On June 25, 1948, more than three years after the war in Europe ended, President Harry S. Truman signed the Displaced Persons Act of 1948. The legislation was intended to help thousands of European refugees who had been displaced from their home countries during World War II, to settle in the United States.
Correspondence, November 11, 1948. Mayor William O’Dwyer Records Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
In September 1948, anticipating that most of the refugees would enter the U.S. through the port of New York, and that many would settle within the five Boroughs, New York City Mayor William O’Dwyer appointed a twelve-member commission “…. to deal with employment and housing problems expected to arise in connection with admission of displaced persons from the camps of Europe.”
During the next decade City mayoral administrations endeavored to aid in the relocation of the “displaced” persons. In addition to Mayor O’Dwyer’s correspondence, records of the subsequent Mayors in the Municipal Archives—Vincent Impellitteri (1950-1953), and Robert Wagner (1954-1965), document the Commission, and the resettlement efforts.
Sample Referral Slip, 1948. Mayor William O’Dwyer Records Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
Researchers examining the “displaced persons” folders in the Mayoral collections will see “File #90” written in pencil on many of the documents. Beginning with the O’Dwyer administration, clerical staff adopted the practice of assigning a number to each subject file. For example, they assigned “Num. #5” to housing-related correspondence. Juvenile Delinquency was “Num. #112,” and Long Island Railroad was “Num. File #122.” Knowledge of the numbering system is useful for researchers as referral slips found in the files often have only the numerical designation. The practice continued through the Wagner administration but appears to have been abandoned during the Lindsay years. The ‘key’ to the numerical filing system is located in the hard-copy Mayor Wagner finding guide in the Municipal Archives and Library Reading Room.
The first boatload of displaced persons arrived in New York on October 31, 1948. The story made the front page of The New York Times: “The first group of homeless Europeans to arrive under the Displaced Persons Law came up New York harbor yesterday past the Statue of Liberty amid the thunder of welcoming whistles.” The story continued, “As they lined the rail of the Army transport Gen. William Black, they were a little tearful, very polite and quite stunned as the greatest city of the western world arose before them.” The article quoted Mayor O’Dwyer’s welcoming remarks: “New York City is glad to have you here. Many of you will stay here—I wish all of you could. You will like it in New York,” [November 1, 1948].
The happy circumstances described in the Times article disguised a significant defect in the federal legislation—it denied an American visa to any persons who had entered a refugee camp after December 22, 1945. This seemingly arbitrary stipulation served to prohibit the entrance of Jewish refugees who survived the Holocaust, but when faced with pogroms in postwar Poland, fled to the refugee camps in nearby Germany after December 22. According to information published by the Truman Library Institute in Independence, Missouri, President Truman had reluctantly signed the bill.“It is with very great reluctance that I have signed S. 2242, the Displaced Persons Act of 1948…The bad points of the bill are numerous. Together they form a pattern of discrimination and intolerance wholly inconsistent with the American sense of justice…The bill discriminates in callous fashion against displaced persons of the Jewish faith…The bill also excludes many displaced persons of the Catholic faith who deserve admission…”
Correspondence, August 18, 1949. Mayor William O’Dwyer Records Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
Over the course of the next two years, Truman pushed Congress to amend the bill. Mayor O’Dwyer also recognized the limitations of the legislation and urged Congress to remedy the situation. His correspondence files include a lengthy letter to Mr. William Boyle, Chairman of the National Democratic Committee: “I am writing to you to... join with other men and women of good-will in urging the United States Senate to act favorably and soon upon the McGrath-Neely Bill which would correct the injustices of the present DP Act. This bill, as you know, is backed by scores of national organizations and thousands of American citizens of all faiths and of both major parties.” (August 16, 1949)
Finally, in 1950, Truman persuaded Congress to enact an amended version of the legislation. It removed the cutoff date which previously blocked the entrance of thousands of Jewish refugees. “It is with very great pleasure that I have today signed H.R. 4567, which amends the Displaced Persons Act of 1948. The improvements embodied in H.R. 4567 now bring the American principles of fair play and generosity to our displaced persons program.” [Truman Center]
Mayor Impellitteri greeted another new arrival, “... pretty Maria Geroulis of the Village of Steno Tripolis, Greece, . . .. attired in colorful ancient Greek garb,” with a special “coronation ceremony” at City Hall on August 20, 1951. Official Mayoral Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
With passage of the amended law, Mayoral records detail plans for celebratory events. Vincent Impellitteri succeeded Mayor O’Dwyer as Mayor in September 1950. On December 20, 1950, his administration honored the 200,000th displaced person brought to the United States with a 9 a.m. ceremony at the pier, a City Hall reception at 11 a.m., and a “Santa Claus Party,” at Lord & Taylor at 2 p.m.
News release, August 20, 1951. Note referral to #55 “for correspondence.” #55 is the subject file designation for mayoral speeches and messages. Mayor Vincent Impellitteri Record Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
For a similar event, Impellitteri’s office issued a press release on July 11, 1951, describing how the Mayor greeted “Volodymyr Holubiw, a 42-year old Polish Ukrainian farmer, who is the quarter of a millionth displaced person to be brought the United States...” The release added that Holubiw arrived with his wife, Maria, and three children who “have known no home except a displaced persons camp.”
Impellitteri’s files also include correspondence with Congressman Emanuel Celler about the Congressional bill to provide for the “admission of 50,000 Italian immigrants, without regard to annual quota limitations, over a period of 5 years, beginning July 1, 1952.” In a press release from the Congressman, dated October 8, 1951, Celler wrote that “Italy is simply bursting at the seams.” It continued, “This is a bill which benefits benefactor and beneficiary. It will strengthen our ties with Italy; it will speed economic recovery in Europe and will increase our manpower and consequently our production.”
Chart appended to “Outline of the Organization and Work of the President’s Committee for Hungarian Refugee Relief in Resettlement of Hungarian Refugees,” 1957. Camp Kilmer was located in New Jersey. Mayor Robert Wagner Record Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
The work of the Mayor’s Commission on Displaced Persons continued after Mayor Robert Wagner took office in 1954. In 1957, correspondence in his subject files points to a possible revision in the Commission’s focus, or perhaps to the establishment of an entirely new organization. An internal memo dated January 22, 1957, proposed a “Mayor’s Committee on Refugee Assistance.” The memo explained that “This Committee would aid and assist the various religious, labor and voluntary agencies in their program of aiding refugees.” The memo added that the Committee would work with the New York State Committee on Refugees and the President’s Committee for Hungarian Refugee Relief.” A multi-page description of the President’s Committee was appended to the memo. The folder did not contain any further correspondence on the subject; further research would be necessary to learn whether the new “Committee” became a reality. Likewise, the fate of the original Mayor’s Displaced Persons Commission after the Wagner administration is also not clear.
A displaced persons folder in the Impellitteri collection contains a press release issued by the War Relief Services agency, dated November 13, [1951]. It transcribed remarks made by Alexander Ranezay, a Czechoslovakian displaced person: “Honored friends. Thank you for this welcome. Now that we are New Americans, we’d like to say—not just from ourselves but from a million other former DPs—thank you to every American and to every citizen of the other seventeen countries who created the IRO [International Refugee Organization] to give a refuge to refugees. In our gratefulness, there is only one thing we would still like to ask: ‘Please don’t forget those who are still behind.’ When in the country I have left, a person enters a house he says; ‘God give you a good day.’ Entering your country, we say it to you.”