Berihah (“flight” or “escape”) helped Holocaust survivors cross from eastern Europe into Allied zones after World War II. From there, Aliyah Bet organizers arranged unauthorized sea journeys to Palestine, where British authorities intercepted many ships. Between August 1946 and May 1948, Britain detained about 52,000 refugees on Cyprus; most were Holocaust survivors, according to the museum’s Cyprus camp history.
Berihah led survivors west
The destruction of Jewish homes and communities, together with postwar antisemitism, left many survivors unwilling or unable to return to their former towns, as detailed in the museum’s postwar account. In Allied-administered Germany, Austria, and Italy, displaced persons camps offered temporary shelter while they sought a permanent destination. The Jewish DP population reached about 250,000 in 1947, the museum’s displaced persons history records.
From 1945 to 1948, Berihah moved more than 100,000 Jews from eastern Europe into Allied-administered zones and DP camps, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The movement was a network of organizers and routes, not a single ship operation; many survivors then continued toward ports for passage to Palestine.
Aliyah Bet ships faced British interception
Britain maintained immigration restrictions under the 1939 White Paper. The Jewish underground organized Aliyah Bet, also called Ha’apala, to bring refugees by sea without British certificates. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum records that British authorities captured more than 50,000 refugees at sea between 1945 and 1948 and sent them to Cyprus.
The best-known case was the Exodus 1947, carrying about 4,500 Holocaust survivors, according to the Holocaust Encyclopedia. British forces intercepted it in July 1947 and returned its passengers to Europe rather than sending them to Cyprus. The episode drew international attention to the survivors’ predicament. The migration route and the fate of those detained in Cyprus are connected stages in the same postwar story, documented in the museum’s Cyprus camp history.
Life behind the wire in Cyprus
Britain operated summer camps at Kraolos, where refugees lived in tents, and winter camps at Dekalia, with metal huts and tents. Conditions were harsh: overcrowding, heat and cold, limited water, poor sanitation, and scarce furnishings. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee supplied food and medical assistance. Youth groups organized classes and activities; Camp 64 became a youth village for many children and teenagers.
About 2,000 babies were born during internment, and 400 detainees died on the island. Following Israel’s establishment in May 1948, detainees began leaving for the new state. The last Cyprus camp closed in February 1949. Read the overview of survivors’ contribution to Israel and the account of overseas recruits in the 1948 War.