Abstract

In recent research on displaced persons camps in occupied Germany, Jewish self-governance, embedded in the trope of a general Jewish rebirth, has emerged as the central narrative theme. This article makes the case that Jewish governance in the Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp was characterized by deep divisions between the Orthodox and the non-Orthodox, particularly from the liberation of the camp on April 15, 1945 through early 1947. The author considers the implications of this conflict for collective memory of the Holocaust and research on the displaced persons camps.

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