product was turned over to the military government, which then distributed it to all Jewish camps and communities under UNRRA control.24 A similar operation was put into effect in 1947, and despite technical hitches concerning mislaid and belatedly requisitioned shipments of margarine, the project was an undisputed success.25
Because of the growing availability of kosher products in postwar Germany, kosher kitchens were eventually established in all DP camps and major centers. This achievement was a triumph for the JDC workers of the religious department, who had made great efforts toward this goal from the summer of 1945 on. The Vaad was also involved in the maintenance of kosher kitchens in over a dozen areas. It is interesting to note little friction between the various political bodies in this matter. Interestingly enough, it often appears that rivalries were temporarily set aside in order to provide DPs with basic kosher foodstuffs.
We turn now to a less problematic group of ritual items: clothing and prayer wear such as yarmulkas (skullcaps), arba kanfot (fourcornered fringed garments with tsitsit), tallitot (prayer shawls), kittels (white prayer garments used primarily on the High Holidays), and tefillin (phylacteries). Once again the question of product hegemony arose, but early in the postwar period, the JDC emerged as victor in this particular round.
Except for tefillin, which required leather, parchment, and scribes, the manufacture of the aforementioned items in postwar Germany was quite feasible. Yet in the months following the liberation, logistical considerations made it easier to import the necessary items rather than set up factories in the Jewish-populated areas. The item most urgently required for daily use was also the most problematic to manufacture, namely, tefillin. Thereforel a batch of 250 pairs of JDCsupplied tefillin was brought to Germany in late 1945 by Rabbi Alex Rosenberg. A subsequent shipment of 250 pairs reached Germany from Palestine in early 1946.26
The need for additional tefillin became even more acute during the late spring and summer of 1946 with the infiltration of teenage boys and young men from Eastern Europe to Germany. This mass movement, which peaked after the Kielce pogrom of mid-1946, was the result in part of the repatriation agreements and of the outbreaks of antisernitism in Poland. This second stage in postwar migration and population transfer had its demographic and sociological effects upon those Jews already in Germany. Apart from swelling the numbers of Jews in the DP centers, the movement began to change the character of the centers with respect to both the religious and the secular spheres. The changes became evident both in the heightened demand for religious supplies and in the nature of the supplies needed.27
Shipments of tefillin to Germany, primarily from Palestine, continued throughout 1946 and 1947. Upon close inspection, however, it was found that about half of those sent were ritually unfit for use. Apart from the spiritual aspect of this problem, in financial terms it meant a loss of approximately 10,000 dollars for the JDC.28 The discovery of the ritually unfit tefillin reinforced an earlier decision to attempt their manufacture in Germany. The problems with importing tefillin from abroad had been realized as early as 1946, at which time Rosenberg began to look into the possibility of local manufacture. The matter was complicated by both ritual and bureaucratic roadblocks. Parchment and leather straps could be obtained only with the approval and cooperation of the military government and the German authorities. 29 Scribes had to be provided with ritual ink and other supplies. In certain locations where no scribes were available, they would have to be trained.30
