The Center for Jewish History provides a collaborative home for five partner organizations and their collections, in which each partner preserves a different facet of world Jewry. The collections and library materials housed in our building can be accessed either online (for digitized items) or by requesting materials via your research account and visiting the Lillian Goldman Reading Room to view items.
The Displaced Person Camps collections at YIVO consists of several hundred reels of microfilm across three different geographic locations: Germany, Austria, and Italy. This Research Guide aims to provide a simplified overview of these collections to better focus your research as well as highlight related collections and library materials for further research.
The collections are now digitized and available online.
There are three main collections for displaced person camps and centers:
Displaced Person Camps and Centers in Germany (RG 294.2)
These records detail the history of the DP camps in Germany, primarily in the American zone. They include the records of the individual camps as well as political and cultural groups that operated within camps. The collection primarily consists of administrative records such as reports, correspondence, and lists as well as cultural materials from political, theatrical, and literary groups. There are a large number of records of court proceedings, centering on accounting for actions taken during the Holocaust as well as the formation of new families in the DP camps.
Displaced Person Camps and Centers in Austria (RG 294.4)
These records detail the history of DP camps in the American zone in Austria. The collection primarily consists of administrative records such as reports, correspondence, and lists as well as cultural materials from political, vocational, and cultural groups, as well as personal papers. Series II includes subgroups of individual camps. There are records of the U.S. Army, UNRRA, and IRO’s actions in the camps in Series III.
Displaced Person Camps and Centers in Italy (RG 294.3)
The records of the DP centers in Italy were received by YIVO between the years 1946 and 1950. They are arranged according to the major political and cultural organizations that operated in DP camps in Italy. The records of the Central Committee of the Organization of Jewish Refugees are in Series I. Series II, III and IV also refer to the activity of the Central Committee, collecting records respectively from its Department of Statistics and Information, its Central Court and its Cultural Department. Records from the individual camps in Series V, with a subseries for each camp. Materials produced by smaller cultural organizations, political parties, and landsmanshaftn are in series VI and VII. Miscellaneous material, like posters and children's works, appear in series VII and VIII.
There are also two collections of posters and photographs:
Displaced Persons Camps and Centers Poster Collection (RG 294.6)
Posters produced by diverse Jewish groups within individual camps, such as administrative and cultural committees, sports clubs, Zionist and religious groups, and landsmanshaftn; as well as organizations active throughout the camps, including the Jewish central committees in the respective countries, the World ORT Union, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJDC), the Jewish National Fund, and the Jewish Agency.
Displaced Persons Camps and Centers Photograph Collection (RG 294.5)
NOTE: Photographs from Italy are not digitized.
Diverse aspects of daily life among the DPs are depicted, such as school, vocational training, mealtimes, distributions of food and clothing, handicrafts and trades, sports and recreational activities, children at play, committee meetings, religious life, theater, children’s performances, Jewish holiday celebrations and parades, and gatherings on festive occasions, including weddings.
If you have any questions about any of the collections listed in this guide, please contact our Reference Librarians at inquiries@cjh.org.