Enroute to the Promised Land

Palestine was their original destination, but the beautiful island of Cyprus is the "waiting-room" where some 14,500 Jews, many of them survivors of Nazi horror camps, have been "detoured" to await admittance to the "Promised Land" under the legal British quota. The Jews on Cyprus leave in detention camps. Many tales have been told about these camps. These pictures show what life in them is really like. The British army provides the dwellings, tents and huts, bedding, some clothing and medical care as well as the basic food. The joint distribution committee in New York has recently undertaken an extensive assistance program which includes supplementary food and clothing, medical and dental care, academic and vocational schooling, recreational and cultural facilities. Currently at the camps there is a vocational training program for adults and schools for the children. On special occasions, like Passover, 45 tons of the traditional Matzoths were imported with 12,000 bottles of sacramental wine, eggs, candles and prayer books for the detainees. But although the camp inmates are fairly comfortable, this is not the "Promised Land" and all of them pray for the day when their numbers will come up to leave the waiting room for Palestine. Here is a typical bevy of school children. For most of them this is their first school period, many of them having spent their first years of their lives in concentration camps with their parents. There is a staff of 5352 Palestinians, including doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers and dieticians working full-time at these camps. There are also several hundred part-time workers from among the detainees themselves. [Immigration, emigration, post-war, Jewish community, living conditions, school, children]. 6 October 1947