Despite all the difficulties, the advantages of the project were soon seen as outweighing the disadvantages. First, local manufacture would augment the supply of imported religious items, which could hardly suffice for the needs of the DPs in even one camp. Second, it would serve as an additional step in achieving the productive employment of the DPs, an acknowledged aim of the JDC.31 Although vocational training was offered in most of the DP camps, both the JDC and UNRRA officials were becoming concerned with a type of DP mentality that was emerging with the passage of time: DPs who eschewed all work and claimed that after their experiences the world owed them lifetime support. JDC efforts toward increasing the productiveness of the DP were an attempt to combat this trend.32 Despite efforts to speed up the process, over a year would pass until the decision to manufacture tefillin in Germany was implemented and the first pairs of locally produced tefillin were completed at Weilheim and Plattling in mid-1947.33 In contrast to the problems and expenses surrounding the import and manufacture of tefillin, the manufacturing of skullcaps, tsitsit, and prayer shawls was relatively uncomplicated and inexpensive. Attempts at importing these items, particularly prayer shawls, proved to be more problematic than their local manufacture. Those sent from Palestine were primarily silk, not wool. and were therefore not favored by the camp population.34 By the High Holidays of 1946, prayer shawls were being manufactured in four factories throughout the American zone of Germany, for the first time in that country since 1933.35 The process became routinized and continued into 1947 and 1948, with no problems other than the need for a continuous supply of cotton and wool to the factories.36
Head coverings for study and prayer were also in demand. An examination of the changing demand for items of this nature sheds light upon the normalization of the DPs as an entity. In the immediate postwar period, caps were the most common headgear for observant Jewish males regardless of sect and affiliation. During 1946, 10,000 skullcaps were manufactured in Germany from JDC-supplied material.37 In 1947 skullcaps were made out of old army parachutes.38 The most interesting aspect of the headcovering issue was a request made in January 1947 for 70 black felt hats for rabbis and rabbinical students in Germany, both Hasidic and non-Hasidic. The order stated that "it has been the policy to provide all items of ritual necessity for the DPs"; and the writer, a deputy director of the DP camp at Ulm, wanted a shipment of "special headcoverings of the mosaic (Jewish) form."39 This order was, indeed, a sign of the times. It is hard to imagine such a request eighteen months earlier.
The manufacture of other prayer-related items such as kittels received seasonal impetus in preparation for their use during the High Holidays. In Germany in September 1945, such unessential items were an undreamed-of luxury. By 1946 a number of kittels had been acquired, and by 1947 over 230 meters of JDC-supplied white material, enough for over 100 kittels, had been provided to a firm in Mainburg for formal manufacture.40
Yet another chapter concerning ritual items can be entitled "Rituals of Marriage." The postwar reuniting of families made it necessary to build or reactivate preexisting mikvaott(baths for ritual purification) in order to enable couples to maintain the laws of Jewish family purity.41 The establishment of a mikvah was also a necessary prerequisite for the performance of wedding ceremonies, as brides were required to immerse themselves prior to their wedding. The construction of mikvaot necessitated much military assistance throughout Germany, and occasionally led to embarrassing moments for the rabbis who had to explain the purpose of these baths to their non-Jewish military superiors. Alex Rosenberg wrote in a JDC memo how he had to explain the meaning of a mikvah to General Rolf, who had come "across the one being built at Landsberg." Rosenberg continued:
It was quite amusing when I invited him to supper Friday night. He asked in all seriousness whether it was necessary for him to dip under in the mikvah in order to participate in the Friday night supper. I had quite an interesting time also with the UNRRA officials at Landsberg and at Zeilsheim explaining to them the meaning of the mikvah.42
By the middle of 1946, mikvaot had been constructed at most major DP camps and cities with Jewish communities. The construction pointed to the existence of a growing Orthodox population of DPs. In this case, too, all groups claimed a share of the credit: UNRRA, the JDC, and the Vaad, each of which was responsible for the construction and renovation of mikvaot in various communities and camps throughout Germany.
