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The Jewish Immigration Experience:
A Collection of Photographs from the United States Holocaust Museum
On Display December 6, 2004 thru March 11, 2005
918 F Street, NW, Washington, DC


The American Immigration Law Foundation is pleased to repeat its January 2002 exhibit of photo reprints from the archives of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. With over two dozen images, the exhibit tells the story of Jewish immigration to the U.S. during and immediately after the Holocaust. To preview the photos, click on any thumbnail below to see a full image.

To complement the exhibit, AILF has prepared an essay that discusses Jewish immigration history in America, from colonial times thru the present. The essay can be read online in HTML format or as a PDF brochure. Complimentary copies of the brochure are available by mail


A Jewish refugee family lights a Hanukkah menorah in their room at the Fort Ontario refugee shelter Jewish displaced persons (DP's), on their way to New York, board the S.S. Marine Marlin in the port of Bremerhaven. (Herbert Fishman, Bremerhaven, Germany, 1947) Zdenek Mermelstein stands in front of his Kosher butcher shop in Brooklyn. Zdenek was born in 1921 in Cinadovo, Czechoslovakia, where his father was a cattle dealer. After the annexation of this region of Czechoslovakia by Hangary, he escaped. A few days later the area was liberated by the Soviets. After leaving his hometown, he moved west to the American zone of Germany, until his immigration to the U.S. in October 1948. (USHMM, Brooklyn, New York, 1949-1950) Jewish children living in the Fort Ontario refugee shelter sing songs accompanied by an accordionist. (Dr. David Hendell, Oswego, New York, 1944-1945) Morris and Chaya Gar Jones in front of their grocery store in New York. Chaya Gar came to America at the request of her cousin, whom she married soon after her arrival in 1930. (USHMM, Brooklyn, New York, 1932) The Leibowitz family takes their citizenship oaths in Brooklyn, NY. (Samuel Leibowitz) A group of Jewish children wave at the Statue of Liberty as they arrive in New York harbor. (Anita Willens, New York, New York, June 3, 1939) Rabbi Landau instructing newly arrived immigrant children on the significance of the Passover Seder (HIAS, 1947-1952) Three-year old Eva Listman arriving in New York carrying her doll is a new immigrant to the United States. (HIAS, 1953) An elderly displaced woman holding a baby on arrival in the United States (HIAS, 1947-1952) Arrival of triplets aboard the S.S. General Holbrook. (HIAS, August 30, 1949) Two children who have just arrived in the United States sit patiently with their suitcases. (HIAS, 1946) Arrival of former DPs in the United States. A crowd of relatives and well-wishers await the newcomers (HIAS, 1946-1950) DP Jewish Children arriving in the United States, raise the American flag as their ship enters New York harbor. The first ships to reach the U.S. under the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 carried 2,183 Jews of whom 1,427 were aided by HIAS. (HIAS, New York, New York, 1948) Concentration Camp survivors stand in line for instruction from a USNA worker. (HIAS, 1947-1952) A Jewish family awaits instruction after their recent arrival in New York. (HIAS, 1947-1952) Newly arrived immigrants studying the Constitution of the United States and U.S. History (HIAS, 1947-1952) New immigrants assemble to fill out documents required when entering the country. (HIAS, 1947-1952) Two brothers from Niski, Austria were reunified after more than fifty years when Israel Waissler landed in New York aboard the S.S. General Howze, and was greeted by his brother Samuel who arrived in 1888. (USHMM, circa 1949) Jacob Waksman with his daughter in the Fort Ontario refugee center. (USHMM, Oswego, New York, 1944) Austrian-Jewish refugee children enthusiastically read the Sunday comics of an American newspaper in Philadelphia. Gilbert J. Kraus, a Philadelphia lawyer, brought these children from Vienna to the U.S. 57 persons financed the bringing of 50 children to America as a result of conversations held by Mr. Kraus and others concerning the plight of the Viennese Jews from the Nazi regime. (USHMM, June 4, 1939) A Jewish woman immigrating to the United States boards the S.S. Marin Marlin in Bremerhaven, Germany, which will transport her to New York. (Herbert Fishman, Bremerhaven, Germany, 1947) Manius Notowitz in front of the Munich Immigration Center with several other Jewish DPs. Manius escaped from the Kolbuszowa labor camp in November 1942, along with forty other prisoners. After his liberation, he secured a false birth certificate and was able to obtain immigration papers for the U.S. under the German quota. He sailed aboard the S.S. Marine Flasher from Bremerhaven, arriving in New York in May 1947. (Max Notowitz, Munich, Germany, 1945) HIAS convoy leaving Paris to depart on the S.S. Gripsholm en route to New York. The eight men, seven women and one child of Polish and German origin are all survivors of concentration camps, and are joining relatives in the United States. (HIAS, Paris, France, circa 1945) Displaced persons, future Americans, look at the shores of Europe from the decks of the S.S. General Black, renamed the A large convoy of Jewish immigrants leaves Paris for Maseilles. 250 Jews left the shelter of the American Joint Distribution Committee in a convoy composed of ten buses. The buses took them to the port of Marseilles where they embarked for South America and Australia. (USHMM, July 1945) DPs on the deck of the S.S. General Black, as the ship departs from Germany for the United States. (USHMM, Bremerhaven, Germany, October 1948) Jewish DPs on a train from Munich to Bremen where they will board a ship for New York. On the outside of the train the passengers have written


Photos reproduced with permission of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.


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