The Covert Push-Factor: How the Yugoslav-Soviet Conflict of 1948 Influenced Organized Jewish Emigration from Yugoslavia to Israel (1948–1952)

Abstract

Organized Jewish emigration from Yugoslavia to Israel followed within a matter of months once an independent Jewish state was proclaimed. Between 1948 and 1952, more than half of the Yugoslav Jews who had survived the Holocaust decided to settle in the newly formed state of Israel. This emigration coincided with a tumultuous period in the post-World War II history of Yugoslavia. The conflict over ideological differences between Yugoslav and Soviet communism had peeked in June of 1948, resulting in what later turned out to be a permanent shift in relations. The chronological overlap alone secured that the conflict and its consequences would play a significant role in the process of organized emigration from Yugoslavia to Israel. However, as the subject could not be spoken about directly, its implications remain subtle throughout. This paper aims to define its potential as a push factor, by analyzing the way in which the conflict makes itself visible within the migration process. A difference is made between the way in which the conflict shaped the participation of Yugoslav authorities and the Federation of Jewish religious communities in the emigration and it acting as a basic push factor on the level of individuals leaving the country.

1. Introduction

Yugoslav state participation in Jewish migration to Palestine and, as of 1948, the independent state of Israel can be viewed as consisting of several distinct stages, each defined by a unique combination of political circumstances. During the interwar period, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was one of the main transit areas for Jewish refugees escaping the Third Reich and territorial expansion [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Part of the Jews escaping prosecution after 1933 attempted to illegally make their way to British-held Mandate Palestine. Although acting on distinctly different ideals, Yugoslavia assumed the same role in the first few post-war years. Yugoslav authorities allowed for the transit of Jewish former concentration camp prisoners coming from Western and Central European countries [6]. With an independent state of Israel being proclaimed in May of 1948, Jewish immigration could continue on a large scale, with no legal restrictions [7].

Only solidified and expanded on after the NSDAP came to power in Germany in 1933, anti-Semitism was a mainstay of politics in Western and Central Europe during the interwar period [1]. Looking to escape ever more severe prosecution, most European Jews attempted to migrate to either the United States or the British mandate in Palestine. As American and British immigration policies grew to be more and more restrictive, the Balkans became an increasingly important part of the route for illegal immigration. Because of its geographical position, as of 1933, Yugoslavia became a transit area for approximately 50,000 Jewish refugees coming from territories within the Third Reich or suffering heavy political pressure from Nazi Germany [8]. The participation of Yugoslav Jews in migration to Palestine, although in no way prohibited by state authorities, was at this time limited to a small number of individuals. Local Jews viewed the threat of anti-Semitism as being a distant one.

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Yugoslavia was re-established as a socialist country, following an authentic revolution conducted by the local communist party and liberation by partisan forces cooperating with the advancing Soviet army. Acting as part of the Eastern Block, with the goal of strengthening the Soviet position in the Mediterranean region and the Middle East in mind [9], Yugoslavia allowed the transit of Jews primarily coming from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary and Romania, on their way to British Palestine [6]. As a result of Yugoslav authorities cooperating with international Jewish organizations, the first transports for Palestine left Yugoslav harbors as early as 1946. Local Jews were, however, forbidden from joining these illegal transports so as to avoid further degrading the already strained relations between Yugoslavia and Great Britain. The only way Yugoslav citizens could migrate to Palestine at this time was by acquiring one of the few available migration certificates.

After the establishment of an independent State of Israel was proclaimed on May 14th 1948, all existing limitations on the immigration of Jews to Palestine, enacted by British mandate authorities, became void [10]. Over the next 4 years, approximately 700,000 members of Jewish communities from all over the world settled in the newly formed state [11]. A small part of this larger migration movement were 7739 Jewish inhabitants of Yugoslavia, making their way to Israel within one of five waves of organized emigration that had left the country between 1948 and 1952 [12]. Individual migration waves were repeatedly organized until the number of applications was too low to justify further persisting on this format.

