DP Wanderausstellung

Sh’erit Ha-Pletah – The Surviving Remnant The Jewish Displaced Persons Camp Föhrenwald

Everyday life in the camp at Independece Place (present-day Kolpingplatz), on the far left the former bathhouse for men (today the Place of Remembrance BADEHAUS).

JDC Archives, around 1950

Publishing Information BADEHAUS Place of Remembrance, Wolfratshausen, Germany (Erinnerungsort BADEHAUS) Concept and text: Dr. Sybille Krafft, Eva Greif Editorial team: Jonathan Coenen, Barbara Kaulbarsch, Rhiannon Moutafis Translations: Stephanie Coenen, Gavin Maendel, Rhiannon Moutafis, George Rainov Design: Büro Müller-Rieger, Munich www.erinnerungsort-badehaus.de/en

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In the Land of the Perpetrators

One of the oldest postcards of Föhrenwald (aerial shot, ca. 1956). It dates from the transitional period when the camp was still partly inhabited by Jewish DPs, but Catholic German Expellees had already begun to move in.

Private, 1956

After the Second World War, survivors of the Shoah found refuge in Föhrenwald in Upper Bavaria, Germany. There, the American army had set up a displaced persons (DP) camp to provide temporary accommodation for Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe. The people waited to emigrate to what was then Palestine, from May 1948 to Eretz Israel, or to other countries. Nobody wanted to stay in Germany, the “land of the perpetrators”. However, this DP camp existed until February 1957 and became the “last Yiddish shtetl in Europe”.

Föhrenwald had been built from 1939/40 as a camp for arms workers of the nearby munitions factories in the Wolfratshausen Forest south of Munich. Up to 5,000 men and women from 18 countries lived here during the Nazi era: German conscripts, foreign civilian workers, and forced labourers.

Towards the end of the war, Dachau concentration camp survivors were housed here. Then people from different nations and religions made homeless by the war came too. From October 1945, US General Eisenhower designated Föhrenwald as a purely Jewish DP camp.

Over the course of 12 years, more than ten thousand Shoah survivors lived in the camp.

From 1956, Catholic German Expellees with large families settled here.

Föhrenwald was renamed to Waldram. All the streets were given new names. The unique past of this place was “forgotten” and suppressed – until 2012, when a citizens’ initiative brought this history to public attention and founded the BADEHAUS Place of Remembrance.

Three historical phases characterise Föhrenwald, or present-day Waldram: National Socialist period (up to 1945), Jewish displaced persons period (up to 1956/57) German Expellees period (after 1956).

This is reflected in the various street names.

At first, they were named after cities of the “Greater German Reich”; then, American states; finally, Catholic figures and places of the German Expellees.

Danziger Freiheit Independence Place Kolpingplatz Adolf-Hitler-Platz Roosevelt Square Seminarplatz Graphic: Gerd Schielein, 2018

The “Last Shtetl” in Europe After the end of the war, between 50,000 and 70,000 Jewish DPs found themselves in the Western occupation zones.

On 3 October 1945, Föhrenwald was declared Bavaria’s third Jewish DP camp, besides Feldafing and Landsberg.

The concentration camp survivors called themselves Sh’erit ha-Pletah, “the surviving remnant”. Up until 1951, the camp was under Jewish self-administration, with its own police force, jurisdiction, medical care and political parties.

Föhrenwald developed into the “last shtetl” on European soil, with an active cultural life, sporting activities and its own camp newspaper. The colloquial language was Yiddish.

People adhered to the traditional rules of Judaism, such as shabbat, kosher food and the observance of Jewish holidays.

There was also a large Orthodox community.

For most DPs, Föhrenwald was merely a “waiting room” until they could depart. In spite of this, however, the camp developed a lively cultural, political and social life, giving hope to the survivors of the Shoah. Föhrenwald was handed over to the German administration in 1951, becoming a “government camp for displaced foreigners”. After all other DP camps in Bavaria had been dissolved, the DPs remaining in Föhrenwald were ones who, for a variety of reasons, could not or did not want to emigrate.

The main building of the ORT school (Organisation for Rehabilitation through Training) was located on Pennsylvania Street (present-day Faulhaberstraße).

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, around 1950

Every resident received a camp card upon registration, entitling them to social benefits and confirming that they belonged to the camp.

Order and security were ensured by the camp’s own court, police and fire department. Their ranks were filled with camp residents.

Föhrenwald’s first fire chief was Georg Littmann (centre).

Private, 1951

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1948

The building of the Jewish camp administration used to stand opposite the bathhouse.

For the residents, the election of the camp administration was a step towards self-governed life.

The first camp supervisor was Nachum Bakstansky. Some of his tasks were the organisation of labour, supplies, and religious practice.

Decrees and rules of conduct helped people to master their arduous everyday lives, as seen in these Yiddish rules concerning the loss of camp cards and meal tickets.

