The end of the war and the liberation of the camps did not end the suffering. Many of the concentration camp inmates were so close to death they could not rejoice. Others were so starved that their bodies could not handle the rich food they needed to give them strength. For so many of the survivors, liberation brought new problems and new sorrows. Most had no home to go to. They had lost their families, their homes, and in some cases, their entire communities. Thousands of survivors had to go to "displaced persons" camps to await aid and emigration to another country. The survivors of the Holocaust had to pick up the pieces of their lives, which had been so completely and so violently shattered.

The physical deprivation, inhumane treatment, and persistent closeness to death had...