Even as the ritual baths were being built and renovated, other marriage- related preparations were underway. In early 1946 the religious department of the JDC asked the military government to release enough gold to manufacture 10,000 wedding rings for DP brides.43
More interesting was the JDC foray into the wig making business, an area in which they encountered no competition from other bodies engaged in spiritual rehabilitation. Many observant Jewish women traditionally covered their hair after marriage, often with wigs. During the first months after the liberation, kerchiefs and hats were used for this purpose. By 1946, however, the increase in the numbers of Orthodox DPs and the reawakening of aesthetic sensibilities demanded a different solutiorr. Outside influences, economic as well as spiritual, played their role in the particular issue. The increased demand for wigs was also affected by the offer of the Klausenburger rebbe to provide 100 dollars as a wedding present-a princely sum in postwar Germany-to each DP bride who agreed to run an Orthodox household and to cover her hair. In July 1946, having completed extensive research on the subject, Rabbi Rosenberg entered into yet another aspect of ritual manufacturing, that of wigs.44 The endeavor included the combined efforts of Italian import, German manufacture, and Orthodox DP know-how. All wigs produced were either sold on a nonprofit basis to the DPs or distributed as JDC gifts to religious new brides.45
Our last group of ritual objects include those related to seasons or specific holidays and other miscellaneous items. Certain objects such as candles were in demand irrespective of season.46 Other items needed for year-round use were electric razors and depilatories for Orthodox men who observed the prohibition of using a straight razor on their beards. On a less joyous note was the need for white material for takhrikhim (shrouds) for the dead. All these were supplied through JDC auspices.47
Another aspect of ritual objects that had political overtones was the publication of religious books for DP use. The two groups active in this sphere were the JDC and the Vaad ha-Hatzalah. Each attempted to provide for the general DP population, but in fact each had its own constituency. Generally the JDC attempted to provide specific Sabbath or seasonal holiday material-for example, prayer books for Sabbath and holiday, or guides for ritual slaughtering. The Vaad catered to the ultra-Orthodox, attempting to provide basic religious books for study use, such as the Pentateuch, Psalms, and Code of Jewish Law, which were printed in 1947. These difference were understandable in view of the Vaad's emphasis on long-term DP religious education. By 1947 the Vaad was maintaining 15 rabbinical seminaries (yeshivas) that serviced 1,253 young men, and providing 56 Talmud Torahs for children ages 5 to 14, in which 3,692 pupils studied.48
This is not to say that specific ritual needs were ignored by the Vaad. However, the overall picture is one of division of DP need, with the JDC overseeing the supply of books pertaining to daily life and religious activity, and the Vaad providing volumes that would strengthen long-term Jewish education. It corresponds to the different spiritual goals of the two organizations. The JDC's objective was a short-term one: to help the DPs spiritually survive the first years after liberation. The Vaad ha-Hatzalah was also concerned with laying the groundwork for a long-term reconstruction of a Jewish educational framework.
One effort to provide the DPs with religious books deserves special mention, namely, the publication of the survivors' Talmud through a cooperative effort involving the JDC, the Rabbinical Council of Germany, and the U.S. Army, particularly Rabbi Philip S. Bernstein, special Jewish advisor to the Army. The development of this project has already been described in detail elsewhere, and we therefore mention it only in passing.49 The publication of the Talmud was in fact a culmination of the various small-scale printings of religious books that continued under the auspices of two separate groups, the Vaad ha-Hatzalah and the JDC, throughout the existence of the DP camps.
The true long-term test of JDC primacy in the battle for hegemony over the distribution of religious supplies was its ability to cope with the ever- changing demands of the DP population corresponding to the ceaseless demands of the Jewish calendar. Seasonal requests were of a varied nature depending on the holiday. The High Holidays (September and October) necessitated the requisitioning of paper, shofars, and honey.50 For Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles in October) 1946, the JDC imported 2,000 sets of ethrogs and lulavs (citrons and palm branches) from Palestine. In addition, the military government and UNRRA were approached to release four carloads of lumber for the building of sukkot (booths).51 Long before the end of Sukkot, the religious department of the JDC was making preparation for the December holiday of Hanukkah by ensuring a supply of candles, menorahs, and other holiday objects.52
The next major holidays were Purim (March) and Passover (April), for which megillot (scrolls of Esther) and haggadot (books for the seder) were printed. Groggers (noisemakers), shalah manot (food packages customary on Purim), and seder plates were prepared. The need for making the items unique was not lost upon their manufacturers and distributors. The April 1948 report of JDC religious activities for Bavaria contained the following comments regarding the seder plates and haggadot:
Seder plates were manufactured by the Employment Board of our organization. They were real imitation[s] of the old seder plates and with all their pictures and descriptions remind us of our ancient history and give hope for future effort. Hagadoth were also printed through our department. On the top of the books are the national Jewish colors blue and white and with the geographic picture of Palestine, of our homeland. Inside on the first page ... address [sic] in the name of American Jews the Shearith Hapletah [surviving remnant] with warm words to cheer up the desperate thoughts throughout the camps and communities.53
Throughout the existence of the DP camps, the tireless efforts of the JDC religious department were indeed directed against banishing those "desperate thoughts" alluded to by Rabbi Chone Person, also a Holocaust survivor. All Jewish DPs in Germany, irrespective of the degree of their observance, benefited from the ritual items that were made available. However, these items played a special role in the religious rehabilitation of the Orthodox, who by one estimate comprised over 40 percent of the DP camp population.54 They were just as subject to the melancholy prevalent among many of the survivors as their less-observant coreligionists. It was hoped that some small comfort could at least be given by providing them with the objects necessary to reestablish their spiritual life.
