Religious life gradually redeveloped. Schools, children's homes, libraries and training centres were established in the camps.
In the British Zone, German Jewish holocaust survivors were not granted DP status. This was due to the Britsh principle of classifying Jews according to nationality, which meant that, in contrast to Jewish DPs, German Jews received no preferential treatment until mid 1946.
Jewish life also slowly redeveloped in the towns. In Schleswig-Holstein new Jewish groups and communities emerged in Eckernförde, Eutin, Witdün, Friedrichstadt, Itzehoe, Neumünster and Kiel. The largest community to be established was in Lübeck. Aside from the procuring of necessities these communities essentially assisted with the registration of missing persons. The re-establishment of the Lübeck synagogue, in September 1945, played an important part in the beginning of a new Jewish community in the Hanse city.
However, understandably almost none of the Jewish DPs and holocaust survivors wished to remain in Germany, the country that had perpetrated the holocaust. Many tried to emigrate to Sweden and the USA, but the vast majority wanted to emigrate to Palestine.