Cyprus Detention Camps papers

The Cyprus Detention Camps collection consists of collected administrative records, immigrant papers, and printed materials documenting the British army’s administration of detention camps established in Cyprus at Kraolos and Dekalia to hold Jewish immigrants illegally trying to enter Palestine. The collection includes administrative correspondence; a program for a British military performance of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves; identification and immigration papers and luggage tags documenting a number of Romanian immigrants; and newspaper and magazine articles documenting the immigration efforts of Jewish refugees to Palestine. Topics addressed in the administrative correspondence include political and religious groups among the refugees, procedures for the arrival and movements of immigrants, escapes and attempted escapes, supply shortages. Immigrant papers primarily consist of identification papers of Romanian immigrants who were presumably held in the Cyprus detention camps and shipping tags, presumably used by immigrants held in the camps. Printed materials include three issues of The Cypriot and clippings describing the Cyprus detention camps, immigrant ships, and Palestine.

The Cyprus Detention Camps papers are arranged as three series: I. Administrative records, 1946-1948, II. Immigrant records, 1943-1947, III. Printed materials, 1946-1948