Two trends are evident in the politics of religious rehabilitation in the DP camps. The first involved the actual efforts to provide the DPs with ritual items; the second, the struggles and rivalries among the bodies doing the providing. Both trends were closely connected, as it was the gradual development of the need for various items that allowed the rivalries to grow and flourish.
There were two methods of obtaining ritual items in the immediate postliberation period: import or improvise. Army chaplains, Jewish military personnel, and representatives of the Yishuv in Germany could only partially alleviate any lack of articles by giving up! or sharing their own. An additional source of ritual items, the few that had been preserved in Germany throughout the war for one reason or another, was not readily available to those Jews in rural areas. It was, therefore, necessary to import large quantities of ritual items from abroad, primarily from Palestine and the U. S.55 Naturally, there was little room for friction at this stage, as the rival bodies were only beginning to get their toeholds into the newly established DP camps. In the following years, a gradual transition away from importing ritual items and toward their local manufacture in Germany took place. The transition corresponded to the formalization of the DP framework in Germany, known as the "digging-in process," which stemmed from the realization that the temporary resettlement of thousands of displaced Jews in Germany was not as temporary as had originally been thought.56
The infiltration of thousands of Eastern European DPs to Germany, many of whom were observant and even ultra-Orthodox, was an additional factor influencing the quantity of ritual items requested. Because of the increased demand, plans for the large-scale manufacture and import of many items of religious nature were drawn up during the summer of 1946. Furthermore, the devoutness of a great number of these new DPs affected not only the quantity but also the nature of the ritual items wanted. Monthly reports of the JDC religious department in Germany from mid-1946 on concerning the items requested and the topics under discussion show a slow but constant shift from the commonplace to the esoteric. The migration of DPs also provided the Vaad ha-Hatzalah with an additional core of ultra orthodox clientele, strengthening the communities for which the Vaad would provide educational establishments and kosher kitchens.
Yet another facet of local manufacture dealt with the training and employment of the DPs. Even in cases where the local manufacture of certain ritual items was more problematic than their import, the JDC encouraged their production in Germany. The rationale was to offer additional DPs an occupation, which would serve as an antidote to depression and despair. Such vocational considerations were more a concern of the JDC than of the Vaad and other groups supplying religious articles to the Jews in Germany. Unlike the JDC, these groups felt that supplying their people with the items necessary for their spiritual rehabilitation was the best means of alleviating psychological depression.
The key to manufacturing any items in postwar Germany was cooperation. The simple production of a small item often necessitated cooperation between the military authorities (in certain cases, of more than one zone), UNRRA, the JDC religious department, the Rabbinical Council of Germany, local authorities, Germany factory owners, and skilled enterprising Jewish DPs. The successful manufacture of over a dozen items in Germany serves as a remarkable testimony to the cooperation that existed among the various groups. This contrasts sharply to the lack of cooperation among the Orthodox groups in Germany and abroad, who believed in sectarianism until the bitter end. Only through cooperation could Germany eventually become a supply center of locally manufactured ritual items for other European Jewish communities.
An undated report of the Central Orthodox Committee in Paris succinctly states the two major factors encouraging interreligious strife among both the DPs and the religious bodies dealing with them: American Orthodox indecisiveness in the immediate postwar period and the preexisting divisions among the religious elements in European Jewry.