The participation of Yugoslav state authorities in every stage of the migration process was defined by appropriately close cooperation with the Federation of Jewish religious communities (Savez jevrejskih veroispovednih opština Jugoslavije). Established in 1919, it was the chief representative organization of the Jewish community living in Yugoslavia. The Federation’s position within the post-war state was reaffirmed as early as December of 1944, albeit with certain caveats to it [13]. Representatives of the Federation tacitly accepted that within the dominant ideology of Marxism-Leninism, they were limited to representing the Jewish community of Yugoslavia as a political and national entity, distancing themselves from any questions pertaining to the religious elements of Jewish identity. This was formalized by entrusting leading positions within the Federation to members of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. Beyond that, the Jewish community enjoyed a somewhat privileged position in post-war Yugoslavia, as upwards of 4500 of its members took part in the National liberation movement (Narodnooslobodilačka borba) [14].

As Yugoslav state participation in the Jewish migration was predominantly defined by the current constellation of specific political circumstances, cooperation with the Federation of Jewish religious communities took on different forms within different stages of the process. The attitude of Yugoslav authorities towards Jewish migration between 1933 and 1938 can best be described as benevolent passivity. Concerned with bilateral relations with the new German regime, the Yugoslav government was not going to in any way openly provoke an unwanted reaction. In the meantime, the Federation [4] and, by proxy, the Ashkenazi Jewish religious community of Zagreb [15] were tasked with intercepting and taking care of waves of Jewish refugees coming to Yugoslavia.

State authorities and the Federation of Jewish religious communities somewhat reversed their positions during the first post-war years. Jewish refugees crossing Yugoslav territory between 1945 and 1948 were transported in closed trains to smaller Yugoslav ports, where ships ready to illegally take them to Palestine awaited them [6]. This basically meant that participation in what was illegal migration at this time was limited solely to state authorities. The Federation was limited to helping the few individuals who had secured an immigration certificate.

It was only with the proclamation of an independent state of Israel and free emigration that Yugoslav state authorities, together with the Federation of Jewish religious communities found themselves in a position to actively define the emigration process, as for the first time both parties were free to take part in it without being limited by circumstances outside of their control. Organized emigration from Yugoslavia to Israel coinciding with the Yugoslav-Soviet conflict of 1948 made this fact all the more significant.

Up until 1943, the Communist party of Yugoslavia was a section of the Comintern and had indoctrinated its members so as to view the Soviet Union as the ‘sole socialist island in the world’ [16]. It was these ideas that guided the effort to rebuild Yugoslav society after the war. Everything was to be done in accordance with the Soviet model. However, although they were still the most loyal Soviet supporters, Yugoslav communists also felt that they had earned the right to find their own model of socialism, by conducting an authentic revolution during the war [17, 18]. These kinds of notions were incompatible with Soviet plans of turning Eastern Europe into an ideologically homogeneous block directly controlled by Moscow. Although they had avoided directly questioning the ideological supremacy of the Soviet Union, it soon became apparent that Yugoslavia was determined to act independently of its ideological patron. This was especially noticeable in the way Yugoslav delegates voted in the United Nations [19]. Already tense relations with the Soviet Union culminated with Yugoslavia parting ways with the Cominform in June of 1948.

Although the scope and potential consequences of the Yugoslav-Soviet conflict could not have been obvious to anyone, Yugoslav communists knew that a return to the Eastern block was not realistic, as the consequences of such an action would have been too dire [20]. This fact fundamentally reshaped the way in which Yugoslav communists perceived their own position in a world increasingly adopting a bi-polar model of division. Between 1949 and 1953, Yugoslav communists were actively looking to develop diplomatic activity by crossing the boundaries of the Eastern block [19]. This overarching goal would be pursued through every means available, with migration being one of the more prominent ones [21].

This paper sets out to answer two questions – in what way did the conflict of 1948. define the way in which the Yugoslav state and the Federation of Jewish religious communities positioned themselves within organized Jewish migration to Israel and how was the conflict mirrored in the decision of individual members of the Jewish community to leave Yugoslavia for Israel, that is how important was its role as a traditional push factor. The conflict is defined as being a covert push factor, as it is very rarely and only indirectly addressed in documents pertaining to the migration process. Therefore, the general significance of it can solely be assessed on the basis of scattered implications throughout different aspects of organized migration.

To better understand all of the different aspects of organized emigration from Yugoslavia to Israel, as well as the divergent perspectives of different participating sides, the process was deconstructed and the implications of the Yugoslav-Soviet conflict of 1948 were analyzed on three separate, yet mutually interconnected levels [22]. The top level encompasses the perspective and the actions of the Yugoslav state. The lowest level is that of individual migrants looking to leave Yugoslavia for the newly established Jewish state. The second level encompasses the perspectives of the Federation individual Jewish religious communities. This level is the most complex, as the Federation regularly echoed the position of state officials, while local communities are primarily concerned with problems their own members are facing.

