Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture Online

The site of an international conference in July 1938, which had as its subject the refugee crisis unleashed by the National Socialist persecution of German and Austrian Jews. The conference, which had been convened on the initiative of the American president Franklin D. Roosevelt in the French resort town on Lake Geneva, and in which representatives from 32 countries took part, was to sound out their readiness to accept refugees. It led to no appreciable results. This was due to the int…

Even more than the actual historical dispersal (Hebr.  pizur) of the Jewish people, usually designated by the originally Greek “Diaspora​,” exile (Hebr.  galut) represents one of the decisive concepts of the Jewish religion. To the biblical interpretation of the Babylonian exile as punishment for sins, rabbinic Judaism added the mystically-inspired interpretations of God’s immanence in exile (Aram.  shekhinta ba-galuta) and of the “hidden face [of God]” (Hebr.  hester panim). The traditional conception of exile seemed irreconcilable with modern Jewish self-u…

The name of a Jewish refugee ship, organized by the paramilitary Zionist organization Haganah, in order to contribute to the foundation of a Jewish state in Palestine. After the “Exodus 1947” – its full name – sailed from France on July 11, 1947 with 4500 Holocaust survivors on board, it was seized on July 18 by the Royal Navy off the coast of Palestine. The passengers were transported on three ships back to France, but steadfastly refused to disembark for three weeks. They were then sent to Ham…