Escaping Nazi horror: Jewish and Christian refugees in Cyprus

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article deals with the case of Greek Christian refugees who fled to Cyprus and to the Middle East during WWII in an effort to point out how their settlement was related in a way to the simultaneous movement of the Jewish refugees, mainly survivors of the Holocaust, who tried to reach Mandatory Palestine. The exodus was part of a general movement from many occupied countries, mainly Greece, Poland and Yugoslavia, towards safer areas under the control of the Allies in the Middle East and Africa. It has been estimated that more than 73,000 refugees from these countries had been established in these areas in 1944. The Greek Christian refugees were placed in Nuseirat and Moses Wells camps, while Atlit remained mainly a camp for the Jewish refugees. The majority of Greek Christian refugees were repatriated by UNRRA in Greece after the liberation of the country, in 1945 and 1946.