Deconstructing organized migration to Israel enables analyzing the Yugoslav-Soviet conflict as a push factor of greater scope than what a traditional approach would allow us to conclude. Limiting ourselves to the fact that the consequences of clashing ideologies were an additional encouragement for individuals to leave Yugoslavia would be underestimating the impact of this phenomenon. To better understand how all-encompassing the effect of the Yugoslav-Soviet conflict was on organized emigration to Israel, we consider a push factor to be anything that all participating sides viewed as a potentially useful or positive result of the migration process being realized. This allows for a more comprehensive understanding of how the Yugoslav-Soviet, at least in part, drove the process of organized emigration from Yugoslavia to Israel forward.

2. Redefining an ideology

Conflicting with the Soviet Union and other Cominform members meant that Yugoslavia found itself in a position of diplomatic isolation. Searching for a means of escaping this new reality, Yugoslav authorities turned to, among other things, emigration as a way of popularizing the idea of Yugoslav socialism as an independent alternative to the monolithic Eastern block [21]. In this way the image of Yugoslavia as a progressive, politically, socially and economically well-developed state, whose driving force was a strong and independent Communist party was to be disseminated [23]. Organized emigration to Israel was perceived as being a particularly potent instrument for achieving such a goal. The process itself was of relatively small scale and, because of the way it was set up, almost completely defined by the Yugoslav state [24]. At the same time, solely because of the fact that within 24 hours of it being proclaimed, the independence of Israel was recognized by both the United States of America and the Soviet Union, the newly formed Jewish state became a unique and very much welcome exception to the dynamics of the post-war world [9, 10]. Yugoslavia, having recognized the independence of the Israeli state on the 18th of May, and being in a position thought of as very similar to the one of Israel [25] seized this opportunity to repeatedly reaffirm its own sovereignty.

The special bond forged between Yugoslav state authorities and the Federation of Jewish Religious communities became increasingly obvious during organized emigration to Israel. Notions that the newly emancipated Yugoslav communists must have thought of as being crucial, albeit in a modified form, found their way into official notes sent by Federation executives to future émigrés. The two basic ideas put forth in these documents are always the same – Yugoslavia was among the first ones to recognize the independent state of Israel and Yugoslav authorities were generous in allowing for free and unconditioned emigration to Israel. The most systematic in laying out these notions were farewell notes addressed by the Federation to migrants leaving Yugoslavia within the first two waves of organized emigration in December 1948/January 1949 and June/July 1949 respectively:

“Never forget that the Federative Peoples republic of Yugoslavia was amongst the first to recognize the state of Israel and allow free emigration to all Jews who had volunteered for it, in this way demonstrating its most profound generosity and affability” [26] (translated from Serbian by the author).

When observed within the context of the Yugoslav-Soviet conflict of 1948, these two ideas become significantly more specific and poignant. Yugoslavia being ‘among the first’ to recognize the newly independent Israeli state was obviously indirectly putting it on the same level of participation in global politics as the United States and the Soviet Union. This was of course claiming a position realistically far beyond the reach of Yugoslavia, but well within what was thought of as being the role Yugoslav socialism should play as an ideology independent of that which was governing the Eastern block.

It was of the utmost importance to repeatedly point out that Yugoslav Jews were free to leave the country for Israel at any time, as this was an indirect critique of changes to Soviet migration policy that ensued not long after the USSR first recognized Israel [27]. Formally, every socialist government respected the individual‘s right to freely choose his place or residence and, in accordance, leave the country if he desires to do so. At first, taking a pro-Israel and pro-Zionist position, the Soviet Union had, over a period of only a few years, turned to discard Israel as ‘part of the Western block’ [9]. The breakdown of diplomatic relations between the two countries leads to an increasing number of Soviet Jews never getting the opportunity to migrate to Israel [28]. At the same time, the official position of every citizen being able to leave the country and freely choose his place of residence was never abandoned. This kind of contradiction between theory and practice became a staple of the migration models implemented by other communist countries also. In fact, it was local party officials who in most cases decided the fate of migration to Israel in accordance with current Soviet interests. Local Jews would be, more often than not, only allowed to emigrate under very harsh circumstances or not at all.