If the religious elements in America had the vision, farsightedness, and the grasp of proper perspective, they would have sent men into the camps immediately after liberation, who could guide, steer, and cement these individuals into a cohesive religious community which could have played its role in the organization of the committees in the camps and the central committees which are at present directing the destinies of our displaced persons. Unfortunately, our Orthodox brethren, so overwhelmed by the frightful experiences of the people, concentrated their efforts and consumed their energies in the attempt to provide physical relief, but they failed to spiritually rehabilitate the people, with the result that the leadership has gone over to other groups.57
An equal amount of blame for the continuation of a power struggle between the American-based bodies engaged in supplying ritual items to the DPs stemmed from internal Orthodox DP divisions. The author of the report continues:
Following all laws of self preservation, the religious groups should have had the wisdom and discretion to overcome their political aspirations though retaining their identities, and work harmoniously towards the strengthening of Jewish life.... [Instead] each group utilized its adherents to advance its party interests, forgetting the ultimate goal, and, in the final analysis, defeating its own objectives, for only a united front of religious elements could have revitalized the Sherith Haplata religiously.58
The entire issue was, in fact, an extremely sad reminder of how little either Orthodox politics or human nature had changed as a result of the Holocaust. Despite the honorable intentions of all groups involved in the spiritual rehabilitation of the DPs, the power struggles were real ones; and it made little difference if one's banner was emblazoned with the slogan of humanitarianism, general Jewish welfare, ultra-Orthodoxy, or any form of extremist sectarianism. The only redeeming feature of the struggle was that in the long run the DPs benefited from the competition as greater supplies and services in the religious sphere were usually available as a result. And with the increased supply often came an increased demand.
The development of the demand for ritual items is an effective barometer for measuring the return to normalcy of the Jewish DPs. Although certain basic items, such as tefillin and prayer books, remained in demand from the day of liberation on, the request for other objects marks stages not only in the spiritual but also in the physical rehabilitation of the DPs. Two striking examples were the manufacture of wigs for observant brides in the summer of 1946 and the request for black felt hats for yeshiva students six months later, in January 1947. Such requests would have been inappropriate a year earlier- those immediate postwar weddings, performed in the summer of 1945, were held on a very low-key scale, and almost no yeshiva students existed in Germany in early 1946. The demand for these items is a sign both of growing religious extremism and of a rise in the DP standard of living.
"There is a demand for religious articles," wrote JDC representative Sadie Sender in October 1945 on a visit to the DP camp of Zeilsheim59 The means by which this demand was met is but one facet of a basically uncharted topic, the spiritual rehabilitation of the Jewish DPs and the politics behind this honorable goal. Other aspects deserving separate mention and treatment are the rescue of Torahs, the reestablishment of Jewish education, the reconstruction of synagogues, the registration of graves, and the restoration of Jewish cemeteries. These topics will undoubted be covered elsewhere. Yet even in this circumscribed study, it becomes evident that what was ostensibly considered spiritual rehabilitation had its political, economic, sociological, and even physical overtones. This held true for most activities concerning the She'erit ha-Peletah, the surviving remnant of European Jewry. It is our hope that this article will serve as one small step toward a better understanding of the internal life of that group.
NOTES
1. All figures have been taken from Leonard Dinnerstein, America and tile Survivors of the Holocaust (New York, 1982), pp. 273-90, which concen- trates primarily on the American zone. Additional information regard- ing the British zone can be found in Ursula Bfittner, Not nach der Befreiung: Die Situation der deutschen Juden in der britischen Besatzungszone 1945 bis 1948 (Hamburg, 1986), pp. 7-31. As yet, no in-depth study has been made of either the French or the Russian zone.
2. Author's interview with Rabbi Herschel Schacter, Givatayim, 24 July 1987.
3. This "Second Passover" is held a month after Passover. Traditionally in ancient times, those unable to partake of the paschal lamb at Passover would do so at Pesah Sheni. It is customary to eat matsah on that day.
