The end of the war did not bring the end of the Holocaust's victims' suffering. Their troubles were far from over.

Although the Allied soldiers who liberated the camps were shocked and disgusted by what they had seen, this did not necessarily translate into decisive action on the refugee problem. First, the camp victims needed medical treatment and nourishment. Many thousands died of disease and malnutrition after the war's end. Some died of overeating when Allied troops fed them food too rich for their weakened systems. Often the neglect continued. Sometimes prisoners were locked up in the camps to prevent the spread of disease. Often there were not enough medical provisions or services available.

And who could be brought to trial? By 1943, the U.S. had issued warnings that the Germans would be brought to trial for "the crimes committed against humanity" during the war. But the Allied forces, after dividing up the conquered zones for administration had a confusing task ahead of them. Who was to blame? Suddenly no one was responsible. Everyone was a victim of the Nazis. Germans claimed to be part of resistance efforts. Or they claimed to be unaware of what was going on. Even active soldiers claimed that they were forced to obey orders or die.

The Nuremberg Trials in 1943 were considered a landmark military tribunal because they affirmed that certain actions were always held accountable, even if one was "following orders." Twenty-two people were tried. Three were acquitted, seven sentenced to prison, and twelve of the Nazi leadership were executed.

Six million people were annihilated and only 22 stood trial for the murders. The thousands who greased the machinery of death, who procured supplies, who whipped the passengers of the cattle cars, and who guarded the electrified fences were not tried. Let alone the many civilians who had betrayed Jews hiding under false identities or in attics or cellars, or the many who had gleefully been entertained as elderly Jews had their beards plucked out, or children were used as target practice. Nor were those who had plundered the possessions of the "resettled" Jews forced to give accounting.

Many leading Nazis escaped to countries in Latin America. Several Nazi scientists were offered sanctuary in the U.S. in exchange with their help on several projects, including missile and rocket development and atomic research. Large industrial firms who had used Jewish slave labor during the war were able to continue to function, and do to this day.

The survivors dreams of their tormentors being brought to justice would have to wait for a Heavenly judgement.

Meanwhile the survivors languished in DP (Displaced Persons) Camps throughout Europe. Those in the Russian zone were often coerced into accepting Soviet citizenship, which trapped them with the rest of Soviet Jewry. The Allied preferred solution to the problem was that they should return "home." Many of those who tried, found there was no more home. Their non-Jewish neighbors had taken up residence in their old houses and apartments, and did not plan to relocate. A round of pogroms in Poland killed several hundred more survivors who had tried to return to old lives. Going home was clearly not a solution.

The U.S. and Eretz Yisrael were the two most desired destinations. But the U.S. was still reluctant to open its doors wider, and Britain still refused to let them emigrate freely to Israel. Nevertheless, many thousands snuck into Israel illegally, while others who were caught were sent to other detention camps run by the British in Cyprus. This was hardly the open arms which they had hoped would await those who emerged from the hellfire of the Holocaust.

For two years, the DPs waited for a solution. Finally in 1947, the U.N. ruled that Eretz Yisrael, then called Palestine, would be partitioned into an Arab state and a Jewish state. For the first time in almost two thousand years, the Jews would again have a homeland. With the establishment of the State of Israel, the DPs could finally go "home."

Even after the survivors regained their physical health and a place to live, the traumas they experienced continued to haunt them. Everyone had lost members of their families, their friends. Far too many lost a parent, spouse or child in the gas chambers. They had lived through unspeakable horror. And emerged to find a world where people were eating and enjoying life as if nothing had happened. Often survivors felt as though they were from another planet. In the U.S., the Jews often felt uncomfortable with the tragic realities their brethren carried with them. In Israel, there was a stigma attached to the survivors - why had they gone like sheep to the slaughter? Often the survivors felt guilty simply for surviving when so many others had perished. (Find out more about how AMCHA helps survivors and their families cope with their unique problems.)

Yet the majority of survivors, with incredible heroism, were not defeated. They went on to remarry, raise new families, and begin new careers, in another language and country. Who can imagine the courage of a man who had seen his wife and six children perish, and decided to begin another family? As we remember the heroes and martyrs of the Holocaust, we must remember those heroes who chose life.