Permitting local Jews to freely migrate from Yugoslavia to Israel was interpreted as being an expression of not just the independence, but the superiority of Yugoslav over Soviet political practice. Ever present acknowledgements of the permission given to local Jews to emigrate to Israel as being an expression of Yugoslav authorities correctly understanding the problem of national emancipation in its entirety and especially in the case of the Jewish community must be understood in much the same way [25].

The independence of the Yugoslav state was also often asserted by drawing a parallel between the illegal migration of the first post-war years and organized emigration to Israel. After having participated in illegal Jewish migration in the first postwar years, organized emigration coinciding with the Yugoslav-Soviet conflict gave the process great symbolic importance [21]. While taking part in illegal migration to Palestine was a manifestation of ideological subordination, after an independent state of Israel was established and Yugoslav-Soviet diplomatic relations broke down, organized emigration was continuously defined as a way in which Yugoslavia was proving itself independent of any kind of outside influence.

All of the aforementioned ideas are called upon when the position Yugoslav émigrés were going to inhabit in Israeli society was discussed. Regularly tasked with ‘defending the honour’ of Yugoslavia, they are defined as messengers of an authentic revolution [23]. The most direct insistence of émigrés being assumed to participate in spreading the tradition of Yugoslav socialism is found in a telegram addressed to Josip Broz Tito from one of the ships leaving for Israel in October of 1952, within the fifth wave of organized emigration. The use of the term ‘truth’ alone implies Yugoslav authorities were dealing with the unfavorable position of being a former part of the Eastern block, attempting to prove its worth independently from it.

“Having witnessed the establishing of socialism and the fight for peace, national equality and independence, we consider it our duty to spread the truth about today’s Yugoslavia, its strides and ways of developing socialism” [28] (translated from Serbian by the author).

3. Redefining a community

While Yugoslav state authorities perceived organized emigration to Israel as a way of breaking through diplomatic isolation following the conflict of 1948, Federation executives saw the conflict as a circumstance which would potentially enable them to further solidify their own and the position of the Jewish community in post-war Yugoslav society. Ideas put forth were, however, much the same as the ones state officials insisted on, as the Federation was acting as a kind of mouthpiece to the Yugoslav regime.

The very beginning of preparations for members of the Jewish community to join in mass migration to the newly formed state of Israel was, in a way, imprinted on by the attempts of the Yugoslav regime to secure for itself a position of sovereignty in the post-war world. Any kind of valid reasoning for leaving Yugoslavia had to be ingrained in the political reality of the post-war state, as presenting the process as the realization of Zionist ideas was out of the question. Adopting the attitude of their Soviet role models, Yugoslav communists were intolerant toward the idea of Zionism which was viewed as being, in essence, treacherous to the state [9].

Federation executives, therefore, compared the ideological backgrounds of post-war Yugoslavia and the newly established state of Israel, in search of commonalities which could be used to justify mass migration. What stood out as a value shared by both sides was a struggle (borba) [29]. The authentic revolution Yugoslav communists were building their ideological sovereignty on was a product of the National liberation struggle (Narodnooslobodilačka borba), while Israel had to defend its newly attained freedom in a war with neighboring Arab countries [23]. The two were equated and, at times, conflated with each other:

“The state of Israel‘s heroic struggle for independence was already successful in ways that impress and provoke the admiration of all of the progressive world, in the way of a true national liberation struggle […] We have no doubts that you (migrants leaving Yugoslavia, authors note) will do your duty and help the struggle of those giving their lives for the future of the Jewish people, for an independent and free Israel, for the national liberation and antifascist struggle of Israel” [23] (translated from Serbian by the author).

It could even be argued that this kind of rationalization lead to the Yugoslav-Soviet conflict of 1948 and organized emigration being viewed as having, in a formal sense, much the same ideological background. This basic idea had, of course, wide-ranging implications when applied to how the émigrés themselves were represented. When first proposing that a larger group of Jews be allowed to migrate to Israel, in accordance with the basic idea of a common struggle between the two states, Federation executives described future migrants as ‘volunteers on their way to help the Jewish fighters in Palestine’ [23]. This was just one of the many roles ascribed to migrants leaving Yugoslavia for Israel. All of these were, however, expressions of the Federation attempting to use the post-1948 circumstances to better define its own and the community’s position within Yugoslav society and had almost no real value as far as Yugoslav political practice is concerned.

