The Jews in the camps for displaced persons in##estern Germany and Berlin, who have been tense and irritable during the recent weeks of negotiations over Palestine in the United Nations, reacted today with wild ex##laration to the news that they had been granted the Palestinian homeland which had been their goal, in most cases, since the war ended.Spontaneous all-night celebrations took place late Saturday night when the report of the U.N. vote on Palestine was first broadcast in the camps. These have now given way to organized festivity which is expected to continue through the early part of this week.
All the year’s despair and hopelessness seemed to have been wiped out of the hearts of the Jewish remnant. A visitor to the DP camps was almost irresistibly infected with the exultation of the Jews as they sang, shouted, cried, paraded, laughed, cheered, prayed, in round-the-clock observances.
Even as the ceremonies were taking place, responsible officials of Jewish organizations here, as well as underground spokesmen, expressed the certainty that there would be a virtually complete halt to the present illegal movement of Jews from the occupation zones toward Palestine. It is now felt in Germany that any further illegal movement of the Jews from the DP camps would antagonize world opinion and could serve no useful purpose, especially since the hope is voiced here that the legal exodus from Germany, Austria and castern Europe can get under way by Feb. 1, 1948.
Jewish Agency officials told the writer that they were already making plans to systematize immigration into partitioned Palestine. They said they would strongly oppose unorganized movements which might prematurely crowd the migrants into areas which were temporarily unprepared to receive them or to offer them food or any kind of housing. They expressed the conviction that the Jews would wait patiently in Germany until their individual turns came for immigration, now that Palestine was no longer a promise but a real guarantee for them.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
