Cyprus Honors Jewish Refugees 76 Years After Closure of British Detention Camps

Jerusalem, 19 February, 2025 (TPS-IL) -- Nicosia (CNA) – Israel’s Ambassador in Nicosia, Oren Anolik, said his country’s struggle for security and peace is “still on-going.” In a speech at a memorial ceremony at the BMH, in Nicosia, commemorating 76 years since the closure of the British detention camps in Cyprus for Jewish refugees, Anolik said that the horrific events of October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists unleashed a “brutal massacre, murdering thousands of innocent Israelis, raping women, abducting civilians, and inflicting widespread terror, remind us that the road to peace remains long.”

Addressing the same event, Defence Minister Vassilis Palmas said that immediately after the Second World War, Cyprus served as an intermediate refuge for thousands of Jewish survivors seeking to reach their homeland. We must firmly stand against all forms of violence, antisemitism, social inequality, intolerance, and discrimination, he added.

In his address, Ambassador Anolik said that Hamas is still holding 73 hostages in Gaza, adding, “We will not rest until each and every one of them is brought back home.”

He also said that between August 1946 and February 1949, more than 52,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors — taken off 39 ships – who had endured the worst horrors of the 20th century, found themselves behind barbed wire once more. They were detained in a dozen camps situated across the island. During this period, approximately 2,200 Jewish babies were born in Cyprus. We stand today on the ground where many of those newborns took their first breaths, he said, adding that “This site holds profound significance. It is one of the foundations of the shared histories of Israel and Cyprus.”

Anolik described the story of the detention camps as the “foundational link between Israel and Cyprus.” The Jewish detainees in Cyprus were denied their freedom and were kept in uncertainty about what the future held for them, however, in “those dark days, a light shone – kindness and solidarity from the people of Cyprus. We remember and honor today not only the over 52,000 souls who escaped the horrors of the Holocaust. Today, we also remember the brave Cypriots who stood by them” and extended a hand to the refugees.

Some of these Cypriots worked inside the camps while others lived in nearby towns and villages, “all of them contributed significantly to the relief, well-being, and freedom of the detainees.

We honor the legacy of the late Prodromos Papavassiliou, who led this noble effort, the Ambassador said, and expressed gratitude to the children and grandchildren of Papavassiliou and of the other fearless Cypriots for preserving the memory of this crucial chapter in history.

Though 76 years have passed since the closure of the detention camps, the powerful testimonies of Cypriots aiding Jewish refugees still move us, Anolik said, and honoured Irinoulla Loizou, daughter of the late Captain Paul Rossides, who served as a harbor master at the Famagusta port. He said her father played a key role in supporting Prodromos Papavassiliou in his efforts to assist the detainees. “Paul Rossides’ actions facilitated the escape of Jewish detainees to Israel. By doing so, the honorable Captain put his freedom, family and livelihood at risk,” the Ambassador added.

In his speech – read by the Ministry’s Acting Permanent Secretary Anna Aristotelous – Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas welcomed participants at the Monument of Cyprus-Israel Friendship, to pay a tribute to the children of Holocaust survivors born in Cyprus between 1946 and 1949 – symbols of resilience, survival, and hope.

He noted that during and immediately after the Second World War, Cyprus served as an intermediate refuge for thousands of Jewish survivors seeking to reach their homeland.

“This year, we commemorate the 76th anniversary of the closure of the British detention camps in Cyprus, where thousands of Jewish Holocaust survivors were transferred and held, enduring a critical yet often overlooked chapter of their journey toward homeland”, he said, noting that these detention camps between 1946 and 1949 remain one of the most defining yet-lesser-known chapters in the history of Jewish immigration to this island.

The Minister said that over 50 thousand displaced individuals, having endured the horrors of the concentration camps, “arrived in Cyprus with one unwavering aspiration: to rise from the ashes and rebuild their lives with dignity, peace, and security.”

He noted that the systematic extermination of millions of Jews during World War II, coupled with the anti-Semitic policies of various governments and the reluctance of numerous nations to grant asylum to Jewish refugees, underscored the imperative need for the establishment of a Jewish state—a state that would provide a sanctuary for displaced Jewish populations and ensure their rightful recognition within the international community.

On their path to their new homeland, Cyprus became a temporary haven for these survivors, offering them security and care in a world that had so often denied them both.

The Minister said the response of the Cypriot people to this humanitarian crisis was immediate, profound, and heartfelt. “From 1946 until the closure of the last camp in February 1949, Cypriots, extended compassion and solidarity, offering invaluable support, comfort, and assistance to the Jewish detainees housed in the British detention camps of Caraolos, Famagusta, Xylotympou, and Dhekelia.”

During this period, 2,200 children were born in Cyprus. “Their existence and presence here are a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. Their perseverance in the face of extreme hardship stands as a powerful reminder that even in the darkest of times, humanity can triumph over oppression and injustice”, the Minister remarked.

The establishment and operation of the Nazi concentration camps “exemplified the systematic and “industrialized” strategy devised by the Nazi regime and its collaborators to eradicate the Jewish population of Europe, along with other groups deemed subhuman and “undesirable” he added.

The Defence Minister said the message of today’s commemoration is clear, “every human life is of equal value and must be protected”, adding “we must firmly stand against all forms of violence, antisemitism, social inequality, intolerance, and discrimination” and “must work tirelessly for a world where peace, reconciliation, collaboration, and respect for human dignity prevail.”