4. Interview with Rabbi Schacter.
5. It was even possible to find one's own confiscated books in such major warehouses. Author's interview with Haskel Tydor, Givatayim, 24 July 1987.
6. Interview with Rabbi Schacter.
7. Archives of Kibbutz Netser Sereni, K4-4a: letter Akiva to Etty Skiedel, 21 June 1945.
8. Also see Alex Grobman, "American Jewish Chaplains and the Shearith Hapletah: April-June 1945," SWC Annual 1 (1984): 89-111.
9. New York, YIVO Archives, DP collection [hereafter cited as YIVO DPj, F 273 (old numeration): report of Rabbi A. Rosenberg to Leo W. Schwarz, July-Aug. 1946.
10. YIVO DP F 296: agreement between the Rabbinical Association and JDC religious department, I Oct. 1946.
11. On Vaad-JDC tension and rivalry, see Efraim Zuroff, "Rescue Priority and Fund Raising as Issues During the Holocaust: A Case Study of the Relationship Between the Vaad ha-Hatzala and the joint, 1933-1941," American Jewish History 68 (March 1979): 305-26.
12. YIVO DP F 293: letter Maurice Eigen, JDC NY, to JDC Paris, 13 Jan. 1947.
13. YIVO DP F 272: report, Rabbi Nathan Baruch, Director American Vaad ha-Hatzalah, to W. S. Boe, Chief Voluntary Agencies Liaison Officer, Passing-Munich, 10 June 1947.
14. YIVO DP F 271: report Rabbi Solomon Shapiro to JDC, March 1947.
15. See, for example, YIVO DP F 297: letter Samuel L. Sar to Rabbi Solomon Shapiro, 29 Sept. 1948.
16. YIVO DP F 273: letter Abraham Cohen to Dr. A. Kohane, 2 Feb. 1949. In citations from contemporaneous correspondence, we have retained the transliterations of the correspondents.
17. YIVO DP F 296: memo Rabbi A. Rosenberg to JDC NY and JDC Paris, 27 Feb. 1946.
18. YIVO DP F 277: memo-Passover problems, by Rabbi A. Rosenberg, 7 Mar. 1946.
19. Jerusalem, JDC Israel Archives, Box 9B, File C-54.073: letter Rabbi Jo- seph 1. Schneersohn to JDC Paris, 19 Mar. 1948.
20. Author's interview with Haskel Tydor, Ramat Gan, 4 June 1983.
21. YIVO DP F 277: memo-ritual slaughtering, by Rabbi A. Rosenberg, 7 Mar. 1946.
22. The issue of kosher meat had its literary side as well as its practical one. The training of ritual slaughterers among the DPs in Germany necessi- tated an additional JDC effort: the printing of the guide to ritual slaughtering entitled Simlah Hadasha (New Garment) and its distribution among ritual slaughterers in Germany, both those already active and trainees. After training, halafim (ritual knives) were manufactured in Germany and distributed to those active in the profession. Knives were also sent to Paris for further distribution in Jewish communities throughout Europe. YIVO DP F 278: report of Rabbi Chone Person to Rabbi Solomon Shapiro, Mar. 1948.
