Hechaluz (He Halutz) in Sweden after 1945 - We are your family - "Peer pressure" and "Monogeneration" - The departure from Sweden was kept in the dark until the last minute. Jewish Exodus in January 1947 - No to Integration!.

Monogeneration - We are your family! "The Jewish Refugees Welfare Society" planned that 650 +. Jews, Holocaust survivors, would depart during the period December 1946-January 1947, from the port of Trelleborg. The destination was Eretz Israel. Before the trip, the Holocaust survivors were to gather in safe, secret places, preferably near Trelleborg or along the Gävle-Stockholm railway line, and then Stockholm-Trelleborg.

Monogeneration. "The Jewish Refugees Welfare Society" planned that 650 +. Jews, Holocaust survivors, would depart during the period December 1946-January 1947, from the port of Trelleborg. The destination was Eretz Israel. Before the trip, the Holocaust survivors were to gather in safe, secret places, preferably near Trelleborg or along the Gävle-Stockholm railway line, and then Stockholm-Trelleborg.

Monogeneration. "The Jewish Refugees Welfare Society" and Hechalutz planned for 650+. Young Jews, Holocaust survivors, would depart during the period December 1946-January 1947, from the port of Trelleborg. The destination was Eretz Israel. Before the trip, the Holocaust survivors were to gather in safe, secret places, preferably near Trelleborg or along the Gävle-Stockholm railway line, and then Stockholm-Trelleborg.

"Peer pressure among young people" refers to the influence that individuals of the same age or social group have on one another to change their attitudes, values, or behaviors to conform to the group's norms. This influence can be both positive (encouraging studying, participating in common activities, or following rules). Both children and adolescents are often highly susceptible to the need to fit in with their peers. Peer pressure among SS Ulua Maapilim was special and was not just an effect of Zionist propaganda. During the years in the ghettos and concentration camps, during the years when hiding, they found out that the only place they could live in was Eretz Israel.

The term Monogeneration is not scientifically established. I used it for the first time in Stockholm, at the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising academy, describing youth in the Warsaw Ghetto. Youth who, in April 1943, started an uprising against the Germans. What I meant by this phenomenon was youth without parents or children on their own. These two categories did not survive the Holocaust in the same numbers as the youth did. "Monogeneration concerning the family situation. No parents, no children yet."

I investigated the Peer pressure among young Holocaust survivors who arrived in Sweden at the end of WWII. This, primarily achieved through direct interviews conducted at the beginning of 1995.

Monogeneration in the Warsaw Ghetto was very brave, as they were actually not fighting to win or survive, but to meet death with arms in their hands. "Monogeneration" is a term I used for people who are the only surviving generation of their family, for example, in a monogeneration of Holocaust survivors. Peer pressure was an important factor in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Jewish youth, inspired by the resistance, felt compelled to join the fight despite the overwhelming odds. While the uprising was primarily driven by the desire for self-defense and resistance against Nazi deportation, the courage and actions of the initial fighters inspired others to join the struggle, which included both organized fighting and acts of defiance. 

Melech Fajnkind in 1943, as commander of the Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB) unit in the camp in Poniatowa, wrote: "We are sounding the alarm (...) you must support us with weapons. (...) We urge you urgently. Help us die with dignity! We want to continue to follow in the footsteps of the heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto. We are ready,". Nazi labor camp in Poniatowa. Many of the prisoners in this camp had previously been members of the Jewish underground, which meant that the idea of resistance was alive among them. Fajnkind managed to organize a local branch of the Jewish Combat Organization.

Of the nearly 1,5 million Jewish children in pre-war Poland, only about 1,500 - 5,000 survived within occupied Poland. An additional number survived by escaping to the Soviet Union. Poland's total Jewish population before WWII was 3.5 million.

"The Jewish Refugees Welfare Society" (actually Haganah) planned that 650 + Jews, Holocaust survivors, would depart during the period December 1946-January 1947, from the port of Trelleborg. The destination was Eretz Israel. Before the trip, the Holocaust survivors were to gather in safe, secret places, preferably near Trelleborg or along the Gävle-Stockholm railway line and then Stockholm-Trelleborg. A chartered SJ train was to run the above routes the night just before the ship's departure.

Few who were notified about it were, of course, the Swedish passport and customs authorities, the port office in Trelleborg, and the SJ personnel (SJ Sveriges Järnvägar - Swedish Railway).

Everyone else involved was to be kept in the dark until the last minute. The survivors who were to board the boat and who worked were not to inform their employers about the trip, just not to come to work at the appointed time. Information about the assembly places, close to Trelleborg, where the survivors who were not arriving by train were also kept secret.

Despite all of these precautions, the information about the trip leaked to the Swedish press, potentially jeopardizing the whole operation.

The first newspaper to "leak" the information was Trelleborgs Tidningen, and then Dagens Nyheter. The information seems to have reached the editors early, before 21 January 1947, because it was already published on January 22. The entire secret plan, including the places where the survivors would gather before the voyage, was published at the same time as their ship S/S Ulua stopped to stock up on fuel in Copenhagen, and when most of the future passengers were still spread over half of Sweden, from Malmö in the south to Gävle in the north.