JOINT, 1950

Yad Vashem, 1946

Föhrenwald was still enclosed by a high fence in the DP period. The Jewish “shtetl” was thus also spatially separated from its surroundings. While the high fence around camp did serve as protection from the outside world, which was perceived as hostile, it also heightened the feeling of being locked in and without a home.

Private, around 1950

Relief organisations supported DPs in finding their way back to a regular life.

Besides the UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration), the international refugee organisation IRO provided medical assistance.

Many DPs were suffering from physical and mental illnesses as a result of their mistreatment in the concentration camps. As late as 1952, the camp management still spoke of a “settlement of the sick”.

Private, around 1950

Government Camp Föhrenwald The handing over of the DP camp to the German administration was racked with problems, but succeeded in preserving the personality of the “Yiddish shtetl”, with all its traditions, educational institutions and cultural establishments.

It came to conflicts because the aim of the German authorities was to dissolve the camp, whereas some DPs would have been glad to remain in Föhrenwald. The Bavarian Secretary of State for Refugee Affairs, Theodor Oberländer – a controversial figure due to his Nazi past – wanted to “solve” the “problem” of Föhrenwald already in 1952. For the time being, however, this was prevented by resistance from the Jewish residents.

View of New Jersey Street (present-day Korbinianstraße) from Bundesstraße 11.

The driveway led to the camp’s entrance on the left-hand side.

JOINT, around 1952

In 1952 a police raid was carried out on all stores in camp on suspicion of black-market activity. It came to violence, and anti-Semitic remarks were reported. The DPs expressed their anger in a letter of complaint to the German Federal President.

Bayer. Hauptstaatsarchiv, 1952

Initially, a high fence surrounded the camp.

It was only accessible via the gatehouse on the western side, depicted in the middle of this postcard.

Private, 1952

The End of Föhrenwald In 1955, the Catholic Siedlungs-und Wohnungsbauwerk (settlement and housing works) of the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising acquired the camp, looking to create living spaces for people who had been expelled from their homes during the Second World War. Föhrenwald was dissolved in February 1957 and was, at the time, the last Jewish DP camp in Europe.

The last DPs occupied the southern part of the camp, while new arrivals were already moving into the converted houses. Contact between the two groups was rare and there was an air of mutual distrust.

18 Hamburg

73 Düsseldorf 25 Köln 125 23 Frankfurt Wiesbaden 4 Kaiserslautern

Föhrenwald’s last 789 Jewish DPs were assigned apartments in nine West German cities. Many became German citizens after resettling. Some Jewish residents would have liked to stay in Föhrenwald.

Graphic: Gerd Schielein/Simone Steuer, 2018

19 Stuttgart

Föhrenwald

The twins Sonja and Rosa Moczydlower befriended Irmentraud Wohlfahrt, who was one of the few Christians living in the DP camp who worked as a cook in the camp’s hospital. The Moczydlower family moved to the USA and decades later contacted the octogenarian lady from Waldram.

Archiv Erinnerungsort BADEHAUS, around 1953

The houses in the camp were renovated from the ground up by the Catholic Siedlungswerk (settlement works). Every house received its own bathroom, making communal sanitary facilities such as the bathhouse superfluous.

The former administration buildings, on the other hand, were to continue to serve a public purpose as seminar and church buildings.

Stadtarchiv Geretsried, 1956

10 Nürnberg

492 München

The BADEHAUS Place of Remembrance In 2012, the historic “bath for men“ in former Föhrenwald, present-day Waldram, was to be torn down. It was originally a sanitary facility for the workers of the munitions factories because the houses in Föhrenwald did not have their own bathrooms. After the war, the Jewish DPs used these washing facilities. Additionally, they built a mikveh in the cellar. When the Catholic Church rebuilt this settlement for German Expellees from 1956 onwards, the Jewish ritual bath was removed and the house was remodelled for residential purposes. Later, the building stood empty for years and was ­­ to be demolished.

The BADEHAUS team is in contact with almost 200 Föhrenwald residents in Germany, Israel, the USA and other countries.

It conducts interviews with contemporary witnesses, collects photos, documents and exhibits on the history of Föhrenwald and ensures that this “treasure of memory” is not forgotten.

In addition to maintaining the permanent exhibition and the archive, special exhibitions, workshops, guided tours – many also for schools –, and numerous events are organised on a regular basis.

The association Bürger fürs BADEHAUS Waldram-Föhrenwald e.V. has more than 600 members. A third of the active core team of around 30 people is under the age of 30.

After a long struggle, the association Bürger fürs BADEHAUS Waldram-Föhrenwald e.V. was finally able to save the historical building and create a place of remembrance, encounters and learning. Volunteers spent thousands of hours renovating the house and designing the permanent exhibition.

The museum opened in October 2018. Since the inception of the association, more than 55,000 volunteer hours have gone into this civic remembrance project. It has been honoured to receive multiple national and international awards.

Is your family history connected to Föhrenwald?

Do you want this exhibition in your institution?

Please contact us via: info@erinnerungsort-badehaus.de

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