After asserting that the moment in which the organized emigration from Yugoslavia to Israel ensued is ‘truly a historical one’ and how the migrants are tasked with ‘helping the struggle of Israel towards the realization of the historic destiny of the Jewish people’. Federation executives point out that the migrants will be representing Yugoslavia every step of the way.

“It is your sacred and never ending debt to remain faithful to your old home staid, our fatherland, the Federative people’s republic of Yugoslavia, her states and her people. […] Knowing all that, you will continue to defend the interests of the Federative people’s republic of Yugoslavia and her good name. You will faithfully present in your new surroundings the magnificent struggle of the Yugoslav people against fascism and the magnificent striving for socialism in our country” [26] (translated from Serbian by the author).

Calling upon the migrants to defend the interests and good name of Yugoslavia abroad obviously has a symbolic meaning when the request is weighed against the backdrop of the 1948 conflict with the Soviet Union and especially against the diplomatic isolation of Yugoslavia which immediately followed it. Glorifying the people’s struggle against fascism and their efforts for building a socialist society is, again, just indirectly asserting the originality of Yugoslav socialism outside of the boundaries of the Eastern block and Soviet influence.

4. Redefining oneself

While in a far more complex and abstract sense of the word a ‘push’ factor when it comes to the participation of the Yugoslav state and the Federation of Jewish religious communities in organized emigration, the Yugoslav-Soviet conflict directly influenced the decision of individual members of the Jewish community in Yugoslavia to migrate to Israel. The main goal of every migrant is life in some regard better than the one left behind. Finding themselves, in any sense of the word, on the wrong side of an event with consequences as far-reaching as the Yugoslav-Soviet conflict was, must have, therefore, be reason enough for any member of the Jewish community in Yugoslavia to take the opportunity afforded to them and leave the country.

It seems very unlikely that individuals migrating to Israel between 1948 and 1952 were fully aware of the complex diplomatic context surrounding Yugoslavia at the time. However, when the circumstances of the conflict with the Soviet Union and its possible consequences became public knowledge, it is safe to assume that individuals took organized emigration to Israel much more seriously. Although on a smaller scale, certain aspects of the conflict were just as potent as other, more all-encompassing, migration factors.

Splitting from the Cominform left the Communist party of Yugoslavia dealing with a significant number of its own members convinced that pursuing a course independent of the Soviet Union would be a mistake [30]. This faction was dealt with in a swift and decisive manner in a process of de-Stalinizing the party, which turned into de-Stalinizing Yugoslav society as a whole [31]. There are no recorded cases of Yugoslav Jews who officially came under scrutiny from Yugoslav authorities because of defecting from party lines and therefore decided that leaving the country was their best option. However, documents mention a number of convicts and persons under arrest or who were awaiting trial ‘for reasons unknown’ [32]. It appears that this was code used for subjects of ‘ideological cleansing’. Their cases were presented to the Federation and the Ministry of internal affairs of Yugoslavia in hopes of securing a migration permit [32].

Andrija Sekelj from Belgrade was arrested at the beginning of August 1948. At the time he was employed as a department head with the ‘Jugoslovenska knjiga’ publishing company, his appeal stated that there was no clear reason for his arrest. However, his appeal also states that, after the war had ended, he returned from the Soviet Union, where he had spent time as an ex-inmate of a liberated concentration camp in Hungary. He had been ‘active’ while in the Soviet Union but returned to Yugoslavia ‘full of love’ for his homeland. This kind of insistence on patriotism and fidelity felt towards his country as well as his connection to the Soviet Union make it clear that the case of Andrija Sekelj was just one of many facets directly defined by the Yugoslav-Soviet conflict. His application was denied.

What remains implicit in the case of Andrija Sekelj, was stated in a far more unambiguous way by Đorđe Alpar from Belgrade. After having been arrested by the Administration of State Security (Uprava državne bezbednosti – UDB), Alpar found himself in prison at the time the second wave of organized emigration to Israel was announced. In his appeal, he states that ‘after considering current events, he had realized the error of his ways and that in Israel he would do nothing to degrade the good name of Yugoslavia’. Again, this kind of language, as well as the fact that his arrest was handled by the Administration for State security points to the conclusion that Đorđe Alpar had been imprisoned because of Stalinist ideals. He was not granted permission to leave the country for Israel.