Emil Glück* describes the Jewish youth who were to prepare for life in Eretz Israel within the borders of Sweden. The group included youth and adults who came to Sweden before, during, and after the war. It was quite clear that the goal was Israel, not just for education. It was not just about "Zionists" because there were probably young people with all conceivable political views. However, they all knew after losing almost all their loved ones that only in Eretz Israel can one build one's future. In my conversations with those who were on the Aliya Bet ship S/S Ulua, there were strong family feelings and responsibility for each other within the group. They also took with them the youth who wanted to stay in Sweden or travel to Poland to check the possibility that someone in their family survived. Hehalutz were against the adoption of the youngest in Sweden - We are your family, they explained clearly to the doubters.

In many cases, however, Jewish girls, Holocaust survivors, married Swedes, not Jes, as they felt, after the Holocaust, that they were more secure with such an arrangement. Marriages with "Swedish Jews" were not popular among the survivors and not among Swedish Jews who saw this entire group as Eastern Jews.

The date 24.1.1947, January 24th, 1947, is also the common date for the departure of 550 girls and women and 94 boys and men from the harbor of Trelleborg with destination Eretz Israel. Early on that morning, they arrived with special trains at the Trelleborg Harbor and boarded the ship S/S Ulua. The youngest onboard was 13, and the oldest was in the late thirties. All of them were Jewish Holocaust survivors. The biggest group was girls around twenty. Another important characteristic of the group was that they were mono-generation. Monogeneration means without parents, younger brothers and sisters, grandparents, without a country to return to. They arrived in Sweden at the end of WWII, between late April 1945 and mid-July 1945.

From Emil Glück, På väg till Israel. Most of the Jews listed here left Sweden for Eretz Israel.

During this particular period, thousands of DPs (Displaced persons) were brought to Sweden in the actions remembered as UNRRA White boats and some also by White buses. At the beginning of May 1945, two unexpected trains with former inmates of concentration camps came to Denmark, and survivors were further transported to Sweden. Most of the non-Jewish DPs returned to their home countries after some weeks/months of convalescence in Sweden. Most of the Holocaust survivors came to Sweden by UNRRA mission White boats (June-July 1945) and in the two trains to Padborg, Denmark (May 1945). Some Jewish survivors were brought to Sweden on the last day of White bus transports, the action that ended on April 28, 1945, when the last White bus arrived in Malmö, Sweden.

Concerning moving from Sween to Eretz Israel in 1946-1947, the situation was complex. Although many in HeHalutz wanted to migrate to Palestine, the number of immigration permits (Certificates) was limited by British White Paper policy. Representatives from the Jewish Agency visited Sweden in late 1945 to assess the situation. Still, few certificates were allocated directly to Sweden compared to the DP camps in Central Europe, as conditions in Sweden were considered to be better.
Therefore, many children arriving via clandestine or illegal routes (Aliyah Beth) due to restrictions, needing papers like birth certificates, family attestations, or special transit documents for refuge.
Many of my parents' friends, who, after WWII, left for the West and were visiting Poland, used to say that Poland, after the Holocaust, was just a "big graveyard" and a place where they could not rebuild their lives. 

Among people on SS Ulua, several persons fled Poland after 1946, as a result of post-war violence. Jewish survivors returning to their homes often faced hostility, property disputes, and violence from Polish civilians and sometimes even state forces. The most infamous incident was the Kielce pogrom in July 1946, where 42 Jewish Holocaust survivors were murdered by a Polish mob and security forces following a false "blood libel" accusation. This event, among other smaller pogroms and murders, became a symbol of the precarious state of Jewish life and convinced many survivors that there was no future for them in Poland.
In the aftermath of the Kielce pogrom in July 1946, a mass legal exodus of Jews from Poland occurred, with over 175,000 Jews leaving in the subsequent three months alone. The pogrom acted as a major catalyst, convincing many survivors that there was no future for them in Poland after the Holocaust.

  

Among people on SS Ulua, several persons fled Poland after 1946, as a result of post-war violence. Jewish survivors returning to their homes often faced hostility, property disputes, and violence from Polish civilians and sometimes even state forces. The most infamous incident was the Kielce pogrom in July 1946, where 42 Jewish Holocaust survivors were murdered by a Polish mob and security forces following a false "blood libel" accusation.

The date January 24, 1947, marks the departure of 550 girls and women, along with 94 boys and men, from the harbor of Trelleborg with destination Eretz Israel. Most of them were Holocaust survivors who arrived in Sweden with UNRRA White Boats (June-July 1945).

SS Ulua - Haim Arlozorof, close to the Haifa port. British paratroopers are moving Holocaust survivors to the prison boat that took them to the detention camp on Cyprus.

*Monogeneration: A person who belongs to a "monogeneration" is the only survivor of their family after a catastrophe. The term was used, for example, for Jewish Holocaust survivors, who had often lost their entire families, both parents and siblings.

** Emil Glück, På väg till Israel. Hachscharah i Sverige 1933–1948. Transmigrationen av judisk ungdom från Nazi-Tyskland för utbildning i lantbruk m.m. och vidare vandring till Palestina (Stockholm: Författares Bokmaskin, 1985). Emil Glücks' autobiographical account of the rescue to Sweden of Jewish youth from Nazi Germany. It also describes the work to rehabilitate and reintegrate young Jewish survivors from concentration camps in the aftermath of the war.