DP Camps and Hachshara Centers in Italy after the War

Jewish Brigade soldiers next to trucks bringing Holocaust survivors from Germany to Italy, 21 May 1945

Haim Laskov in Jewish Brigade uniform. Laskov was a commander of a battalion in the Jewish Brigade, and fought in Italy. After the war, he stayed in Europe and was active in the Aliyah Bet. He later became the fifth Chief of Staff of the IDF.

Adolescent Holocaust survivors with Jewish Brigade soldiers after the war

A Jewish Brigade soldier escorts children to school in Florence, Italy after the war.

Jewish Brigade soldiers meet children by a refugee camp in Italy after the war. A Star of David is inscribed on the truck door.

A soldier from Eretz Israel serving in the British Army teaches Jewish children Hebrew in a camp in Italy after the war.

Jewish partisans from Eastern Europe, “Bricha” activists, in Tarvisio, Italy, June 1945.

Jewish Brigade soldiers in Tarvisio, Italy, at the speech of “Bricha” leader Abba Kovner, 1945

Soldiers from Eretz Israel serving in the British Army with children at a school in the Santa Maria di Bagni refugee camp in Italy, a camp housing Jews and non-Jews.

Soldiers from Eretz Israel serving in the British Army with young Jews in the Hachshara (Pioneer Training Collective) in Bari, Italy, 1944. In Bari, there was a refugee camp housing Jews and non-Jews. In 1947, some 780 Jews lived in the camp.

The rabbi of the Jewish Brigade’s second military battalion, at the rededication of the synagogue in Venice, Italy, 1945

Ravenna, Italy, March 1945: cemetery for the Jewish Brigade’s fallen soldiers. A Star of David was placed on each grave.

Armband worn by Shmuel Gafni, a soldier in the British Army’s Jewish Brigade

Simcha Romer’s Jewish Brigade badge.

British medals awarded to Jewish Brigade soldier Ze’ev Ben Yehuda. Right: the Italy Star medal, Left: the 1939-1945 Star medal.