When Darinka Sefer addressed the Federation of Jewish religious communities in hopes of securing the early release of her husband from prison, she stated that he had been arrested because ‘two malicious men had accused him of being an enemy of the current state of things in Yugoslavia’. She had previously addressed the Ministry of internal affairs on several occasions but had failed in her attempts to secure a place for her husband in the second wave of organized emigration from Yugoslavia to Israel, that had left in mid-1949.

Although migration to Israel was considered an ideal way of ideologically homogenizing the Jewish community in post-war Yugoslavia by allowing all kinds of groups not wanting to live in a socialist society to leave [23], it appears that individuals who were assumed to be Cominform supporters were shown no such leniency. This decision is even more peculiar when compared to the attitude of Yugoslav state authorities towards the second category of migrants directly influenced by the conflict - nationals of Cominform countries coming to Yugoslavia in the hope of making their way to Israel [33].

While acting as a push factor when it comes to local Jews deciding to leave Yugoslavia for Israel, the Yugoslav-Soviet conflict had just the opposite effect when it comes to attracting political refugees from neighboring Cominform countries, of which a total of 7700 found their way across the border between 1948 and 1951 [34]. As getting to Israel from the Soviet Union and, therefore, other socialist countries, was proving to get ever more difficult, there seemed to be a small, but steady stream of Jewish refugees coming to Yugoslavia with the sole purpose of joining in organized emigration [33]. It is within this group that the only case is found in which the Yugoslav-Soviet conflict and its consequences were directly addressed in the context of organized emigration from Yugoslavia to the newly formed Jewish state in the Middle East.

The Jewish community of Pančevo received an inquiry in September of 1948 from Armin Lefkovic and Izidor Levezon, both residents of Satu Mare in Romania [33]. Lefkovic had arrived in Yugoslavia with his wife Rezika and children, Claudia and Daniel. As they had lost their luggage and money along the way, they asked the local Jewish community for help. Izidor Levenson found himself in Yugoslavia under similar circumstances. During the hearing organized by the Jewish community in Pančevo, both Lefkovic and Levezon stated that they had been forced to leave Romania because they were “close to the political orientation of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia”. The Lefkovic family left Yugoslavia for Israel within the first wave of organized emigration. The fate of Izidor Levenson remains unknown.

5. Conclusions

The overlap between five waves of organized emigration leaving Yugoslavia for Israel between 1948 and 1952 and the immediate aftermath of the breakdown in Yugoslav-Soviet relations lead to the conflict partially shaping the way in which this migration process was perceived. On the other hand, the Yugoslav-Soviet conflict had strictly practical consequences.

On the part of Yugoslav authorities and the Federation of Jewish religious communities, the conflict was thought of as being a particularly potent means to a predetermined end. In that sense, although the two sides were not participants affected by push factors in the traditional sense of the word, the Yugoslav-Soviet conflict motivated them to further develop the way in which they took part in the process. Although it was a policy applied to emigration in general, Yugoslav Jews settling in the newly established state of Israel was a perfect opportunity for the placement of concepts crucial to the Yugoslav political reality post-1948. In particular, the idea of Yugoslav socialism being a valid and, in many ways, superior alternative to the Soviet model weighs heavily on organized emigration to Israel. In insisting on the same basic idea, officials of the Federation of Jewish religious communities of Yugoslavia were pursuing a much different goal. In addressing the Yugoslav-Soviet conflict and insisting on the same basic idea of the superiority of Yugoslav socialism, they were looking to secure the position of the Federation and the Jewish community in post-war Yugoslavia.

Individuals approached the conflict in a much more pragmatic way and its implications in the way they would a traditional push factor. Taking into account all of the many implications and consequences of Yugoslavia parting ways with the Soviet Union and the Eastern block, organized emigration was viewed as a way of escaping potentially harmful situations. In that sense, individuals who were accused of being ideologically close to the Soviet Union tended to apply for organized emigration obviously as a way of leaving an unwanted and potentially dangerous situation behind. Yugoslav authorities, however, were not understanding of these attempts. Most of these applicants were denied a chance to leave Yugoslavia. The opposite was true of migrants coming from Cominform countries to Yugoslavia, with the sole objective of joining in organized emigration. These were swiftly dispatched with the next transport going to Israel.