Day After Night

Fiction by Anita Diamant.


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This book was a fictionalized account of a part of history I'd never heard about. We all know that Israel was established after World War Two as Jewish homeland, partly as reparations for the atrocities suffered by the Jews during the war. But although I knew that the State of Israel was officially created in 1948, I had never thought about the fact that the war had ended THREE YEARS BEFORE. So what were all the displaced Jewish survivors doing in the meantime?

It turns out that many of them were emigrating to Palestine, trying to find their own Promised Land after the horrors of the German concentration camps. But when they got there, they found themselves rounded up and herded into a camp again, this time by the British, who were trying to enforce the immigration policies that were in an ambiguous post-war state.

That was shocking to read. Although the displaced Jews were fed and treated decently in the British camp, still they were behind barbed wire against their wills at a time when they were already traumatized by their recent ordeals. Why have we never heard of this?

This book focuses on some women in the camp and their personal stories, and is a great read. And I'm grateful to Anita Diamant for writing about such an little-known subject.


I also read recently by this author:  The Boston Girl