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Jewish Detention Camps in Cyprus Remembered

(Cyprus Mail) The University of Cyprus is due host a lecture by Professor Emanuel Gutmann entitled, "The Jewish Detention Camps in Cyprus (1946-1949): the Memories of a Contemporary Witness." In the second half of the 1940s Cyprus become the temporary refuge for tens of thousands of Jews. Fleeing post-war Europe, survivors of the Holocaust found themselves barred from entering Palestine due to British quotas. Forced to immigrate illegally, they boarded ships and ventured into the Mediterranean unsure of their fate. The British Navy overtook 39 of these ships, carrying a total of 52,000 passengers, and sent the people to Cyprus. At its peak there were nine camps in Cyprus, located at two sites about 50 km apart: Caraolos, north of Famagusta, and Dekhelia, outside of Larnaca. On February 10, 1949, the last Jews finally were freed from the confines of the camps, 267 days after the establishment of the State of Israel.
2011-10-28 00:00:00
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