A Safe Haven

At the end of WWII Jews were still being killed in Eastern Europe, having been thrown out of their homes when they returned many were not allowed to reclaim their homes and business and as many as 1500 were killed in Poland alone. Much of Europe made it clear that it did not want its returning Jews to come back to their homes. The United States, under its fears of communism, maintained tight quotas. So Jews turned their eyes to Eretz Israel. Life would not be easy there but in Israel they would be together and relatively safe.

In their book 'A Safe Haven', The Radoshes cite Branda Kalk, a Polish Jew who lost her husband to the Germans in 1942 during the war she and her family fled east to Russia, where they remained until the end of the war. When they returned to Poland a pogrom wiped out what remained of her family and Kalk was shot in the eye.

Before the U.N. investigating committee she had this to say, "I want to go to Palestine, I know the conditions there. But where in the world is it good for the Jew? Sooner or later he is made to suffer. In Palestine, at least, the Jews fight together for their life and their country."