23. YIVO DP F 271: report of Rabbi A. Rosenberg for March 1947, 31 May. 1947.
24. YIVO DP F 297: report of Rabbi Israel E. Botwinick, 30 Sept. 1946.
25. YIVO DP F 271: report of Rabbi A. Rosenberg for March 1947, 31 Mar. 1947.
26. YIVO DP F 277: memo-The Problem of Supplies, by Rabbi A. Rosen- berg, 7 Mar. 1946.
27. YIVO DP F 270: letter Rosenberg to Phillips, 21 Apr. 1947.
28. Jerusalem, JDC Archives, Box 7a, File C-47.813: letter Shapiro to Tar- shansky, 13 July 1948.
29. YIVO DP F 273: memo Rosenberg to Schwarz, July-Aug. 1946.
30. No statistics are available regarding the number of scribes active in postwar Germany.
31. YIVO DP F 271: JDC report for December 1946, 5 Jan. 1947.
32. Also see Dinnerstein, America and Survivors, pp. 70-71.
33. YIVO DP F 271: memo Zweig to Shapiro for Aug. 47.
35. YIVO DP F 297: Botwinick to Schwarz, 30 Sept. 1946.
36. YIVO DP F 270: Rosenberg to Auerbach, 6 May 1947.
37. YIVO DP F 273: Rosenberg to Schwarz, report for July-Aug. 1946.
38. YIVO DP F 271: memo Zweig to Shapiro, report for Aug. 1947.
39. YIVO DP F 293: letter Jan Honig to Firma Lampert, Hutfabrik, Augsburg, 7 Jan. 1947.
40. YIVO DP F 296: Zweig report for Aug. 1947.
41. Jewish law requires a two-week physical separation between husband and wife every month. At the end of this time, the wife must immerse herself in a purifying ritual bath before the couple may resume marital life.
42. YIVO DP F 277: JDC memo Rabbi A. Rosenberg-The Marriage Problems, 7 Mar. 1946.
43. YIVO DP F 273: report Rosenberg to Schwarz for July-Aug. 1946.
44. Two hundred fifty kilograms of straightened hair in various lengths were imported from Italy. Material for manufacturing the caps was requisitioned from local German sources. A German firm in the French zone was then put to work making the wigs, which were touched up by female volunteer workers from the Fohrenwald camp, Beth Jacob school.
45. YIVO DP F 276: letter Rosenberg to Schwarz, 25 July 1946; and YIVO DP F 273: report Rosenberg to Schwarz for July-Aug. 1946.
46. During 1946 in Bavaria alone, it was necessary to requisition 180,000 candies from the military government after army supplies had run short.
47. YIVO DP F 276: letter Rosenberg to Schwarz, 25 July 1946.
48. YIVO DP F 276: Vaad ha-Hatzalah memo of Rabbi Nathan Baruch, 10 June 1947.
49. Gerd Korman, "Survivors' Talmud and the U.S. Army," American Jewish History 73 (March 1984): 252-85.
50. The paper was necessary for the printing of holiday and penitential prayer books. Extra food was also requisitioned for the holiday.
51. YIVO DP F 273: report Rosenberg to Schwarz for July-August 1946. Within 24 hours of their arrival (which happened to be 24 hours before the start of the holiday), the ethrogs and lulavs had been distributed in the American, French, and British zones of Germany. Also 25,000 myrtle branches were requested for use with the lulavs.
52. YIVO DP F 273: report for Dec. 1946. In Dec. 1946, for example, 350,000 Hanukkah candles, 3,500 silver-colored metal menorahs, 10,000 dreidels (tops), and 25,000 Hanukkah toys and games were manufactured and distributed among the DPs.
53. YIVO DP F 278: Rabbi Chone Person report for April 1948.
54. YIVO DP F 296: report of Rabbi Alex Rosenberg, 27 Feb. 1946.
55. A partial list of imports included: Palestine-parchment, string for sewing parchment, ritual ink, ethrogs, shofars, wine, wool and silk prayer shawls, mezuzahs, Bibles, tefillin, menorahs, Hanukkah candles; U.S.matsah, spices and nuts for Passover, Hebrew type for typewriters to print religious documents, silk prayer shawls, slaughtering knives, electric razors; Italy-hair for wigs, Hebrew book type.
56. The following items were eventually produced in Germany: kosher meat, prayer shawls, skullcaps, tsitsit, wigs, shaving powder, hats, dreidels, menorahs, kosher wine, kosher fat, matsah, prayer books, kittels, tefillin, candles, slaughtering knives.
57. YIVO DP F 297: undated report, Central Orthodox Committee, Paris.
59. YIVO DP F 1467: report on Camp Zeilsheim by Sadie Sender, 27 Oct. 1945.
