Why survivors left
Many survivors returned from camps, hiding places, partisan units or the Soviet interior to find their families murdered, communities destroyed and homes occupied or looted. Postwar antisemitism and violence added to the pressure to leave. The July 1946 Kielce pogrom, in which at least 42 Jews were murdered, accelerated the movement out of Poland.
Routes west
Brihah organizers moved groups across borders toward the American-occupied zones of Germany and Austria and toward Italy. From there, many survivors entered displaced persons camps or continued toward Mediterranean ports used by Aliyah Bet. The movement depended on guides, temporary lodging, transport, forged or improvised documents and the willingness of some officials to tolerate border crossings.
Scale of the movement
Brihah records cited by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum indicate that more than 48,000 Jews left Poland through the network between August 1945 and the end of June 1946. After July 1946, at least 90,000 more left Poland. The exact total is uncertain, but USHMM concludes that at least 150,000 Jews likely reached displaced persons camps and later Palestine or Israel with the movement’s help.
Brihah, DP camps and Aliyah Bet
Brihah was not the same organization as Aliyah Bet, and a displaced persons camp was not necessarily a final destination. These systems often formed successive stages of one journey: leaving eastern Europe, reaching an Allied zone, waiting in a DP camp, and then trying to emigrate legally or clandestinely.
Why Brihah matters
The movement shows that survivors were not only passive subjects of a postwar refugee crisis. They organized routes, shared information, crossed borders and made decisions about where and how to rebuild. Those decisions were shaped by grief, political ideals, family ties, antisemitism and the immigration policies of other countries.
Related topics
Kielce Pogrom
Displaced Persons Camps
Aliyah Bet
Key sources
This page draws on the institutional sources listed below.