Cyprus internment camps

Cyprus internment camps were operated by the British for internment of Jewish illegal immigrants to Mandatory Palestine during the 1940s. Despite the the Holocaust and the plight of thousands of displaced Holocaust survivors, the British still adhered to the points of the White Paper of 1939 that called for limited immigration for Jews. Jews escaping Europe in the Beriha and attempting Aliyah Bet were detained at sea and after landing on the shores of the Holy Land, and sent to camps in nearby British-controlled Cyprus.

Jews were detained on the high seas by the British Royal Navy and those ships that did not sink (many were old and not sea-worthy vessels) were escorted to Cyprus where internment camps were constructed for up to 30,000 Holocaust survivors who were held at any one time. Funds for maintenance of the camps were taken from taxes collected from the Jewish population of Palestine.

The first camps were constructed by German prisoners of war (POWs). Conditions for POW's were determined by the Geneva Convention; there was no equivalent convention for imprisoned civilians. Use of POWs was eventually halted as it interfered with British de-Nazification programmes (POWs generally concluded that the British were treating the Jews no differently than the Nazis). Jewish inmates did not take the German presence very well either.

Because of pressures emanating from the United States and in response to the recommendations of the Anglo-American commission of inquiry, Britain agreed to allow 1,000 Jews a month into Palestine. To reduce pressure in Cyprus (there was fear of a Communist led Cypriot uprising), half that quota, 500 Jews a month, were allowed in from Cyprus. That meant that most Cyprus internees expected to spend a couple of years there before being allowed into Palestine.

In November 1947 the United Nations voted to create two states in Palestine, one of which was intended to provide a homeland for the Jewish people. The partition decision called for the creation of a Jewish controlled harbour into which Jews could freely emigrate. Britain refused to implement the decision leading to claims that it was in contravention of the United Nations decision. The Soviet Union responded to the British failure by allowing Jewish illegal migration to depart from Romania.

Despite donations from Jewish charities in the United States and contributions from the Jewish Agency in Palestine, conditions in the camps were hard. The camps lacked proper supplies of running water, soap, clothes, sheets and there were complaints regarding inadequate food supplies. Most of the inmates were deeply traumatized Holocaust survivors including large numbers of orphan children.

Thanks to British willingness to allow British and American Jewish communities to aid the inmates and limited press access, inmates did not face the kind of viciousness or deprivation associated with Nazi or Soviet concentration camps. Volunteers from Palestine were allowed to live in the camps and these included educators, nurses and doctors. Volunteers were unpaid and generally shared the inmates living conditions, except that they could take occasional holidays while the inmates could not leave.

Over time 50,000 people were imprisoned in the camps. After the creation of the state of Israel the British government continued to hold 8,000 Jews of "military age" and 3,000 of their wives in order to prevent them joining the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. During this period inmates were held under conditions of indefinite detention with no known release date. They were eventually released in February 1949, following the British government's decision to recognize the state of Israel.